Accommodating a visual learner

If you take your measurements to Home Depot or Lowe's, they will turn them into a 3-D mockup of your room. In a matter of a couple hours, we had our entire kitchen laid out and in a visual-learner-friendly format.

Then we picked and chose what cabinets we wanted where.

Special features of our kitchen include:

• Floor to ceiling 12" deep pantry - to maximize the space we added storage by using cabinets in between the windows
• Shelves in the corner - instead of a large corner cabinet we chose open shelving to break up the cabinet-heavy walls; cheaper than glass cabinet doors
• Corner sink - by putting the sink in the corner instead of within the island, we were able to fit a hidden trash cabinet and a stack of four small drawers against the knee wall
• Wine cooler shelf - a base cabinet with an open shelf and lower drawer will provide a place to tuck away our wine cooler
• Microwave cubby - a cubby with a cabinet door that flips up was a more attractive option to us than a garage door
• Big drawers - on either side of the range, we chose drawers instead of cabinets for easier access to pots and pans
• Cabinet moulding - small decorative moulding in between the two upper cabinets will add a little texture and break up the cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling