Mine is on the side of a pantry and has no upper. I put a cork board on top.

I'm hoping that someone else has more to show you, but in the meantime, here's mine. I store phone books in the 12" wide base cabinet and celphone chargers in the drawer of the base cabinet. Dian57 had a chalkboard at one end of her island, which looked very sharp, so please continue to hunt.

Please note on the charging station idea: it's ok to plug in your celphone/ipod/etc when needed, but leaving them plugged in at all times creates power vampires. So however you design it, make sure that everything, including a power strip, is physically unplugged when not in use.
Blue

Great reminder, Blue!

Guess I should mention that I mean for my message center to double as a laptop desk/bill center/etc...

Thanks, guys!

J&J, I had a menu desk (that's what developers call it, which I always thought was silly/pretentious...the idea is that you browse through menus while, presumably, instructing the butler) in that area but it was a horrible clutter catcher. The replacement is intentionally a lot smaller for that reason. A while ago someone posted pix of a menu desk that she designed with a slanted top so that papers could NOT accumulate! very neat IMO. Anyway, if you're looking for ideas better than mine, try "menu desk."

Here's ours. Electrical outlets in cabs for charging cell phone, bluetooth, ipod, camera batteries...I love keeping all those cords tucked away out of sight!

a href="http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb66/margieberg/Kitchen Details/?action=view¤t=7250815.jpg" target="_blank">

This is off topic, but margieb2, would you tell me about your cabinet knobs?

Blue -- yeah, that's one of the things I'm afraid of - I don't want a catch all for crap (and I'm very good at cluttering up anything that can be!), but I need a very usable space for bill paying/internet surfing/phone charging/etc. I would like for it to be in the kitchen -- read: in the open where your parents might walk by at any moment and see what you are looking at. I have thought about just getting a piece of furniture like a secretary instead, but it might be nice to have it all tie in with the cabs.

I'm *hoping* if I design it right, I will have framework to keep it organized and clutter free.

Thanks for those pics, margieb! I love your cabinets! Great ideas!

Here's mine, after I moved out. The charging station is in the pantry to the right.

Here is ours. Magnetic chalkboard, outlets for phones, in cabinet below. We keep phone books, extra keys, office supplies, etc. in the cabinets, also.

{{!gwi}}

This isn't in my kitchen, but I just made this in order to get all the notes etc off the fridge. The part I find the most useful is the metal part on top. It is soooo much easier to stick things with magnets rather than push pins. You could also use magnetic paint, but I haven't tried it so not sure how well it works

Anyone know how well "magnetic" paint works?

I've been considering it in our Message Center niche...

Buehl, I remember seeing some negative reports, not sure if it was kitchens or decorating forum.

Margieb:

I didn't see your personal email provided, so I'm posting here. May I asked what manufacturer(s) your table and chairs are? Did you buy the chairs and table separately or is it a complete set. Love it. Any info you can supply is great appreciated. Thanks in advance.

If you want to email me personally, my email is provide under "my page".

Buehl,

I have wanted to use the magnetic paint but DH talked me out of it. His points are that it can sometimes interfere with wireless devices, and that once it is up, there is no getting rid of it unless you pull off the drywall. Sure, you can paint over it, but the magnetic stuff messing w/ your electronics remains under there.

We opted to use inexpensive sheet metal strips or boards.

Anita

This is ours. The little wooden shelf thing is something my hubby made to hold our cell phones and headsets when not in use. It was before he had a chance to install the handle on it.

Also, we had a hole (the granite guy called it a grommet) cut in our granite to lace the power cords through - then an electrical outlet is on the back wall of the lower cabinet (inside). This is great so that we don't have cords dangling from the plug mold up top. Note: We also have a grommet cover over the grommet; it's a little plastic thing you can pick up at Office Depot that covers the hole just enough so that the cords can go through. It gives it a finished look.

I showed the last pic because you can see the power cords dangling in the back of the cabinet. So far so good - no problems with the cords hanging up on anything.

I imagine we'll use this somewhat for messages back and forth. I'm also painting two folding closet doors in our family room (they close off the washer and dryer) in magnetic paint, then will do chalkboard paint over that for our more used message center.

I'm just painting with the magnetic stuff (today an tomorrow). It's interesting...like painting with mud LOL but I already tested it and on one coat it takes a magnet. I was told to do two thick ones, so I'll see how that goes tomorrow. I personally wouldn't want to do a whole wall in the stuff, mostly because its yucky to paint with.

To margieb2:
Like debie 2006 I love your table and chairs as well as the desk. They are beautiful. Can you share the manufacturer of the table & chairs? Thank you! Great ideas for message centers!

Thanks bluekitobsessed & nomorebluekitchen! I checked the Paint & Home Deco & yes, there was at least one negative...and no positive....report. Also, we have a house full of electronics...so I'm convinced! We'll create our own like you did Anita.

Thanks!

[Sorry for the hijack jnjmom!]

Eh, no prob, knowledge is power! :o)

For those of you not in favor of magnetic paint, our message board (as shown above) is a very pristine (no ripples) piece of sheet metal painted with regular chalkboard paint. Was very easy to do.

I found where margieb mentioned her table on another thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fremarc furniture

claybabe - Can you tell me the name of the granite in your photo? Thanks!

Julie7549, you made that yourself? It looks terrific! Did you just use trim supplied by your cabinet co?

Looks like the chalkboard paint stuck well to the sheet metal. Do you find it wears off with use, or gets scratched by magnets sliding around?

This might be the answer to my question, posted in another thread, on finding a magnet board that fits the decor of my house. I can just make it!

marciag, as stephanielynn mentioned, the table is the veranda collection from fremarc and the chairs are from althorp living history (hopefully) linked below. I ordered both through Boyles.com. The chairs are quite comfortable. The one caveat regarding the table is that crumbs seem to get trapped in the grooves. I'd probably still order it again as it's really beautiful!

Jnjmom, another apology for hijacking your thread!

Margie

Here is a link that might be useful: althorp living history

4' is enough room for a planning desk...WOW! :0)

Here is a link that might be useful: Planning desk

Wow, nicole - now that's a desk!

mmme ~ my contractor built it for us. He trimmed it to match the crown molding around our doors and windows. He put a coat of primer and two coats of chalkboard paint on it. It's been up a little over a year now, I use it daily, and it looks great, few scratches.

My only caveat with the chalkboard paint is that I have to wipe the chalk off with a wet rag, a chalkboard eraser doesn't work too well.

I wish we would've had a message center like this when my kids were at home!

margieb, your breakfast room is great! I saved it to my inspiration folder.

Our Message Center:

We were originally going to have 12" deep upper & base cabinets on the outside pantry wall b/w the FR & Kitchen for our Message Center...our garage door opens diagonally across from it & our Foyer entrance into the Kitchen is diagonally across from it on the other side.

But, when several measuring errors by our KD reduced the doorway b/w the rooms from 5.5' to 4', there was no way the cabinets would fit. So, we now have a "Message Center Niche" recessed into the same outside pantry wall. The niche is only about 7" deep and was sized to fit the phone. It actually could have been an inch or so shallower, but since the studs for the wall gave us 7", we went with it.

To us, the most critical elements were:

• Calendar to keep track of sports practices & games, school events, family happenings, project due dates, meetings, etc. [In this picture we had just put the calendar up & had not yet filled it in.]

Land line phone & answering machine in a central location...in our case b/w the FR & Kitchen, which also put it central to the Garage entrance & Foyer/front door.

This location is not only for answering the phone, but also so we can see if there are messages when we come into the house. During the remodel, the phone & answering machine were relocated to the Office/Library and we often forgot to check for messages.

Keys since the Niche is across from the Garage entrance & a pretty straight shot from the Foyer/front door. We need a visible & easily accessible place!
Message pads (sticky notes) & pens/pencils for taking messages/leaving messages. [Yellow sticky note pads are in the pocket at the bottom of the calendar frame.]
Charging station for my phone since I will forget it if it's not w/the keys (unplugged when not in use BlueKitObsessed!) [DH's phone & DH/DS/DD's iPods are charged elsewhere since they don't have a problem w/remembering them...and also unplugged when not in use!]

What wasn't a priority since we no longer had the cabinets:

Magnetic board b/c over the years I've found the best places to leave a message that I want to be sure my DH or kids see are: bathroom mirror if it's for the next morning or TV in the kitchen (DH) or computer screen (kids) if it's for after school/work. B/c of these locations, we use sticky notes.

Our garage door is metal so we do keep two "school bus" clip magnets for the various forms that come home from school. Each child has his/her magnet.

Here's Julie7549's Message Center that she talks about above. I took it from her photo link on the Finished Kitchens Blog.