I did consider dividing one of the twins closets but decided against it because I do like having 2 closets in each bedroom, makes it easier to keep rooms oranized. The floors, doors are all original so I think the original owners just wanted the easy access so they could use it as a study/office. I also like having larger bedrooms for the kids, the rooms seem to stay neater than when they have had small bedrooms. Our last house was a new house and was good sized, great kitchen and pantry, but the kids bedrooms were small which we all disliked. Buehl- Thank you so much! I have been playing with the layout and nothing was fitting how I was trying it out. I had the pantry as this long, thin space at the end of the kitchen. I never considered moving the dishwasher to the other side. Both of your plans are just beautiful, I love them and really appreciate the time you took to make my kitchen into a workable and enjoyable room. I am not even sure which one I like better at this point. We have a whole pile of leftover brick from when they built the house so we could have the windows shortened up and use the original brick. On layout 2, I could drop the counter part to table height, do you think that would look better if I was leaving the windows their current height? The pantry is heavenly to me! I would have room to have small appliances back in the kitchen instead of in the basement. Only appliances I keep in the kitchen are my kitchen aid mixer, toaster and coffee maker. All others are downstairs and I run down, bring it up, use it then return it. Very disorganized and I spend some time looking for what I need sometimes. Our house was built in 1956, has floor (6 inches above floor) to ceiling window in the twins room and a huge wall window in the dining room. Love the light and the windows, surprisingly they did 2 panes of glass in those windows and they did great on my energy audit. I keep telling DH I am tempted after the kitchen project to change our master to the twins room, purely because of the window and the view of the backyard.

The blue Wolf trays are just called "sheet metal" on their website so most likely some sort of steel. Aluminized steel is much heavier for the same sized pan in aluminum. You can bake with standard bake with more than one rack but it just requires more switching around. Did you use the convection bake on the L? That has been the more useful of the convection modes on my Wolf oven. It has a slower fan which they dropped on the M. If you look at Wolf's own videos, they seem to have problems too. As they are touting how evenly the oven cooks, they are pulling this out of the oven. These are screen shots of the video OT the "whole meal in " video. The cobbler on the bottom row is more away from the strong airflow on the sides and does not have the greater degree of browning along the side. They would have to substantially change the way the fans work to avoid those air currents. They would need to have a slower speed or reverse periodically. To eliminate the hot spots, if you can't position the pans out of the areas of the oven with the strongest air flow and you can't modify the airflow by baffles or slower fan speed, try turning off the convection part of the time and rotate or reposition the pans. If you liked the L, I would try to get them to switch it back or buy the M back. I almost think some high end ovens have more trouble getting things right because they tinker unnecessarily with things trying to have something unique like the corner convection tower or persist, for 10 years with looks, like blue enamel when they don't have it perfected.

Mamapinky, the pie had to be displayed the entire week of Fair, so I don't think you want any now, LOL. I thought the pie deserved better than a second, then the Judge told me that she had not included the recipe for the crust or it would have scored higher. The rules say a recipe card with the complete recipe must be included with the entry. Her recipe for the filling just said "an unbaked pastry shell". The crust was an all butter "pate brisee" and it was delicious. The filling is my favorite part of pie, though, so I thought it needed more apples. Jerzeegirl, definitely try the bread, it's easier than it looks and it's delicious. Peppi, I used this recipe, but it originally called for 1/4 cup of oil. I left that out, as it didn't do anything I could determine. I also peeled the tomatoes because I don't like the little papery bits in the sauce and I left out mushrooms because I think they get too mushy when pressure canned. That weird texture thing, you know.... Oh, and I tried again with the purple cabbage. Tonight I live trapped the biggest groundhog I've ever seen, but not before he ate the centers out of every single cabbage and brussel sprout plant. (sigh) He got the neighbor's cabbage too and was tricky to trap, but he's been relocated about 10 miles out into the National Forest. Now I have the trap set for the rest of his family. Anyway, the recipe: Spaghetti Sauce without Meat 30 lbs tomatoes 1 cup chopped onions 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup chopped celery or green pepper 1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced (optional) 4-1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp oregano 4 tbsp minced parsley 2 tsp black pepper 1/4 cup brown sugar Yield: About 9 pints (Depends on how much you reduce the sauce) Do not increase the proportion of onions, peppers, or mushrooms. Prepare tomatoes by choosing to peel or not, then dicing the tomatoes. If you leave the skins on you can use an immersion blender on the tomatoes to break down the skins. Saute in a saucepan with a trace amount of olive oil add onions, garlic, celery or peppers, and mushrooms (if desired) until tender. Combine with tomato pulp in large sauce pot. Add spices and cook to a boil. Simmer, uncovered until the initial volume has been reduced by half. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Prepare hot pints by filling jars to 1" headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened vinegar clean paper towel. Adjust lids and process in Pressure Canner at 10 lbs of pressure for weighted gauge and 11 lbs at dial gauge for 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts. Annie

For the short time I was there, I had a great time with sisters. Annies sauerbraten was dead on and even Emma loved it. And the corned beef hash for breakfast with some wonderful muffins really hit the spot before we had to leave. As most of you know, Dad has dementia and sort of freaked on on me and wanted to go home to his own environment. We drove home through rain, sunshine, more rain with a rainbow and some sleet! Emma had a blast, playing with Molly and making a new BFF in Spark. Shocked me as she never seemed to take to cats, but this guy is so loving and laid back. He had no fear of Emma and I think that did the trick. The two playing had us laughing repeatedly. That boy is always welcome here. I have has a few says to get Emma back into her regular food as Annie spoils her. She sure loved the saurebraten and hash! And let's not forget the chicken treats! I am so sad that I missed the balance of the weekend. I have missed my sisters and brother Elery. He fits right in with us crazy females. Isla, some day I will take you up on the offer. Dcarch, wait till those anthropologist find out that we referred to each other as potential ax murderers. Lars, a Black Forest torte without the Kirschwasser is just chocolate cake with cherry pie filling. Sharon, you will not suffer in all this cooking of great foods. Annie, not last, thank you for everything. You fill my heart.