Thank you all again for the compliments, it's been a long time and I wanted to reply to a couple of questions. go_figure, the dimensions of the oven/pantry cabinetry is 16 feet. The range cabinetry is 10 feet. The island is slightly over 7' long by 3' wide. Regarding the red espresso machine, we LOVED that machine and tried to make sure we matched some red items with it. Sadly it died about 18 months ago. We replaced it with a bland silver espresso machine which actually produces much better coffee. We still can't get ourselves to throw away the broken red machine so it sits in our basement knowing it will never get fixed... Thanks again all, and best wishes on all of your remodels!

Wow thanks for the quick responses and great ideas. You guys rock! megpie77 - exactly what I was thinking about the old white/off white color for the cabinets. Thanks for the link to the blog. I love reading those and am addicted to reading the decorating blogs. Absolutely, positively getting new lighting for the tray ceiling. That ceiling fan is obnoxious as are the florescent lighting. I saw redroze's kitchen. Awesome. I am thinking white marble for sure on the island and something else on perimeter. I also like the idea of gray to pick up the grout colors in the brick. They are brick pavers but fool everyone who sees them thinks they are real brick. I don't want to play up the earth tones too much in them. Thank you for the info! Lascatz - yes i can fit a 36" in either the oven space or the existing fridge space. We actually are talking about flip flopping the ovens and the fridge for better flow. I am worried about the Shaw sink because the cabinets. How much room does the 36" one take in height? I really don't want to tear much up in the way of cabinets. I do love Allison's F&B french gray island and have tested that paint color and may use it. toomuchstuf - love your screen name. I can relate. Yes, i am going to add a custom hood or chimey hood to vent the wolf cooktop out. heistaflames - great, great suggestion on the long cabinet run. I hadn't thought of new doors with glass on the top to break it up. I also like all of your other ideas especially using 2 or 3 colors. If I painted all those cabients white - it would be horrible. andrea - the flooring is real brick paver and they are really pretty. Not usually a choice on this site but, very popular in my town in Louisiana as A. Hayes Town architecture prevails all over here. It would be too expensive to take them up. They are traditional and nuetral so I am keeping them as they also run down both hallways and are in my living room. I hadn't thought of putting a whole range where the cook top is but, am considering now. I will be getting rid of over the cooktop microwave. Don't necessarily need 2 ovens. We really grill out more than we cook. I definitely don't back unless it's a holiday or I cooking slice and bake cookies. Thank you all. I soooo appreciate the input. more to come later. Anyone have any suggestions on a blue paint color that is not too pastel. I am testing Farrow & Ball Light Blue with a dark glaze for the island and I like it but I wish it just had a little more brown or gray in it. Blue is soooo hard. I never knew that... I am in love with the color of my linen fabric that I am using in my living room with is Swedish Blue in color. It is a green/blue. F&B light blue is close too it. I'm just so scared too have it come out too pastel.

I was LENVT. I didn't post too much, but I joined in 2001 just as we bought our first house and needed a washing machine... and then a dishwasher, and finally a range. There was a person here, TJ something or other, who knew appliances like the back of his hand. I mean WOW. I knew from this forum that I wanted a Bosch dishwasher, convinced my neighbor to get one as well. He still has his, 22 years later. I bought a Kenmore Elite dishwasher. Because of TJ, I knew it was a rebadged Bosch! Quiet as the dickens, cleaned like a charm, Just replaced it a few months ago. It most likely could have been repaired, but I am finally renovating our kitchen after 23 years in this house. It is a full on 1980's dream kitchen with all the attendant horror. Hey, after 23 years, it's MY fault! I knew so much about appliances, and the necessary CFM per BTU's for my range hood that I got offered appliance sales jobs --twice! I always come here first step in any major decision for the house. I remember lusting after the kitchen reno threads like mad back in the day. Following them through to the reveals... Good times as I was recovering from a significant illness at the time. It is still a good place, but a bit less like a club, I guess. Good ol' TJ, wherever you are friend, I thank you.

Glad to come back and try to help. I have an affection for MCM homes and would love to see you make yours work better for you while maintaining true to your home's architecture and personality. So you MUST showcase that Saarinen! If you don't, give it to me. :) How about this? Change to a range. Put a microwave in the upper cabinet next to fridge and a second oven, if you really need one, below. Alternatively, I've read some folks here at GW have nixed the microwave and just use a speed oven. I'm not clear how that works as I've never had a speed oven nor do I really understand how they function but that's something you might want to research. I guess it all depends on how you use your microwave, how often, etc. Casters - what I'm thinking is that you could have the lower cabinets there put on good industrial casters so you could pull that counter out and move it to use as a peninsula on the occasions you need more prep space or for buffet service. Alternatively, is there a pantry or some other area where you could store a small kitchen worktable/cart that can be easily rolled out when needed? Sink: I would get a large single sink. Even one of those awesome Stages 45 sinks which would work well in your space. Quite often on the wider sinks, people will have two faucets. One on the prep side and another on the clean-up side. With a wide sink like that, there is enough space for people to use the same sink at the same time for the different tasks without crowding each other or fighting for use of the faucet. When someone isn't doing clean-up, you could have two people prepping at the same time. It looks like each side of the sink would now have ample counter to do so. Also, moving the range into that niche provides you a nice separation from sink to range so one person can prep to right of sink while someone else cooks without them being so close that there are congestion issues. Here's a an alternative idea to make use of the under stairs area unless it's being used for something else. If the stairs rise high enough, would it be possible to inset the cabinets into the space under the stairs? So the uppers don't show here as they are inset under the stairs. This allows the lower cabinet to be more accessible by the cook if they need to place something to the right of the cooktop, giving them more counter space to do so. It also makes it easier to slide into the bench seating next to the amazing Saarinen tulip. I think it will also showcase the tulip better as it won't be so crowded by cabinetry. I actually thing I would nix the upper between window and door because it will impact the light flow and airiness in that area and crowd the door much like the fridge would. Put your daily dishes, silverware, and glasses in the drawers next to the DW. It's easy and convenient storage. I love storing my like items in drawers instead of uppers. And it's at the end of the run where someone can get a plate or set the table without getting in the way of anyone doing clean-up, prep or cooking. And it's close enough to the fridge where it's handy for grabbing a glass to get a drink.