Whoo Hoo, I've been saving my pennies so I just ordered English Cottage and Country Gardens from across the pond. Apparently it plays in all regions soooo hopefully it will be as good as the other gardening dvd's I've ordered from the UK. Annette Here is a link that might be useful: English Cottage and Country Gardens

Writersblock, Thanks a lot for the updated link that has a photo of the whole kitchen! Schoolhouse, I should check out the program with Ruth Mott. It sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing! I've Googled a bit on Victorian kitchens: looks like the kitchen at Cefn Park was a part of a kitchen complex. Apparently, this room was designated only for prepping and cooking. Foodstuffs would be stored in larder(s), and dishwashing would be done in a scullery. The room shown in the article has no cabinets. Everything was stored on open shelves. Probably it was more convenient to have all the utensils and containers with seasonings/condiments in open sight when several people worked there. The servants wouldn't have to rummage through cabinets and ask incessantly where someone had put this or that. Speaking of the cookstoves: I can imagine that a large formal dinner (50 guests?) would call for no less that two big cookstoves to prepare all the food. Motherof3sons is right about the basement location. In addition, it would be near the food stores in the basement. The tall ceilings probably alleviated the heat since the hot air rose up. Here is a link that might be useful: Anatomy of Victorian Kitchen

Darn, all the names that resonate are always taken. :) So, Fal, the dining room is a very nice sized room with great architecture, lovely views to the garden, and pretty light streaming in. And a table. So far IT's sounding wonderful. You haven't explained a single asset the "mudroom" has to develop except some nice undeveloped space. It looks like it has doors/windows on opposite walls? If left is west, does this mean the lower wall of the mudroom faces south? In any case, that's a dead end space. Family will be drawn there if you get something nice from it that you don't get from another room. Right? ITM, until that special quality begging to be developed is revealed, I'm really liking your option #3--table in the kitchen, storage/ancillary kitchen functions in space taken from the mudroom. The social life around a table IN the kitchen is special, and it seems you've enjoyed having it. It would also be in keeping with the age of your house. Lining up the doors to allow all 3 rooms to benefit from the lovely afternoon view sounds wonderful. Would that allow a good layout with a central table? I'm not quite sure where the door would move; your May 25 diagram places it left rear? The mud room may feel separate, but most of it's no more distant than a good portion of many large kitchens posted here. I really like the idea of using some mud room space to keep the kitchen relatively simple and open for work and casual dining. For instance, you'd want everything you use every day in the kitchen, but everything that is not could be close by in a beautifully and very efficiently design kitchen adjunct through the doorway. This would enable doing away with many, or possibly even all, of the upper cabinets to create a nicely spacious feel to the main kitchen. The idea would be to create both a very good place to work and very good place for family and friends to gather around the table.

150-160 sq ft You DEFINITELY need to get that lasagna floor stack out of there. And, put serious effort into make the floor under the cosmetic layer as clean and well-done as possible. It's your only chance at preventing some issues. If you have to paint the subfloor with a porch paint floor rug because your whole budget went to getting a sound, level floor, that's OK. You can always add the cosmetics layer, but removing cabinets to level a floor is a PITA, and expensive. Tear it out down to the subfloor. Patch any holes. Check for level - the unevenness is possible due to the layers falling apart. There are two kinds of "not level: Flat surface, but slanting to one side or another ... in an old house this is almost normal. You can compensate by shimming the cabinets unless it's a couple inches out of whack. Not flat, but humped, with hills and valleys across the floor. This makes it hard to do a good job on the sheets of sub-floor ... If it's more than 1/2 inch or so, you need to remove the old flooring down to the joists and shim them level and replace the subfloor with 3/4 sheet OSB sheathing. (if you get to the old bottom level and see this, post for help!) If you have to, use a FLOOR levelling compound (levelling, not patching!). Avoid the cement-based ones, they crumble. Find one that stays FLEXIBLE. This stuff: http://www.truevalue.com/product/Paint-Supplies/Surface-Prep-Cleaning/Anchors-Levelers/DAP-Gallon-Ready-To-Use-Flexible-Floor-Leveler/pc/13/c/198/sc/1723/17543.uts Over the subfloor put standard 1/2" or 3/4" underlayment sheets, nailed or screwed according to the manufacturer's directions. Probably OSB strandboard, ... but should specify it's for floors. A pneumatic nailer would be a good investment here. This kind of stuff: http://www.homedepot.com/p/7-16-in-x-48-in-x-8ft-Oriented-Strand-Board-386081/202106230 TIP ... Make sure it's interlocking "brick" pattern when you lay it down, with the seams between one piece and another not aligning so you don't have weak corners with 4 pieces. Take your time planning the layout Don't use teensy pieces cobbled together along the edges to avoid buying another sheet - that is false economy and will bite you in the butt later. And mark the joists and TRY to have the seams along a joist. If the walls aren't square, cut the underlayment to lay snug along the walls. BTW, this is good practice for owning an old house - making things fit unsquare spots. TIP: If you don't run the flooring under the cabinets, seal the underlayment with a couple of coats of varnish under where the cabinets will go ... it keeps it from soaking up musty odors. The cosmetic layer: When the floor is levelled and ready for the cosmetics layer, check how much is left in your budget. :) Because you can't match the rest of the house, go "different" ... a darker wood, a different material. Kitchen floors then were often "linoleum" or other synthetic sheet goods, as well as stone, quarry tile or wood, so something as simple as a dark grey/light grey checkerboard vinyl square tile would be OK. Set diagonally? Or use colored squares - they come in an astounding array. You might find a sheet vinyl in a reasonably "period" pattern of slate Also, check commercial sheet flooring