It's sunny outside and the light is streaming into the kitchen. I'm not alone. I'm cooking for someone. Or maybe a few people. We are about to eat French food or something healthy. Maybe it's onion tart. And I made the crust. Or else soup, and I saved all the vegetable ends and made my own stock. And remembered to use it before it got frostbitten.

There's music playing, but not too loud. It reminds me of being twenty-eight.

MORE IF YOU CLICK ON PINK LINK BELOW...

Okay, I'm getting the single Domsjo sink from Ikea. Now dealing with the cabinet issue. Just think how sad I am that I can't have the double one like Kate F does! Kate, where'd you get that cabinet?

Susan and I had this exchange. She said:

I'm thinking this...you have 43" for the sink. How about a 12" cabinet wtih roll out shelves and a 30" sink cabinet?

Was thinking of "different" like file cabinets with small drawers in one side of that spot, or a movable cart, this way you get ample storage space.

The 30" cabinet would be for the sink. The other smaller cabinet could be next to the wall or between the sink and the stove. The sink (usually around 24") could be positioned toward one side of the cabinet to give you more counter space, for example, if it's next to the wall.

I said:

Oh, duh, so I just need a minimum of 24 inches for my cabinet if I'm getting the Domsjo single sink. Now I get it. Do you think it's okay to mix IKEA sink and Home Depot cabinets? Do you think one's better than the other?

SUSAN'S SAGE ADVICE CONTINUED IF YOU FOLLOW THIS LINK.

Susan Serra's been raising a lot of interesting issues re: the kitchen renovation. And she did this drawing. Think you can click on that image to see it full size.

She said:

When I look at the picture toward the window, what I get is a long/narrow/confined feeling. What I want to feel is the room more squared off, more wide. To give that feeling, I thought of a bench, and this IKEA one has storage in it.

Then, you could get a white table, narrow...maybe only 28" wide. Like this (paint the legs white) or this one, which you don't have to paint the legs white.

You could put up a chair rail molding and paint some sort of raggy/stripey (in a horizontal) pattern which will continue to exploit square, rather than narrow. Just on that back wall.

I also get the feeling that when I go into this room, I want a payoff. The window isn't enough. And, the window is fine...it has brick behind it, which is warm, the black fire escape goes with the black trim across the way and the black window trim...all that coordinates well. But, the window needs assistance, it can't stand alone, doesn't do the job!

This could end up being a mini hang out place for you. If we pushed the bench/table closer to the wall, you could prop a few big pillows against the wall, put your feet up on the bench and relax with a book/magazine or laptop. Do a little work there...you have to visualize potential lifestyle scenarios, and just because you haven't thought of the kitchen in this way before, doesn't mean there are not awesome possibilities for another place in your apartment to go to when you feel like hanging out...in a different way! Having multiple relaxing/work/hang out options in your apartment is cool!

...and he left this pretty wallpaper strip hanging in the hallway. Any idea where he got it?

Guess who drinks Nescafe frappes whenever she gets a chance? Guess who made herself plain macaroni and arugula for dinner tonight? Guess who has a disaster in her kitchen right now? Not The Kitchen Designer, Susan Serra. Oh no siree, not Susan. My hero, my lifeline on a Saturday night.

Susan's going to whip me and the kitchen into shape in no time. Tonight she suggested a curtain for beneath the sink. I said I wanted country, quirky, retro style, but then I nixed the idea. But what do you guys think?

I finally got the shag into the living room. What do you think?

As I composed this picture, I realized suddenly that I really need a bigger lamp for the side of the couch near the window, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Tell that to the people that stuck me in AP Calculus in 12th grade...

Here's a closer (but apparently still imperfect) floorplan. At least I remembered where the door and the window are this time.

My mother keeps quotes taped to the refrigerator. One of them is supposedly from Goethe: Measure your cloth three times before you cut it. Or something like that. I must have read it a dozen times a time for ten years, but I still go and do things like pull up the tiles on the kitchen floor with no plan.

But, dear readers, you've urged me to measure and draw. And so I have. Here, on lined paper, on the back of my calculations for how much the new sink is going to cost, is my kitchen layout. Susan Serra, Kitchen Designer extraordinaire (remember her retro kitchen gallery on her blog?) is going to help. Phew.

Note the sink next to the stove. I hate that, but there's not much I can do about, is there?

Isaac's been trying to get me to think about a hack that would look more retro than a regular old IKEA cabinet. But I think I kind of like this one. Seems like a little butcher block on either side would be nice, or at least on the left between the sink and stove would be nice. Is this the right color for cabinets if the rest of mine are white? Or should I just get white laminate ones?

I swear I saw this cabinet somewhere but now all I can find on the IKEA site is this double cabinet. Hmmm.

Forty-three inches, that's what I have to work with for my sink and the cabinets around it. So, I think the double Domsjo sink from IKEA isn't going to work in my kitchen. I thought I'd just post how I think I have to buy the single, but then I Googled Domsjo sink. Yikes. Look what they say on GardenWeb--it rests on cabinets on both sides. I thought I'd use butcher block countertops, but I don't know if I have much room for counters on both sides. So much to learn.

Has anyone used this sink with a non-IKEA cabinet? IKEA-hacker has a few ideas.