Wow, that's a shame. Id go to Home Depot and pick up a stack of kitchen mags and or those soft cover books they have?

Or send her away for a weekend at a hotel w free WIFI!

A large pad of graph paper and lots of pencils & erasers! :-)

mtnrdredux-I saved all the kitchen remodel mags I had-I didn't find you guys here until our plan was a done deal. I plan to give her all those.

buehl-good idea! She's a frustrated architect anyway (she's a PT like me-we used to work together) She loves graph paper.

Wow! Here's the problem, I think once she spends 5 minutes on garden web she's going to blow her allotted time anyway!

You are a dear friend. I think magazines are great because she will need to find some inspiration pics and ideas in order to determine what she wants. It sounds like you have all of the good threads covered...

I think what you're doing is a wonderful idea! Maybe look through the FKB for some kitchens with layouts similar to her's. Also, once she has an idea of what style she likes, find pics in the FKB that give her further inspiration in her style.

I've never heard of an internet plan like that, but I'm so glad we don't have it!

Invite her to your house and surf the garden web together!

She may be able to go to her public library and look at the FKB. In my little town in the boonies the library is only open a few hours per week, but they deliberately leave their wi fi hot spot connection on 24/7. Now that it's warmer, it's common to see folks sitting on the library steps or in their cars using laptops and the free wi-fi, even when it's closed.

Maybe her local library does the same thing?

The other thing you could do is download great swathes of the FKB on to a memory stick and give that to her. She could then look at it to her heart's content since it would be on her hard drive, not on the internet.

L

There was a post not too long ago about favourite internet sites. How about a list of those so that she doesn't have to waste time surfing and looking for sites. eg. for inspiration Houzz, appliance sites, lighting sites, FKB., layout sites,

Before I discovered GW, I persued book stores & libraries for Kitchen books and most were well - meh - uninspiring, dull, vanilla, nothing special. With one exception - I LOVED Lyn Peterson's Real Life Kitchens. She doesn't obsess on the anachronistic kitchen work triangle and instead celebrates kitchen form and function in a unique and creative fashion that strongly resonated with me. I loved her combined whimsy and pragmatism. She's an established kitchen designer, and I was impressed to the extent that she divulged her insight. Often times, authors hold back on their trade secrets except to their high paying clients. Not the case here. I learned so much.

I renewed the book twice from the library. Drooled over pictures, absorbed as much knowledge as I could.

I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone considering a kitchen remodel, but especailly to someone who didn't have access to GW.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Favorite Kitchen Book

Hey, the cover of that book has a window behind the range? Someone was just asking about that.

Oh, man-you guys all have great ideas!! I had thought of the library as well, and loading things onto a memory stick would be a great thing to do. I agree that a lot of books aren't that helpful- I'll have to check out Lyn Peterson's. And though our houses are about a half an hour apart, they are coming over on Saturday night for her birthday celebration, so maybe I can show her some GW things online then.

I know I'd be owing the big bucks to my internet provider if I had a plan like that-just based on my GW time alone . . .

A copy of this. Most useful kitchen book ever.

Here is a link that might be useful: MY Favorite Kitchen Book

And on page 3(?) a picture of a sink off-center to the window, which people often ask whether or not that is ok

Someone else's suggestion recently: a book of coupons for restaurants! Though if your friend "lives in the boonies" maybe that's not so good. Still, maybe if there's even just one place, a gift certificate for there?

Don't forget one of those organiztional file folders for her to store pics, downloads, ideas according to topc.

remodelfla-I did get her a purple (her favorite color) fake alligator (crocodile?) folding file organizer with a handle that looks like a fancy schamncy purse type dealy-bob (sorry to be so technical).

aliris-she had us for dinner several times last summer when we were in remodel mess mode, so I plan to do the same for them-but that's a good idea too.

Hey leela - you can formalize it with, dunno "coupons" for dinner at your house - she can "play" one when she's most-low. Extending that kind of formal informal invitation (drop in when you're at your lowest ebb) could be a really nice 'safety net' present...

OK - I'm about to vent a teensy little internal hurt. Not one single neighbor of ours for 16 years on this street, for whom I have worked so many countless hours in "public good" mode - not a single one has ever once invited us to a meal while we (w/2 children) have had no kitchen for 8 months.

:) Oooo it feels good to sniff about this to strangers! This is, as they say, a city of people who want to have no neighbors. It is an inhospitable place (at least in my neck of this vast metropolis).

So: that's preaching to the converted anyway: *you* would obviously have her over already anyway. But still, I think formalizing the awareness that sometimes you can't even anticipate when that hand-up might be needed, could be helpful.

and, btw, it wasn't my idea. Can't remember whose - maybe lavenders'?

aliris-I know how you feel about not having neighbors invite you over-we've lived here for almost 31 years and most of the neighbors I was friends with have moved. OT-I had to be out of town 3 years ago for 9 weeks when my daughter had twins and not one of our friends invited DH over for a meal. He says it ws because it was the dead of winter and he's not that social (ha), but I was a little hurt by that (he wasn't).

Making my own coupons for her is another great idea-and to make sure she knows I mean anytime at all.