Love having a soap dispenser--couldn't wait to have one (esp each time the dish soap bottle tipped over or fell into the sink!). Our is hooked up to a Never M-T and a giant bottle of Palmolive so refills only necessary once or twice a year at most.

We don't miss the side sprayer. We have a Grohe LadyLux Cafe faucet w/ pull-down spray head. We weren't drawn to its looks but went for function with this one, and it's been great so far.

HTH!

Love my pull down sprayers, and never liked any side spray we had.

Our soap dispenser is handy and better than a bottle beside the sink.

We do have odd supplies of glasses and cups and it does bother me in our open mug shelves in the coffee spot, and in the cabinet that will have glass...or maybe something like mesh, so I don't have the fingerprint issue and the price of specialty glass. I got rid of some of our mugs and got new matchers...But then there are the odd ones that keep showing up. It's like patina, only in serveware, I think...You have to be able to accept the fun of the haphazardness and see it as a plus.

I thought about some sort of garage for our toaster oven and baking area appliances, but decided I wanted clear access to the blender and mixer...and although I wanted to cover the toaster oven, knew the door would be open most of the time, so why bother?

I love our soap dispenser--it keeps the kitchen sink area looking less cluttered. Ours fills from the top, and I think I fill it every 4-5 months. Since it's easy to fill, it's no big deal.

We have a side sprayer--because my husband likes them :-)

Love my soap dispenser! I agree with everyone that it definitely helps me eliminate messy, tacky looking soap bottles from the counter.

Love my side spray! Have never used a pull-out/pull-down faucet and never used the cheap and broken side spray I inherited with my old kitchen. However, with the remodel, I installed a Graff faucet and side spray. Both are heavy and extremely functional. Absolutely no regrets there.

Love my wall of glass cabs! It helps my small, galley-style kitchen look larger than had all the cabs been solids. It also provides a great way to display decorative dishware, cups and bowls, and other kitchen accessories.

LOVE my soap dispenser. Am planning one on each sink in new kitchen.

HATE side sprayer. Looking forward to pulldown in new kitchen.

DB and SIL have appliance garage. Holds a lot and they like it. I always see the door down when not in use, but they don't have any kids to suck up their door-shutting time. I dislike tambour doors and would do a flip-up if I had one.

Not sure if I could do open shelves. I'm neat enough for them. Rhome tells me that if you put items there used daily, they don't get dusty.

I might do glass cabs only if an area of uppers looked too heavy with solid doors and I was planning on storing something in that cab that would look nice anyway, i.e. not a mishmash of travel mugs.

Hated the side spray, love my pull down. Love my soap dispenser. Got some tubing from the hardware store for a dollar and connected it to my dispsenser and into a Costco bottle of soap and never think about it again for a LONG time.

I love having my toaster oven and coffee pot off of my kitchen counter and in on the pantry counter. In fact, I love having a walk in pantry with shallow shelving so that stuff doesn't get lost.

Three pair of glass-fronted cab uppers break up two walls that would otherwise have an awful lot of oak. We used a whitish matte semi-transparent glass, a good choice for us.

I love my soap dispenser. I currently have the little bottle it came with down there, but will switch to a NeverMT arrangement in the near future. I like having less stuff cluttering up the counter.

I also love my pull down faucet. Again, one less thing on 'deck'. It's nice to be able to pull it out to give my giant sink a good rinse. :-) I do not miss the side sprayer at all.

Cj

I didn't even consider a soap dispenser, I have a little metal covered with vinyl basket inside the sink door. Cheap at Menards. I can get a bottle of dish soap, a spray bottle and room for a third bottle of my choice. I like my seperate sprayer. I've had the pull out. I don't prefer one over the other. As for open shelves or glass doors...have you SEEN the inside of my cupboards? I am the only person who understands like with like. I spent an hour this afternoon looking for the pizza pan because all my other pans were full and I needed one. Never did find it. And that's why I'm never surprised at where I find things. A full unopened can of corn in the refrigerator? Yup. Glasses on two shelves and then plates and bowls on three shelves because there isn't enough room for them on the plate/bowl shelves with glasses there. I've learned to just move them myself. Every day if I have to. I junked a lot of mismatched stuff, too, and yet more of it reappears regularly. And my confession of buying pretty old plates one at a time. My toaster oven and microwave have their own area. The coffee pot is the only appliance on the counter. I would have liked an appliance garage but the door issue would arise here, too. It would never be shut if I didn't shut it.

It's so nice to hear all of your comments. DH's eyes are glazed over with all these questions because all he really cares about is if the remote for the TV is in it's usual place!

Does anyone have a rollout shelf on the counter that moves forward for use and slides back for appliances not in use like the coffee maker? My Keurig has to be pulled out to be used, and pushed back in daily. Is a pullout for this completely lazy?

never ending, I had to add this for your DH's benefit...I love having a 42 inch flat screen in the kitchen more than I would have ever imagined. My family ends up watching DVRed shows in there while I am cooking. I love the company!

I'll chime in to express my adoration for my soap dispensers and the NeverMT. In three years, I have replaced the giant bottle of soap exactly once, and I still have many months before it will need to be replaced again.

I also absolutely love my pull-down faucet and always hated the side sprays we have had. Of course, as marthavila noted, there are distinct differences in quality, and the side sprays I had were clearly low quality. So, it may not be a fair comparison. That said, my SIL has a high quality pull-out faucet that I can't stand. My pull-down is so much easier to use. I much, much prefer pull-DOWN to pull-OUT.

We had both open shelves and a glass-front cabinet built specifically to display our collection of Polish pottery. I am not nearly neat enough to use either for day-to-day stuff.

We use our corner lazy susan in place of an appliance garage, and it works great for us. I don't mind having the coffee maker and toaster out all the time, but the rest of my appliances would just make the place look junky. The lazy susan keeps everything very easily accessible without taking up valuable counter space.

I love soap dispensers and pull down faucets so much that the first thing we replaced when we moved into this house was the faucet.

It was an above mount sink with a side pull up sprayer. We put in a pull out faucet and put in a soap dispenser where ther pullout sprayer was. We kept the same fauscet and soap dispenser when we remodeled with granite and an undermount sink.

Filling my soap dispenser is easy because I can lift out the dipenser from the top and just add more through the top opening instead of getting under the sink and unscrewing the bottle to refill it. (I discovered that after the first time I crawled up under my sink.)

I could not live witout either.

I don't care for the look of appliance garages. I would rather see my toaster overn and coffee maker on my counter. I like looking at them.

Appliance garage: love love love it. But, what I have in there pretty much only I use so the door stays closed. I keep the food processer in there, can opener, hand held vacuum and charger and various other smaller things that come out when I use them and go right back in afterwards. The toaster and the coffee maker sit out on the counter and are used throughout the day so it makes more sense for us that way.

Soap dispenser: also love this. Makes life much easier and ours does fill from the top. We do fill it every month (?) or so but very easy to fill and much more convenient. Also less mess out there which is always a plus.

Side sprayer: we used to have one and now have a pull down which I prefer in looks. Would not want another hole in my granite by my sink - we already have the faucet hole, the soap dispenser hole and the instant hot hole.

Glass cabinets are beautiful if what you put in there is beautiful. My kids and hubby do put things away (and of course many times in the wrong place) and so we opted to only have glass in the area on the way to the dining room. There I just have display pieces that are pretty much only touched by me. Wish I had them in other spots - they look so pretty - but had to be practical and recognize my family for what they are... lol, slobs!

I am so glad to find out the soap dispensers are worth it!!! I have been looking online and by the looks of some people's glass cabinets every where in their kitchens I would have thought I was the only one in the world who has some junky junk in my cupboards! Thanks for making me not feel so alone!

Pinch-me, you aren't the one who put the corn in the fridge are you??? We often get milk in the cereal cupboard but never corn in the fridge!!! =)

I still haven't decided on the app. garage. I only have a bread basket, toaster, keurig, and a can opener in sight in the kitchen, but I hate to miss the boat on anything that will hide clutter, which makes me laugh about the glass doors because they show everything but are- oh- so- pretty- to look at!!!

I love my soap dispenser.

I am ambivilent about my side sprayer. It is less convenient than my old pull down, but the faucet is beautiful and it didn't come with a pull down - oh well.

We really thought about doing appliance garages. Spent a lot of time working on the design with them. We ended up spending LESS money by buying appliances that look lovely in the new kitchen counters instead of hiding the old ugly ones. We bought a nicer looking, new SS toaster and a black Kitchenaid mixer (had white). I actually saved hundreds of dollars by doing that instead. Plus, it worked better with the design and looks better in the kitchen. I don't mind having things out on the counter that I use a lot AND that look nice.

I'd never be without a soap dispenser. I have a pullout vs. pulldown faucet so can't speak to that and the only other thing on the list that I have is glass cabinets. I like them but I have clear glass, lighted. If I want to turn the lights on and have it look nice I have to clean not only the glass but the contents on a regular basis. So I don't turn the lights on as often as I would have thought because I'm not inspired to clean all the rarely used glassware all that often.

Apparently I didn't read the original questions very well! Sorry...here's my real answers:

Appliance garage?

I went with a walkin pantry that has my coffee pot and toaster oven for every day use there. I love that. My parents initially thought it sounded crazy too, but they came on board once they were here and lived with it. No other appliances are out. I keep my kitchen aid mixer in a pull out shelf under the prep sink. The Cuisinart & blender are also in cabinets in the center island. I love not having stuff on my counters!

Soap dispenser?
I have one at the clean up sink and prep sink. It seems like I fill them up every 2 to 3 weeks. I am glad that I have them both and find them very useful.

Open shelves?
Only in the walk in pantry. I am not neat enough to have them in my kitchen.

Pull down faucet?
I have the same Grohe Bridgeford at both sinks. I haven't had any issues with it. It does not have a constant spray button, so you have to keep that button depressed if you want to use the spray function. It works well for me.

Glass cabinets?
I didn't even consider them. I think they are beautiful and lighten up the kitchen considerably. However, I don't have anything pretty enough to see through the glass, so it would be impractical for me.

My appliance garage. I love it. I also love my glass cabs and my soap dispenser.

I love my open shelves.

I'm glad I have a soap dispenser for dish detergent but I don't have one for hand soap. I prefer foaming hand soap-no regrets there.

Love my appliance garage but it only houses our toaster oven. And the doors are open most of the time but can be closed when we entertain.

My pull down faucet works very well. I do have a tiny bit of regret on not doing a bridge faucet. But that is for looks only.

I don't have glass front cabinets in the kitchen b/c of the open shelves but I do have some in the dining room. It's a nice way to break up long expanses of cabinetry.

I am not a neat person at all.

No appliance garage, so Hubs gave me a pretty cornflower blue Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas last year that I proudly leave on the counter. She matches my blue pearl granite. ;^) The coffee pot also stays out, but the toaster gets put away when not in use. If I had the counterspace to spare, though, I think I would have liked an appliance garage-- probably one with a hinged door that looked like the other doors.

Soap dispensers? Have two--one at each sink. Love them! They fill from the top and we have to refill probably once every other month or so. Very, very convenient and looks nice, too!

Open shelves? Just one, set back from over the fridge. I explain more about this area in the glass cabinets paragraph, but we took the doors off of this really hard to get at cabinet. I had the Hubster add wainscoting to the back of the cabinet, took the shelves out, filled the holes, and I use that open space to display some pretty, large serving pieces.

Pull-down faucet? I LOVE my pull-out faucet! When we gave our kitchen a mini refresh in 1999-2000, I got my first pull-out faucet. It was white, and I was IN LOVE. When we remodeled this time, I knew I wanted another pullout. I like that I can change the flow from stream to spray--and the intensity of the spray. I like that I don't have to hold the spray button, and I like that the spray is powerful enough to clean my sink and get gunk off my dishes. My side-spray from days gone by was pathetic. Yes, one of those cheap black plastic ones that kinda sputtered and spit at me. Like a wimp.

Glass cabinets? When we remodeled, I decided that I wanted to keep the cabinets on the fridge wall because they were set back into this wall niche and were custom built in this space. So I decided to paint them and add glass doors to them. I love how it turned out! I put my "good" Pfaltzgraff dishes in them and other pretty bowls and serving pieces. I think it looks really pretty.

Then I decided that the small cabinet over the dishwasher, but to the left of the window needed *something*, so I gave that a glass door as well. It only holds glasses, but I think it looks pretty as well and doesn't "box-in" the window.

I would not be one to put glass cabinets everywhere because I live with slobs. And I can sometimes include myself in that group. ;^)

Shelayne LOL! I know! I can be a slob too, but I don't count myself since I will pick up my messes along with another 2 or 3 that aren't mine!

I like your fridge idea and am thinking of going that route myself. As much as storage is important, so is prettiness when one is doomed to toil daily in the kitchen. Can you tell after 22 years of cooking I've hit a bump in the road? =)

After fighting with several cheap side sprayers our present one coast a pretty penny, but even this one dribbles water sometimes. A pull down would at least dribble into the sink, keeping water where it needs to be!

Soap dispenser? Love my soap dispenser and Never MT.

Pull down faucet? Love the look of my pull down faucet, not so much the splashing. Even with the splashing, it is still many times better than the old side sprayer. I only used that spray if I was desperate.

Glass cabinets? I like my glass cabinets, but they are really too small.