I work for a major retailer in NY and I've got to say that we send a lot of products to Goodwill every day--boxes upon boxes. Some manufacturer's don't allow their products to go to Goodwill, so those have to be dumped, but the vast majority does go to someone in need. From a manager's POV, perhaps those damaged plants had been put through their computer system in a way that would not have let them sell them anymore--and they certainly don't want to sell them under the table. I actually had a customer call and say that they had returned a personal dvd player and could I please check and see if their Nintendo DS Lite ac adapter was in there by mistake. When I explained that it had been marked "defective" and sent away on a truck to Goodwill she then asked if we could call the truck back. LOL. Now I felt bad, but there are times when there's just no going back...especially when it had been several days before. Honestly. Usually don't BOX stores mark their damaged plants for some sort of clearance? I've seen Lowes, HD, and Wal-Mart do this quite a lot. Hmm...still seems cruel to just throw those plants that "can be saved" in a dumpster to spite you.

Palimpsest: I'm trying to plan so that I have to keep very little out on the counter. I can fit all the small appliances I have into the 30" deep base under the uppers in question. My kitchenaid will tuck into the corner on the left and luckily we don't need a place for a micro as we don't use one. Sounds like you think it's doable. I just hate to screw either thing up: not having enough pantry space or wrecking an awesome deep counter. I'm torn as to what would ultimately be more useful. Raehelen: it would be storage for all the dry and canned goods, plus we do canning as well and want to do more. This place is not a hop and skip to the grocery store so I'll be buying more in bulk, not to mention Amazon subscribe and save (love that). The 10" you mention is almost 5' wide, though. I just measured my little freestanding cupboard that I keep some of my food in now and that one 10" shelf equals 2/3 of what fits in there. It would be a boon, storage-wise. I thought if I kept non-cooking related stuff in those drawers, the need to get in them when that counter is being used would be greatly diminished. The tambour idea is interesting, though. The only other place in the kitchen for 'pantry' stuff is a 4" wide full height pull out next to the fridge. Does anyone keep food in the cabs flanking the range hood, or is that too hot to be a good idea?

Pal, the ripple fold drapes have a clean tailored look which I find much more pleasing than pleated drapes. They would look nice in the room. However, they wouldn't provide the ability to block excess light while still having the yard visible as tilting verticals does. Have you bought from the Shade Store? It seems like they only carry their own line and I can't tell what the quality of their mechanisms is which is very important for verticals. I'm also having trouble finding technical information on their site - e.g. what the size limits are. Fun, those panels cover up to 120". Our window is over 144". Hunter Douglas has panels that cover up to 150" in a one way draw (and note that we don't have any stacking room on the door side so we have to have one way draw). That would mean that over 2' of our window would remain covered when they are fully drawn. And like the ripple drapes, they don't provide a view and shade at the same time. Annie, those are awful looking but I've seen some awful looking cheap curtains too. That cheap, badly done or mistreated ones can look awful doesn't mean that they all do. The ones we had were good quality. They are about 27 years old and only recently did a few vanes develop problems with turning in unison with the others - which is reasonable to expect after that many years. We have over 60' of sliding glass doors and fixed pane windows on the back of our house covered with these and not a one looks like the pictures you posted. Onedog, thanks - we found the kitchen forum here very helpful with our kitchen remodel. Do you know what brand the verticals at your lake house are? I've never found ours difficult to operate. Our cords operate smoothly with no yanking and only now that they are very old do we have trouble with a vane or two not turning correctly. I'm not sure what brand we had and I'm away on a business trip. I've heard good things about the quality of Graber's rail system. We are leaning toward selecting a color that blends with the wall. There is a lot of pattern in the room already from the wood grain and the quartzite in the kitchen and fireplace surround. Plus we have a Kurdish rug on the floor, so we will probably go with a white or off white window covering without a pattern. Here is a picture with the rug: (BTW, the chair in the picture is quite comfortable and handy for holder our grand daughter while she has a bottle, but I feel that it doesn't really go and should be replaced with something visually simpler. The couch is getting quite worn and needs replacement. I was hoping to wait until our grand children were a bit older and tidier but it really is getting too bad and needs to be replaced in short order. So I have no need to take either into account in the decorating of the room.)

@texasgal47: I am actually already thinking of a solutiion using a gateleg. I have access to an IKEA Norden table that with some slight leg tweaking (i.e. place leg in center of the table + shorten leg to close fully) it should to the trick: -> @Jillius: Yes, the entrance to the apt. goes through the hallway. The windows below are windows swinging out. The door on the bottom left (of this sentence) lead to a balcony. Here is the full view: