Eliza Cross

I promised to report back as I figured out this kitchen lighting dilemma. I've officially solved 1/3 of the problem. To date, I have removed two of the dark, old funky (and fake) beams in the kitchen, patched all the drywall and repainted. Then, my dad and I removed the horrible old light fixture that was hanging over the sink and replaced it with two cream frosted glass pendant lights with halogen bulbs. The light is so much better already, and I am encouraged. I already had paint and patching materials, so to date I have spent $90 on a tall ladder and $150 for the two Tiella pendant lights from The Great Indoors. (I'm also waiting for a $25 rebate, so the total cost will be $125. Lowe's had these lights for about $50 each, but as Murphy's Law would have it, they just stopped stocking them in my area.) I'll post a few photos as part of my progress report. Let's start with the "BEFORE" photo: Here's the same area with the new pendant lights: A close-up of the old light (brace yourself - it's reeeeeeallly ugly): And the new lights: There are still two more ugly fixtures to be removed. I purchased an 8-foot track lighting system, but ended up returning it because once I got it home it seemed like the height of the ceiling (15 feet) made it impractical. I'm still leaning toward recessed lights for the rest of the kitchen plus undercabinet lights. Juno makes a special recessed light for slanted ceilings and there are several online stores that sell the light plus trim kit for around $55 each. The big expense will be installation - the most recent estimate was $1300 to install 7 lights. Ouch! Stay tuned, and I deeply appreciate - and welcome - your thoughts and advice!

Several glasses of cold Coors draft beer at the wonderful dive Club 404 in Denver, to wash down a greasy bacon cheeseburger and crispy home fries served with gravy. (**burp**)

It seems like you followed the recipe to the letter, with a couple of exceptions. 1. It sounds like there may have been too much melted butter in your batch, given that you had to manually pour some of it in the bowl due to the size difference in sticks of butter. You halved the butter, but one size is not exactly 50 percent of the other, and from what you're describing it seems like the batter had too much fat content. 2. The oven temperature might have been too low. (Just curious - do you have an oven thermometer to check and see if your oven is really heating to the temperature the dial reads?) 3. Are you at sea level, high altitude, or somewhere in between? Altitude might have been a factor, in which case you might need to adjust the recipe. Don't you hate having to throw away something you've worked on for so many hours? I am so sympathetic!

Hoo, boy. The electrician is coming out to do an estimate next week, but the scheduler asked if there was attic space over the ceiling, which there isn't. She said recessed lights were going to be "tricky" on that ceiling. I'll report back, but I'm thinking "tricky" = "expensive," or perhaps, "impossible." So the next question is, does anyone have a good system of overhead kitchen lighting that might work on a slanted ceiling? I really appreciate all of your comments.

Now I feel guilty for saying fluorescents are ugly. JSD, thanks for the tip; I visited Bulbman.com and saw that they have full-spectrum fluorescent bulbs, which seems like a good idea for the kitchen.

Thank you so much for posting the photo, FG. Now I have lip envy -- like Anna's, the bottom of our cabinets are flush. To further complicate matters, there are two curved corners holding small shelves on one side of each of the rows of cabinets, that seem difficult to trim. But the price of those halogens, and easy availability of the bulbs, is really attractive. There has got to be a way. . . By the way, that strip of outlets along the top of your backsplash is genius.

I wasn't familiar with these lights, so I did an online search. Mott, I think this may be the perfect solution! Here's one supplier of Xenon lighting. (I found the lights spelled as both Zenon and Xenon, but infinitely more with the "Xenon" spelling.) They have these low-voltage strips that have a profile of just 7/8 inch in the front; do you think this would eliminate the need to add trim along the bottom of the cabinets?

I have a confession to make. While I like pot racks, and I certainly admire those who have pot racks, I myself am not a pot rack person. I'm one of those freaks who likes all the pots and pans and dishes and glasses nicely tucked away in cabinets. (Which means that if I bought the Form Nasielsky wineglass chandelier I'd have to stock it with glasses that were purely decorative, I guess.) Even though I don't like pot racks, will you still give me lighting advice? The exposed wiring ideas definitely gave me something new to think about. A drop ceiling is, I think, difficult if not impossible because the slanty ceiling runs the length of the house - and from the kitchen into an open family room. I'll call an electrician Monday and get an estimate on getting recessed lights installed. Anyone want to guess? How about this; the person who guesses closest to the actual estimate will win one of my 1970s light fixtures!!

Okay, most of the light fixtures at Ikea are only available in stores; however, I discovered Bellacor, which has a wide assortment of well-priced blown-glass pendant lights. There are a number of nice ones; the hard part will be narrowing down the choices. A few questions: Has anyone personally installed recessed lights, and if so, do you have any tips to share? With a slanted ceiling I'm thinking I might have to hire an electrician if I go this route. 6 or 8 can lights + slanted ceiling = expensive project, don't you think? Secondly, I looked at undercabinet lights and they all seem to have either halogen bulbs or fluorescent tubes. Based on everyone's comments, halogens are too hot. Fluorescents are ugly. Does anyone out there have undercabinet lighting they are happy with? Here's what I'm considering right now: Recessed lights over the counters, two or three fun & funky pendant lights over the peninsula, and some sort of ceiling light to fill in the shadows. And maybe some good undercabinet lighting if it's out there. Last question: Did anyone happen to see the Form Nasielsky wineglass chandelier in Food & Wine this month? I thought it was cool, albeit probably a dust magnet. $270 isn't bad, though...

No, the ceiling is angled up - the west side is about 8 feet tall, and the east side is about 13 feet tall. The two hanging lights don't line up at all. The more vertical one sort of hangs in the middle of the central work space, while the more horizontal one - the foreground in the second picture - is over a stainless steel table. HOWEVER, I should humbly mention that one of my newfound skills is patching drywall. There was a great article in a recent issue of American Handyman magazine (given the penchant for power tools on this site, should they rename it "American Handyperson"??) about how to do it. I just successfully patched two holes in the ceiling from last week's plumbing leak so I'm feeling confident - although, admittedly, I haven't tried an angled ceiling yet. Thanks for your thoughts; I'm off to the Ikea web site now to check out fun and funky fixtures. Here in Colorado we are severely deprived and we don't have Ikea yet, so I'll have to see what they have in the catalog.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that you can use inexpensive rope lights for undercabinet lighting. Has anyone every tried this?

Try the Cordon Rose Cream Cheesecake, and top it with the Fresh Blueberry Topping. You won't believe how good it is! Whenever I make this, even people who aren't big cheesecake fans love it and everyone always asks for the recipe. Plus it's really beautiful - a perfect dessert to bake for a special occasion. I'm making notes of everyone else's favorites to try, too!

Thanks, Anna. I have always admired those halogen fixtures but now I'll cross that option off my list. I am lusting after these pendant lights to hang over the "peninsula," part of the counter, but they are $280 each plus the canopy ($80 each) and installation -- probably in the neighborhood of $850 just for two lights that are more pretty than functional. *Sigh.*

I've gotten some terrific, practical kitchen design ideas by reading the eGullet boards and archives, so I thought I'd seek your collective wisdom about my latest dilemma. We moved eight months ago into a typical 70's suburban home, which I'm slowly fixing it up. The kitchen is pretty average-sized for that era, and has been updated. There were decent maple cabinets, I installed a new stove and refrigerator, and the countertops are practical - if bland - beige Silestone. The lighting, however, is atrocious. There are just two funky hanging fixtures and a 3-light number over the sink that is truly hideous (pictures to follow in a minute). I've been waiting to replace the lighting because I was trying to figure out how to camouflage the dark wood beams that grace the slanted ceilings. However, a local realtor recently told me that the beams were fake! So I carefully pried one off last weekend, and sure enough, it was a hollow artifice of three pieces of crumbly wood-grain-embossed fiberboardy stuff, painted dark brown. So my dad is going to help me remove the rest of the "beams" and then the lighting can be installed. My main priority is good, practical task lighting plus some ambient lighting for atmosphere. If the solution happens to add some flair or color to the kitchen, all the better. The house needs plenty of work so I can't spend a fortune on lighting. I love "do it yourself" projects and I'm game to tackle anything, but the most ambitious electrical project I've ever completed was installing dimmers. The slanted ceiling adds a challenging dimension. I welcome your ideas and promise to share the outcome with everyone. Now for the photos:

I just read this quote from interior designer Bev Adams, CKD, CBD: "[Granite] may look dated in the next decade. People are actually moving away from polished granite. Customers are beginning to prefer soapstone or honed granite." Anyone care to comment? Hmmmm....good thing we eGulleters care more about performance than being trendy.

Here are a couple of random observations. I have Silestone counters and I love them. They're a pale limestone sort of color, several years old, and despite some very heavy use they are stain free and look beautiful. What I discovered was that regardless of the material, a sizeable chunk of the cost is in the labor -- removing old countertops, leveling, installing a plywood base, making cuts for sinks and faucets, etc. The square foot cost of Silestone or even granite vs. Corian seems well worth the extra outlay. Save money by using a standard edge treatment, price out having your own people remove and haul away the old countertops, and install your own faucet. By the way, I was over at my neighbor's house recently and their 3-year-old Corian countertops look really dreary - scratched, dinged and sort of "hazy." Hope this helps - good luck!

I have corn holders (both the fork type and the screw type, in solid sterling silver -- bought for a song on eBay), corn dishes, buttering gadgets, corn-embroidered napkins and place mats, hand-painted corn Riedel wineglasses, salt and pepper shakers that look like ears of corn, and a special corn tassel brassiere that I always wear when I am shucking corn.

He is also a couch potato!! Or course, he hit the sauce pretty hard. . .

My ex-husband is a bad egg.

Lyle's Golden Syrup drizzled on crispy bacon. Lordy, it's good.

When I was in college, I liked Nilla Vanilla wafers with beer. Try it....you'll like it!

I made chipped beef on toast for dinner. I improvised on the chipped beef so it would be hard to share the exact measurements of the ingredients, but I'd be happy to share my toast recipe if anyone wants it.

Here's a frosting recipe that is so easy and amazingly good, especially if you like dark chocolate. Melt one 12-ounce package of good quality semisweet chocolate chips. Remove from the heat and cool briefly, then stir in a cup of sour cream until it's completely combined. Spread on the cake and let it cool. The frosting is dark and glossy, and it tastes so good you won't believe it. I serve this on a simple pecan cake that I split and fill with whipped cream flavored with a little grated orange zest.

Tostitos are my downfall.

Wow, some of these numbers are staggering! 308 for me.