I would go with a kingston valance or a murphy valance. I would tint your windows with 3M to protect your wood, rugs and furniture.

A friend did the murphy in an alcove similar to yours and a matching one was made over the sink.
Murphy

I had a kingston valance in my kitchen, you can always have the sides hang down further.

I love your kitchen ! How about curtains with grommets for the door so you can open/close. Roman shades for the sides? I would love a fabric with some of that mustard yellow from the canisters.

I'm sorry about your Dad. My Dad has Alzheimers. Still functions well but everyday is a new experience. We just found out that he's reached his max on insurance coverage for medication for the year...it's only May!

Love the Kingston for the kitchen!

Gorgeous gk, thanks!

mlraff53, would the Romans go inside or out? Sorry about your dad too. Aren't these prices ridiculous?? I just got his hospital bill for his short stay before he was transfered to his sheltered care. Pharmacy alone was over $3000, huh?? $2300 for an MRI. They pay $90 for one in Japan. Total bill...$32,000. I'm ready to "spit teeth" as my mom used to say. What on earth do people who can't afford insurance do?
They used to be able to file bankruptcy. Now they just get hounded for the rest of their lives, I guess.

I would like them on the inside. You need some more photoshop help

Does anyone have suggestions for things to put above the cabinets? Am I the only one bothered by the empty space to the right of the refrigerator? So many of my favorite things from the old house don't seem to fit here. What about the knob and pull?

I just have so much to do in this house and not enough time or energy. Thought I'd get back to the kitchen because summer's coming and that means sun beating down on the floors.

Thanks

I'm bumping this up because I still need help. Refer to Brutuses post in conversations and pleaee help her, too. We're in the same boat.

Thanks

I love the valances gk posted, expecially the one that fits across the windows and door. That is a really neat treatment. Although you said you need to protect the floors so you need something substantial to block the sun. I guess you could use some type of drape or curtain for the slider that you could pull to the right and when you need to protect from the sun you can close them. Then treat the little windows with the same fabric, but a different style curtain.

You know where you might find some inspiration is on a fabric pattern web page. One I just purchsed some window curtain patterns from is SewingPatterns.com

As for the top of the cabinets you might want to put some greenery, either good fake or real, ivy of some sort that would drape. Try to get some items up there to bring color up to the top of the cabinets so the eye will travel up there. Fiesta ware are nice pieces that bring lots of color. Do you have enough room to display plates on plate stands? What about a rooster or two? You can find them most times that are very colorful.

Do you have lights installed on the top of the cabinets?

By the way your kitchen is beautiful. Love those floors.

Thanks for bumping this up brutuses, I was too embarrassed to do it one more time and just gave up. Figured everyone must think my kitchen was beyond help.

I have 14" above the shorter uppers and 9" above the higher. Tops are recessed also so plate racks would work. I was hoping to soften it up with greenery but there's been so much controversy about artificial, I wasn't sure.

No lighting hardwired up there and because of a mix-up with the builder that they didn't want to rectify, we have an outlet up top but no switch down below. :(

DH is really after me to pick out knobs and pulls, too.

Thanks, you're a doll! I figured that was you bumping this up. :)

parma, so the outlet is not wired, is that what you're saying? If your DH or you want to do this, you could put lights up there and run the wires down through a cabinet, to an outlet that's available on your backsplash. Just a thought.

Don't worry about what some people say about artificial. If they look nice and are kept clean there is nothing wrong with artificial especially for a spot on top of cabinets.

Sorry, I forgot to comment on your selection of knobs and pulls. Those you show look really nice and look like they'll match the other iron in the room.

After I sent the last post I was thinking about your little side windows. Some shades made in a fabric like the one you chose for the slider, with a little valance would look really pretty. Also, a simple roman shade with an inside mount would look nice.

Thanks again. All of your suggestions are great. Now I can get started with a bit more confidence.

I didn't explain the lighting very well. We have an outlet that IS wired but no switch like we thought we were getting. That means if I want to have lighting up there, I have to get out the ladder to plug and unplug.

OK, then that's not a problem. If you don't mind leaving it lit 24/7 that is. I leave my undercabinet flourescent sink light lit 24/7, now for 20 years. I need it during the day and like it for a night light at night.

Of course I'm not sure flourescent lighting would look good up there. I'm not sure how safe or smart it is to leave any other type of lighting on 24/7, but I will investigate that option and let you know if I find out something that will be helpful.

Then of course, you could do that running of the wire through the cabinet as a final option. Some kind of way you need to get light to the top of the cabinet to show case your items.

I can't add to the valance or lighting issues, but I did want to say what a rich and warm kitchen you have! The paint, wood and granite work so well together.

You have a lovely home. I think the kingston valance posted above would look beautiful in your nook. Regarding the sun, have you considered putting in a pergola/arbor on the outside by the slider? That could help to shield the sun on the inside as well as provide a nice place to gather outdoors. I can see you have a wonderful yard. I really don't see any heavy treatments there. It would just ruin the look, your view and hide the mouldings. I don't know about you, but I love a Southern exposure in the winter too. Regarding the refrigerator being off center, I did not notice it until you mentioned it, but IRL I know that would bother me also. I would like to see something hanging on the right side. This could be 3 small plates or pictures hung one below the other. I have learned in my house and decor while it is not always possible to achieve symmetry, we can make up for lack of symmetry with a sense of balance.

Parma, your kitchen is really lovely. You almost can't go wrong with any WT. I will check back on this thread tomorrow!~

Red

Parma42, I love yoru kitchen and would love to know what the wall color is, the color/stain on the cabinets and what wood it is. I also love your counters but I can't update that yet but I know I must stain my oak cabinets that are warn out and I want them to be a warm color like yours.

I wish I had suggestions for window treatments but I have no window in my kitchen so I do not know what would work but maybe 2" Ivory blinds (maybe cloth type that close and open that are softer) with a valence or just a valence if you do not need privacy?

So nice to get up and see so much feedback!

Kim and Red, thanks for the kind words.

Val, we just moved into a new subdivision and the yard really isn't very nice. No trees or shrubs yet and we can see directly into the neighbors back. Just met them saturday as they were having a fence built but we can still see each other. Glad we have similar concerns about privacy. DH has always been intrigued by pergolas so maybe that WILL work. Thanks for understanding about the right side of the fridge. That does bug me and you have given me great ideas.

Lynn, the wall color is SW Blonde, the cabs are made by a Chicagoland company and are maple, stained in a color called cafe, hardwood by a company called Muskoka (Tembec?)out of Canada and are ash stained in chestnut. I have the builder's decorator to thank for the floors. We kept choosing a warmer color and she said with the windows we have that they would be too red. The sample looked sooo cool toned but once down she was 100% right. Sadly, the housing recession caused her to be let go and now design help is being offered by the sales staff after one day of training. I wouldn't let those girls design a dog house.

Just a quick suggestion for lighting above the cabs: You could get LED rope lighting and leave it on 24/7. It's VERY inexpensive to operate LED's and they have a very, very long lifespan. I think it would be a great option for you!

Hoosiergirl, that's a great suggestion! You mean the type that's used for Christmas rope lighting, right? I'm going to bring that up to DH when he gets home. I'll just have to reassure him that it's safe and the house won't burn down lol. He has this weird habit of following me around, unplugging things.

Parma42, yes, some of it is used for Christmas rope lighting, but there is regular incandescent rope lighting and LED rope lighting. The LED rope lighting is more expensive BUT it costs much less to operate is completely safe to leave on and the bulbs last 100,000 hours (that's like 10 years)! I think that the regular rope lighting is safe to use as well, but not as energy efficient.

As a comparison, the regular rope lighting I found online is about 2 - 5 watts per foot and is rated for 25,000 hours. The LED rope lighting is 0.80 watts per foot and is rated for 100,000 hours.

I hope it works out for you!

Gotcha! Thanks!

You can also use a remote switch for the upper lighting...
It has a component that plugs into your outlet, then the lights plug into it. It has a small remote control that you can stash in a drawer, and turn the lights off and on as needed. The components are available in any electronics store. I think Radio shack even has them. We use two of them for lamps in our den....can be turned off and on from several rooms away. We keep the control for one lamp in the bedroom and the other is located in the garage, so that we do not have to enter a dark room.
You could also put the light string on a timer and plug it into the outlet. The lights could come on at dusk and go off when you go to bed or at dawn.

Wow, thanks! Just told DH and he had never heard about it either.