What to do, what to do

When we first moved in to our house, there were no appliances, not even a stinkin' stove. We pretty much had to eat out everyday for the first two weeks until we got all our appliances in. Here's what it looked like before, bare bones and all:

Luckily, we were able to find the perfect appliances. My husband wanted stainless steel, but I thought that black appliances would go great with the granite (I'm still happy with my choice, I love our kitchen!):

A few friends have wanted to steal my ideas (I don't call it stealing, I call it a compliment) about what to put on the kitchen counter. So, here's what I have on them today.

Don't you hate it when you're cooking and following a recipe and all of a sudden your cookbook closes, you lose your place, and you try to open it back up with all the gunk on your fingers? As much as I love this part of my day, I figured there had to be a solution. So, I went shopping in my house and found a great easel that I got from TaiPan (a wholesale decorating store. I think I bought it for like $5) and Voila! My solution. It holds the cookbook open and looks awesome. I like it so much, I keep it opened all the time!

Then I had to find a solution for my coffee maker/station. I absolutely hate having to go through the cupboards in the wee morning hours to find the stuff to make my coffee. I need the coffee to be coherent enough to find the things in the first place. So, I made a little tray, put my coffee maker on it, found a real cute vase/pot at TaiPan ($4!!) and put all my sugar, cream, filters, coffee grounds and whatever else in it. Then I decorated it up a little with some cute greenery and it pretty much saved my life. This thing is great. I just pull it out in the morning and everything is there in one place. I love it!

So, I love cake stands, but who really has the time everyday to make a cake and display it? And I just thought mine was way too pretty to hide away in storage, so I decided to make a stand for my sugar and flours. I also gave it a little backdrop with a tray I made; it fits perfect in the corner (it also hides all the power plugs.)

And depending upon the day and time, this little guy here is sometimes a counter item. In fact, the last time there was a cake on the stand above he was a counter item (naughty mutt). Somehow he got on the counter and ate all of my husbands birthday cake. He did such a good job at it though, it didn't even look like he was up there. Nothing was broken or tipped over, just an empty cake stand. But how can you get mad at such a cute face?