I understand Casey's point to be that to manhandle a window, you have to be able to stand right at the wall. If you are leaning across the width of the counter, you can't get the leverage, and/or your back takes a hit. But overall, what a useful thread this is for me; we have a similar window to Casey's - too low to make countertop even with the sill, requiring a well behind or making the window smaller. So thank you for posting! Plus, like Ashley, we have too little space to one side for what we need to put there, namely a fridge. So the fridge sticks out like the sore thumb it is. Love the idea of a set of under-counter appliances - our only idea so far has been to reduce the size of the window. This is not going to be a bad thing as the original window is not there any more anyway, but a horrid aluminum thing that we want to replace anyway. But the thought of losing the light has been killing me... except in summer, when the heat from the window is killing me. Anyway, all that to say, you can get European fridges that are quite narrow - 24 inches or so. Naturally they have correspondingly less capacity, but for certain people this would work. And Igloo, I love your idea of the glass back/front cabinet. I've thought of shelves across the window but not of making it a cabinet, but keeping the heat out in summer will be an interesting challenge, not to mention privacy. But definitely worth considering. KarinL

Yes a roman shade, inside mount. Easy Peasy.

Thanks for all the suggestions. @patricia colwell consulting, just leaving it down is a likely option. I can always pull out the kitchen tongs for the few times I need to operate it lol. @jennifer hogan, film is an option to consider. @beverlyfladesigner, believe me, that discussion’s been had. I agree with you, but I’m just so glad to get all that stuff off my kitchen island, I’ll basically let him have this in whatever position he wants!:) FYI, it took seven years to get it out of the kitchen!!!! @sammy, that’s a good idea, but I like clean light into the room. @smcf03, I hadn’t thought about a remote, I’ll check that out. I appreciate everyone’s help.

What is currently up there are just temporary/paper shades 😇 We had honeycomb shades there before which were very similar but my son “mistreated” them and they would not go up and down. I was thinking of replacing the shades. So I thought honeycomb (even though he broke those before), roller shades, Roman shades, or maybe even wooden blinds. He does not want curtains and he does not want a single shade all the way across (even though I tend to think a single shade would look nice). Thank you!!