Kitchen

IF YOU BUY the television sales pitch, having more choices seems like the greatest idea in the world.If you ever rehab a house or do a remodeling project, however, you'll find making choices can be one of the toughest things you have to do. It's not just that there are millions of items to choose from, but that the process is absolutely relentless.Once you've made a choice, it's bound to have an impact on a number of others. If you choose to do something to the interior, it may have an impact on the exterior.

ONE OF THE advantages of living in a house for a long time is that when something breaks, it usually is a repeat performance. The mystery of "what is that terrible noise?" is gone.Over the years, for instance, I have learned that a "chirp" coming from the refrigerator freezer means the fan motor has gone kaput. I now know that a growl from underneath the kitchen sink means the garbage disposal is gummed up, probably with potato peels, and that the problem can be remedied with a wrench that fits into the disposal's belly.

When it comes to retaining value, there is nothing like cooking up some improvements to the kitchen area of a home.According to the November issue of Realtor Magazine, the official publication of the National Association of Realtors, minor kitchen improvements will return 82 percent of their cost, while the addition of a home office is the least cost-effective home improvement with a 51 percent return.The issue looked at 11 common types of home improvement projects.The addition of a bathroom will return 72 percent, the addition of a family room will return 71 percent and a major kitchen remodeling will return 70 percent, while replacement of windows, ad dition of a deck and replacement of siding all return 60 percent or less.

1915: Ovenproof glass - Pyrex - improves the kitchen1920: 19th Amendment: American women win the right to vote

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Beneath a glass bowl and a jar of peanuts on the fourth floor of the Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology rests the single person's answer to a cooking catastrophe: an intelligent kitchen counter.How many nuts? Too few means candy with no crunch; too many makes the dessert crumbly.Forget the recipe; just pour those peanuts into the bowl. Yawn, maybe daydream. The counter top will tell you -- yes, it will speak to you -- to stop when there are enough nuts in the bowl.

An Anne Arundel County jury began deliberations yesterday in the weeklong trial of Richard W. Brooks on murder charges in the killing of a Pasadena bodybuilder in 1996.The jury received the case at 12: 15 p.m., and no verdict had been received by late in the day, said Kristin Riggin, a spokeswoman for the county state's attorney's office.Brooks, 34, who had no fixed address, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of James F. Holtgreve, 32, whose body was found lying in a pool of blood Dec. 23, 1996, at his secluded home in the 700 block of Seaborne Court.

Barney Farnham knew that when he retired he'd have to leave Bolton Hill and the 13-room house in which he and his wife, Suzanne, had raised four children.The house, owned by Memorial Episcopal Church, where Farnham was rector for 29 years, would now be home to his successor. Though the couple loved Bolton Hill, they felt putting some distance between themselves and the parish would allow the new rector to have more freedom to make his mark."Yet we also knew we wanted to stay in Baltimore City, but Federal Hill was too expensive," Barney Farnham said.

THERE'S NO doubt that the best way to do a major remodeling project on your home is to work out the details with your contractor, then go away and come back when it's all over.Sound like magic? It does happen -- Ron just finished such a job at a waterfront home in eastern Baltimore County.The homeowner lives in Florida, but frequently visits family in the area, so she had no desire to sell the home. But, even though she doesn't live here, communicating with Ron shouldn't be a problem -- not in this day of cellular phones, faxes, computers and videos.

As a retired military man, David Bennett and his wife, Patrece, had lived in their share of homes. But a job transfer from California to Howard County and life in two new houses got them thinking about where they'd really want to live the rest of their lives."

SOME PEOPLE tell me it is getting cold enough to turn on the heat. I am trying not to notice.Trying not to notice has become more difficult at our house recently, especially when I am in the kitchen. Our kitchen now has more potted plants sitting in it than some wings of the Conservatory in Druid Hill Park.Gangs of geraniums, mums and even a spider plant or two took up residence in the kitchen this week when reports circulated that the temperature was going to drop below freezing. I regarded such reports as wild exaggerations, propaganda put out by purveyors of heating oil, the sellers of natural gas, and by assorted advocates of the view that life should always be warm and toasty.

If you spend any amount of time in the kitchen cooking, chances are you've experienced at least one trip to the emergency room as a result of a careless chop, slice or slip of the paring knife. It's a fairly common injury among experts and novices alike, in the food industry and at home. The Janet's World statisticians have a hunch that such accidents happen more often in the home, but they are too lazy to look it up just now. The fact is, the American home is quite a formidable place, with its rickety ladders in dark garages, toys strewn on staircases and uneven outdoor walkways.

Mama Nikki was hollering from somewhere back in the kitchen, her kitchen, at Pimlico Race Course. "I don't have a lot of food out yet!" she barked, less as an apology than an explanation. The smell of fried goodness said otherwise. So did the row of metal pans glistening with golden-brown salmon cakes, fried chicken, liver and onions, collards and corn. Her name is Goldie Morris, but for decades she's been known around Pimlico simply as Mama Nikki. Since 1969, she's been whipping up filling meals for trainers, track employees, media types and jockeys.

We're considering selling our 1980s ranch house. Our Realtor has advised us to entirely remodel the kitchen before putting the house on the market. While it probably wouldn't be hard to modernize the kitchen, it would certainly be expensive, and we're not sure that we'd recoup the costs by making the sale price reflect that investment. What do you think? And if we do follow the agent's suggestion, what do you recommend in regard to cabinetry, materials and overall style? Many homeowners face a crucial decision in planning a makeover of a particular room or an entire interior.

When Marian Matthis first saw the center-hall colonial brick house in West Towson some four years ago, she was seduced by its charm, large rooms and yard. "This was my dream home," she said. It had decorative moldings, enough space for four children, an eat-in kitchen, balconies, shady gardens and sunny gardens. "I get more use out of the patio and porch and the pond area," she said. The patio on the side is an airy outdoor getaway, the rear screened porch extends from the kitchen, and the pond area is secluded.

When Elliot and Janell Bonner bought the white house overlooking a corner in Mount Washington, they knew they could make it suit them perfectly, adding modern amenities and overhauling the major systems of the 1910 structure. They replaced most windows with energy-efficient ones, but they left such traditional charms as leaded glass windows and five-panel wood doors. They moved and removed walls. They installed new plumbing and redid bathrooms. They put in a new electrical system and included surround sound in the new media room.

Do you grow your own fantastic produce? We're looking for outstanding kitchen gardeners whose recipes we can feature this spring and summer. Send an e-mail to food@baltsun.com with "kitchen gardener" in the subject line. Include your name, address and phone number, and let us know what you grow, when it's likely to sprout and what you make with it.

When the daily grind of a busy career got in the way of Susan Wolcott's dream, it was time to make a decision. Five years ago, she left her Fairfax, Va., job in corporate health care and headed for the hills of Washington County in Western Maryland. "I took a total risk," said Wolcott, 56, "but for me, it was not about the money." It was about pursuing, along with her sister, a viable knitting business that includes organized stitching getaways, an online pattern company and a retail store in the front two rooms of her 18th-century house in Funkstown.

Contemporary styling and minimalist aesthetic define this brick townhouse in Baltimore's Roland Gate community. The open floor plan and high ceilings add depth to the main floor, which includes the kitchen, family room and breakfast area. The large bay windows allow natural light to emanate throughout the room while strategically placed track and recessed lighting illuminate the house during evening hours. According to owner Samuel Chung, he and his wife, Sarah, have been entirely pleased since they bought the house in 2006.

Whether through skylights or multi-paned windows, sunlight streams into this Monkton home. Nearly every window has a view of Baltimore County's hunt country, and the Elkridge Harford Hunt Club events run through or behind the property every fall. The house and its setting offer a respite from the city. Yet, "it's definitely a home, it's not an estate," said owner Susan Boone. "We use every single room," she said. That includes a two-bathroom master suite, an office with a semicircle of window seats, an expansive dining room with deep molding and a kitchen-family room area where all parties seem to hover.

When Don and Michaeline Fedder bought a house in Otterbein 22 years ago, both moved in empty-handed. "We came out of separate homes and past lives with nothing," Michaeline Fedder recalled. "Now 99 percent of what we have we bought together." The remaining 1 percent consists of family portraits and photographs that grace several walls and tables of their South Baltimore home. Along a cobblestone alley just east of Camden Yards, the Fedders' four-level townhouse is one of three built in 1984 that sit opposite restored dwellings from the late 19th century.