It sounds to me like your best bet is good (quality) old fashioned roller shades. They can be completely opened for no obstruction of view or light and will also give you complete privacy at night. However I'd suggest investing in custom if you plan on using them for a long time. If you buy the cheapies for now you'll probably have to hand roll them before long and with having to reach over more than the full depth of the counter I'd think twice about that.
Looks like you'll have a beautiful kitchen we you are finished though. I do hope you keep us up to date with the rest of your project!

Would dark bamboo shades work? They would pick up on the dark spots in the granite and the natural aspect works well with your beautiful cabinets. Then your wall color choice is wide open - you could go deep red for a warm kitchen or a very light neutral gray-green or pale taupe for a more open feel. Good luck and have fun!

A counter top is normally 25" deep and the window sill is 11" deep, so you have a total of 36" - is that correct? If so, how to do intend to reach the top of the window in order to raise and lower the window coverings? I think this needs to be considered when trying to decide what type of window coverings to purchase.

What about buying the temporary paper blinds. I know people who put them up temporarily and still have them 3 years later. They look nice and are inexpensive.

I would probably go with nice wooden blinds or shutters in that kit. maybe add a valance, for color..

Thanks for all the responses.

As far as reaching the window covering (to shut it), yes, it will be a far reach, but do I have any other option? If there is one, I don't know of it. My husband can reach I know that, and if I have to sit on the counter to shut it (I really don't think I will have to), then that's what I will have to do I guess :-). I am not sure of anything that opens and closes from the bottom - keeping in mind I am looking for inexpensive!

I really like the bamboo idea, I just didn't know if it would be OK to bring in another wood.

I will look into the paper blinds idea too - I haven't heard of such a thing, but will be looking into it now.

Thanks very much!

These are more expensive than roller blinds, but they come in white.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cape Cod Bamboo

Hi Needsometips08,

Here are some images that come to mind for your beautiful
kitchen window. I love shades, fabric, curtains and
any window treatment to add style, color, texture or
fun.
So forgive my suggestions if they annoy you.
~boxerpups

Okay these are mine, couldn't help myself.

Look for inexpensive cellular blinds, and mount them on the wall above the opening to the window. They can ususally be raised up so that they are only a few inches when completely opened. By mounting them on the wall above the window, you will be able to raise and lower them easily.

Given the width of the window, you will need to do three shades - one would be too heavy and too wide, I believe - and you would never find something inexpensive in that size.

You would still be able to mount a valance to cover the top of the blinds, you would just need to be sure it was away from the wall a bit on a rod or built out on a box to allow clearance for the blinds.

Keep in mind that with the sink there, you are going to want to stay away from anything that can be watermarked easily. Not sure paper blinds are the answer.

So this is where it gets tricky - my window isn't neatly broken into 3 parts like the software shows - it's a normal window with 20" screened sliders on each side. I could still hang 2 rollers or blinds, but the break would be in the middle where the window is a sheet of open, uninterupted glass.

Or I could hang 3 and each side portion would be 20" - would that work better? It seems like it might.

Boxerpups, thanks for the pictures, I especially love the last one, but I think it would have to hang on the wall about 12" away from the glass - as les917 mentioned. I would put the roller or blinds or something behind the valence.

But would that look funny with the actual glass being a foot behind the valence? Maybe I could hang a rod that connects to the sides of the sill somehow (like shower curtain rod does). But the other aspect is that we desparately need light. This window faces north west and gets no direct light so it always feels a little too dark in my kitchen. Thus the 8' window! Any valence will have to be as small as it can get without looking odd.

Oh dear,this is tricky!

justgotabeme, thanks for the link. I am keeping that as a potential option.

You can get a roller blind or a venetian blind with a cord loop control. So you can put the blind all the way up but the loop control stays the same length. No long string hanging down when its up, nothing out of reach when its closed. Unless you can get one big blind, I would treat each window separately according to their individual sizes.

Draw drapes in a great kitchen fabric would do the trick but then again they would be pricey unless you know someone who sews. How about a cafe curtain and a valence?

If you really want to make it easy to raise and lower the window coverings, you could get remote control shades. Not cheap, but good for hard-to-reach places.