I am glad you enjoyed the pancakes. I wish I could have sent some frozen wild Maine blueberries to go with, but couldn't quite manage that! Stonewall Kitchen makes amazing treats. I have not tried the roasted garlic and onion jam yet but I will do so soon. We buy their ketchup exclusively, it is fabulous. I was thinking of you today as we ate breakfast and watched the birds in the backyard at the feeders. We have a storm coming in thus the feeders were extra busy. We watched one chickadee up close when it perched on the grapevine by the window less than 3 feet from us. I need to try and hand feed them.

"A built in bench won't work due to price and the window in the nook that is only 30" off the floor." I have a 5x4 breakfast nook now where I have an ikea upper cabinet (inexpensive) on the floor for the bench. It is 12" wide and has storage. ikea used to have this on display with a diy cushion that was just some fabric wrapped around batting. It is okay for my kids, but we eventually had a 16" vinyl cushion made for it. The cushion cost 3x the price of the ikea cabinet. It is just plywood topped with foam and wrapped with vinyl. It is stapled. If I had to do it again, I would do it myself. My table is also from ikea and its mounted on one side to the wall and has one leg for extra support. The leg is centered on the table and allows you to easily slide into the bench. It is not an ideal situation, but it was the best we could do with our existing space. I don't think the 3x3 table is ideal. If you like the stainless tabletop, look for something similiar in a longer and narrower size, 30 inch max. How about using a round table? Or a bar height table with stools? You might want to look at some of the "Not So Big House" books by Sarah Susanka for some ideas. I don't care for her style, but her design concepts can be applied to any style. I believe she recommends that windows be 30" from the floor for window seats, and you already have that working for you! Here is a link that might be useful: Not So Big House

OneRidgeOff: fabulous idea! We use blankets on our couch so I can take them off when guests come over, even though our dogs are the non-shedding variety! benjesbride: We thought about moving the stove because we don't love where it currently sits (or the fridge for that matter), however if I move it next to the sink, I will have virtually no landing space next to it and certainly no space to prep between the sink. Even if we move the sink to the peninsula, the stove would still be next to the window and behind that is a laundry room and the roof above is where two points of the room meet, making venting for the hood difficult as well (there would have to be some jigs and jogs to get it out through the roof in a good spot). The walk way goes to the laundry room/garage and the other door is to the dining room; so not much flow through there except taking food to the dining room (only on holidays most likely) or doing laundry. However, if my husband is cooking, I can go through the dining room and into the laundry without ever disturbing the path from sink/prep to stove, which is why I favored saving money on moving everything versus sticking to the NKBA guidelines strictly. Also, making the peninsula the whole width of the kitchen (which I still want to do badly), still means I won't have 48" between the counter and my pantry for the main pathway into the kitchen if I keep the seating behind it. However, you have made me think and I will have to play around with those ideas in the Ikea planner; just have to weigh the pros and cons of the "best" layout versus cost. cpartist: thank you; I value your opinion. My thought was that a table can easily be set up in our three seasons room for large holidays and still be plenty connected to the kitchen without having to be "in" the kitchen. chocolatebunny123: we may have to just take the loss, as our needs are very different from most others as we don't have children and don't generally sit in our kitchen to eat. However, I know when we sell in 10-15 years, there will likely be families with kids moving in (our neighborhood is mostly owned by the original owners from the 80s and most have grown children and retiring). We also have a fourth bedroom in the basement I'm thinking about removing (gasp!) when we renovate the basement in another year or so and I know that will affect our home value considerably. I have been enjoying hearing the differing opinions in response to my post though. I feel like I have been seeing a lot of people who are building with just one large area off the kitchen for a large table and a lot of island seating, rather than our current setup from the 80s. Interesting how times change! Maybe when we sell, our kitchen will be "back in style!"

Some of the posted pics are not the most current (punch list stuff since completed and we painted the ajoining rooms) but they are close to the finished product. I'll post more current pics later. Although our GC handled cooridnation with Fieldstone, they seemed to be was great to work with - there were a couple of cabinet panels that needed to be changed out for size, we needed a replacement pullout, other odds and ends. Fieldstone shipped replacements no issues. Overall we're very pleased with cabinetry quality, fit and finish. Our GC (Tri-County Development in South Jersey) was/is outstanding. Could not be more pleased with thier quality, responsiveness, subs, workmanship. COVID and Supply Chain issues slowed us down a bit but overall, we are extremely happy with the project.