The ice making situation with the Fagor is pretty much a joke. It comes with an ice tray which can best be described as Baby's First Ice Tray. The tray does fit safely across any of the 3 drawers and there is a storage compartment for the tiny cubes. I tried to find a picture but was unsuccessful. If you go to the AJ Madison site, look up the Fagor, go to the owner's manual, on page 12 you will see a very crude drawing of the ice tray. I believe the tray produces 12 tiny cubes. I'm not a big ice user, so that didn't impact my decision. I have kept the tray in a cupboard and have used it maybe twice. When I've had lots of people over ("lots" being relative in my small condo!) I buy bagged ice and use ice buckets. Seeing your interest in wine, did you know the Fagor does comes with a wine rack inside? I don't drink wine, so I ditched that and use the top shelf set at the higest level as my beverage center. Perfect for holding cans of soda, beer, and the 10 oz water bottles I purchase. I have stashed a bottle of wine there when needed as well. I like the GE DW. It cleans my dishes which is all I ask. It holds a lot. Compared to the antique I had which sounded like a Mack truck was revving its engine in my old kitchen, the GE is quiet. Not whisper quiet like the bigger, better, more expensive DWs, but it does not inhibit in person conversation and when I'm talking on the phone while it is in use, no one has said, "Is that your dishwasher running in the background?" The cycle is long (maybe 1.75 hours?), but I think that is the nature of an 18" DW. I may be wrong on that score. Hope this helps. Joyce

I'm not following how your words relate to your sketch, unless your sketch is a "before"? If you are planning to lay out your bathroom with your toilet perpendicular to the 3 1/2' wall, that won't meet code. Code requires either 21 or 24 inches from front of toilet to wall - just about the minimum you can get away with is about 4', 4'3" would be better. Is there any way you can squeeze another 9" into the plan? if you can, it's definitely doable. My downstairs bath is pretty minimal, it's about 7'6" (I think, maybe 8'?) x 4'3" and it accommodates a stall shower (30x48 insert), a regular elongated toilet with plenty of knee room and a 27" pedestal sink with a pocket door. It's not huge but we've been using it as our primary bathroom since november :/. There's enough room to stand in front of the sink and pass the toilet to get to the shower.

Ah! I keep the kosher salt in one of the very old, dark brown bean pots on the counter in the photo -- the salt itself is in a plastic bag -- and then placed in the bean pot! Keeps it so handy in the prep area. I keep tea bags in another one -- and Splenda packets in the third one! I do have old glass containers to hold seasonings like Kirklands Salt substitute -- really excellent seasonings! Plus at various times in the year -- I add herbs from my gardens to oils and vinegars too! Hope this helps! :) Jan at Rosemary Cottage

frmsdghtr, I know you said you have a tiny budget. I agree that a galley kitchen is the way to go. You would have so much extra storage space and prep space. This kitchen space looks very similar to many homes I saw growing up, although the wall to the basement stairs was always enclosed. I would sincerely encourage you enclose the wall space by the basement stairs. Having it dry walled would allow you to have wall cabinets. I think it would be dangerous to have an opening to the basement stairs in the area above cabinets on the bottom (not just for items falling over the edge, but your kids, their playmates, your friends' kids...you know how they never go on the counters when you're not looking). You could also explore putting your fridge on that wall. A counter depth fridge would give it a more built in look. We did that in our kitchen in order to make placing the fridge in a different space work. They are a bit more pricey and have less storage space. We have our old fridge in the garage for overflow that doesn't fit in the kitchen and it's worked out fine. And if you don't have an extra fridge, there are plenty on Craigs List. Please let us know what you end up doing.