Hi amelie325: I checked out the roses you listed in HMF. You have a great selection, that's the first time I see William Jesse, it's beautiful ... please inform when they bloom, would like to know how they smell. I am leaning toward Old Garden Roses for the scent. I have 15 Austins ... but when I bought and sniffed Comte De Chambord, Jacques Cartier, Paul Neyron, Annie L. McDowell, and Gruss an Teplitz .... I'm hooked ever since. I'm excited about these 6 roses coming this Wednesday.... I got them for $8 each during Roses Unlimited's summer sale last week: Lawrence of Arabia, Summer Samba, Duchesse de Rohan, Angel Face, Le Rire Nias, and Gene Boerner (this has no scent unless the weather is cold, but it's almost thornless & DR).

AnnKH - your before and after pix show a beautiful kitchen. I also can easily visualize what my kitchen will look like if I use some of the advice given on this board. If you were to switch the placement of the sink and range, and put a full cabinet over your sink area, you have a very similar arrangement to what I want. The added height of your cabinets was a great idea - my 36" vs the normal 30" height will be a good idea. I do use a hand held "reacher" device to get things down in any kitchen I have ever used, so the added height will be used. Although your kitchen may be perfect for you, I see items that make me return to some of my original plans. I would not want the angled corner lower cabinets -- that, to me, squeezes in the kitchen visually far more than angled uppers. With squared cornered lowers and angled uppers, I will actually be able to reach corner storage better (being shorter). Using the wider cabinets around the window was a good idea -- I would have made them even wider, to frame the window even more. Although you did add length and needed storage by adding the pantry next to the fridge, the full size fridge does intrude into the room too much for me. I will pay the extra to get a counter depth fridge. The pull out for the cabinet above the fridge is a good idea. Regarding the 42" lower, I have already had one in my old home, and it was very well organized. I guess it make a difference what is placed in the cabinet, my pots and pans either stacked well, or I had lid holders mounted to the doors and sides. I like the yellow tone of your kitchen - it makes it "happy". I am looking for a yellow or caramel tone that will match the warm browns of my cabinets and the knotty pine cathedral ceiling over the kitchen. An enlarged picture of my old kitchen above will show the 10' side walls of the kitchen and the soaring knotty pine ceiling above.

I would paint before the plumbing fixtures and mirrors are installed. It's a PITB to paint behind a toilet. You can always touch-up the visible areas afterward.

Thanks for the all the feedback. A few comments: 1. The island will need to shrink. We like this example: 2. We originally had a door to the pantry that we decided to remove because we were concerned about losing shelf space (there’s already 1 door from the kitchen). 3. We wanted the flex room to face the pool and not the street for better view and privacy. 4. Flex room bathroom and closet will get switched and that entire area will need to be revamped. 5. The mud room entrance comments were interesting. Where else would you position the door? 6. My wife and I need our own closets for a happy marriage... :-) 7. Yes, mixing between traditional exterior and a modern interior is hard... 8. I’ll need to double check the natural lighting in the kitchen. All the windows in that areas face east but with the porch roof it may not be enough.