To the right of my refrigerator is an oversized walk-in pantry. There are temporary shelves in there now... someday soon we'll have cabinets and nice shelving and I'll share those pics as well :)

Here are my pendants with 8' ceilings:

I agree with raenjapan, it looks good as long as they aren't massive.

(the image is linked to the blog post)

Since I've been without a dishwasher, I've cracked down on the number of cups used in a day, but there are still too many.

"Here's a poultice formula for coffee:
Make a solution of 20-30% peroxide (available at beauty supple places...wear gloves Mine is called Salon Care 30Extra Lift Volume Creme. Bought it at Sally's Beauty Supply Store.) and a few drops of ammonia. Then mix in some sort of WHITE "material;" e.g., paper towel, napkin, tissue. Make only enough to cover the stain. It should be paste-like (consistency of peanut butter).
Wet the stained area with distilled water. Pre-wetting fills the pores of the stone with water isolating the stain and accelerating the removal by the chemical.
Apply the poultice to the stain being careful not to spill any on the non stained areas. Apply approximately 1/4-inch thick over-lapping the stain area by about one inch.
Cover the poultice with plastic (food wrap works great). Tape the plastic down to seal the edges. It also helps to poke several small holes in the plastic so that the powder will dry out. Failure to do this may result in the poultice staying wet.
Allow the poultice to dry thoroughly. This is a very important step. The drying of the poultice is what pulls the stain from the stone into the poultice material. If the poultice is not allowed to dry, the stain may not be removed.
Drying usually takes from 24 to 48 hours.
Remove the poultice from the stain. Rinse with distilled water and buff dry with a soft cloth. If the stain is not removed, apply the poultice again. It may take up to five applications for difficult stains.

Here's some additional tips!
For the "white stuff" you are going to use for your poultice powder base ... get some diatomaceous earth ("DE"). You can get this really CHEAP at a pool supply store or free if you know someone with a pool that uses it. It is used in some pool filtering equipment. I went to the pool supply store and they gave me some since all I wanted was a small amount.
Good info on stain removal:
From www.stone-panels.com/details/stains.doc
Iron (rust) - Poultice with Oxalic Acid + Powder + Water. May also try a product called Iron-Out (available at hardware stores). Both mixtures may etch polished marble, so re-polishing will be necessary.
Ink - Poultice with Mineral Spirits or Methylene Chloride +Powder.
Oil - Poultice with Ammonia+ Powder Methylene Chloride can also be used on tough oil stains.
Coffee, Tea & Food - Poultice with 20 percent Hydrogen Peroxide + Powder.
Copper - Poultice with Ammonium Chloride + Powder
Paint (water-based) - poultice with a commercial paint remover + Powder
Paint (oil) - Poultice with Mineral Spirits + Powder. Deep stains may require Methylene Chloride.
HTH
MaryT"

Hope that helps!! Good Luck!!

Don't laugh, but I often give them to people along with a print out of this:

Care of microfiber cleaning cloths:

Wash separately (you can hand wash them). Especially do not wash with towels (they pick up lint and it ruins their lint-free properties). I use hot water and a small amount of soap when I hand wash and I rinse thoroughly. However, I have so many of them now that I usually use the washing machine to do a load of just microfibers. (I have two microfiber mops with removable mop pads that I can throw into the washing machine. I use them as dust mops and to wet mop my hardwood floors and my kitchen floor.)

No fabric softener of any kind!! (IT RUINS THEM.)

No bleach (except on the microfiber dish cloths which you can purchase at Target).

No cleaner is necessary when using microfiber cloths (in fact glass will be cleaner just using water because it stops the build up of stuff on the glass). However, you can use cleaners with them if you wish.

If you don’t want to dry what you just wiped, do not overwet the cloth. Barely damp works best and you don’t get any streaking. Really wring the dishcloths out well before you wipe the stove top and it will not streak at all.

Wet one microfiber cloth to wash the windows, use a dry one to dry. It is so fast and easy to get clean windows. THESE CLOTHS ARE REALLY GREAT TO DO A QUICK CLEANING JOB ON YOUR PATIO OR SLIDING GLASS DOORS. ONLY TAKES MINUTES.

I use them on the bathroom mirrors immediately after showering while they have condensation on them and I also wipe down the tile after showering (it only takes a second). I keep two in the cabinet under my sink and I have one hanging in my shower. They air dry very quickly.

They are great to use to do a quick clean on the bathroom sink after I dry my hair and put on my makeup.

Great to shine up appliances with little or no effort. Try on the washing machine, the dryer, the refrigerator. Excellent on stainless steel surfaces for all those pesky finger prints. Great for granite too.

Perfect for TV and computer screens (use barely damp).

If you have a glass shower enclosure, try wiping that down after showering.

They also work well as dustcloths or you can attach it to your swifter and use it as a dustmop.

The small eyeglass microfiber cloths, which have a much finer nap, are great for glass knick knacks.

Great for cleaning your car (both for washing it and drying it). You can really clean the car windows fast with microfibers if you need a quick windshield cleaning done. I keep a couple in the car in a plastic bag to wipe the condensation off of the outside windows and mirrors on dewey mornings.

Thanks for asking. The movers arrived on Monday with our stuff. Very exciting to be reunited with my things. What a thrill to have more than one pot to cook in! Got the kitchen unpacked as they were moving our stuff in. So, it was great to get one room "done". Of course, there is some tweaking to do regarding items and their locations.

Builder still has a punch list to complete. But we are so happy to be out of temporary housing. Here are some pictures.....I'll post more later.

I have been comparing prices between four or five companies over the last few weeks-months and I decided to go with Mid State because their prices on the 6 Square cabinetry line were amazing! $5300 for a 12x12 kitchen for white painted maple APC.

Apparently they were too good to be true. After I've basically finalized my kitchen design-ready for measurements and putting down a deposit-I get a call today with the final bid--$9000! I had made minor tweaks to the design: and that's almost twice as much!

I'm so angry I could spit. The KD says he didn't realize his software for 6 Square was outdated because they don't sell too much and apologized, but I don't think I can go further with them. Who knows what other mistakes could happen down the line . . .

DH isn't that surprised and couldn't care less. I figured someone could relate here! It's just so frustrating to go back and forth so as to get a good comparison apples to apples on different lines to make an educated decision and then basically be thrown a loop!

Now it's back to the drawing board. I wanted to do a full price comparison at some point on here or my basic 12x12 L + island white painted maple APC kitchen: Same design given to everyone. Doesn't include installation, only delivery.

Brookhaven: ~$13000
Crown Point: told they couldn't do my kitchen for less than $15,000 when I said I was hoping to keep it under or around $10k
Adelphi: ~$12500
6 Square: $9000
Cabico Espresso: $8000
Lowe's Kraftmaid: $8500
HD Thomasville: $8500

Heritage Cabinets: local cabinet maker-$13000-KD doesn't like white cabinets, kept trying to convince me to go with cherry to reduce the cost. Came to house to discuss design--overall very nice experience!! But lead-time was 12-14 weeks

Country craftsmen: only did one design (I changed my mind and they will only give one estimate for free), but it was very large and $10,000. It's a shame they won't do more than one because I think they are a great reasonable company, but I couldn't put a deposit down on a design I hadn't seen yet. Go to them last for an estimate.

The pro/cons I found were:

HD/Lowes: discounts, sales, the ability to pay interest free with a credit card over 6-12 months, questionable KD, questionable installers (luck of the draw), questionable product

Mid-state: very affordable, not reliable, door styles for 6 square and Cabico expresso are limited and no solid wood doors, great price for APC

Brookhaven (Kitchen Associates in Sterling, MA): great product, limited door styles in basic price, upcharges for APC and paint, great installers

Adelphi (Ideal Kitchens in West Boylston): great family owned, local company, similar product to Brookhaven, but more door styles available for same price, discounts (currently) on paint and APC