Ummm... a pantry?
What exactly are you looking for?
Ways to organize the kitchen so you're more tempted to make food from scratch rather than eat out?
How/where to stockpile stuff while it's on sale until you can buy it again at the sale price?
Or appliances that kick serious butt?
I've got big dreams of redoing our awful 70's kitchen, but that's a few years and $5000+ off. More counter space, better organized shelving and counter space, a few built-in appliances and pot hanging stuff, etc. I've even got it all planned out in the Ikea kitchen planner I downloaded.
But until then, I do what I can in our perpetually messy/unorganized kitchen.
For appliances, I *love* my hand mixer (cried when I thought it was dead last week), really like my heavy kitchen aid stand mixer (I have to haul it in and out of the cabinet every time, otherwise I'd love it) the electric hand-me-down wok from my mom for easy stir-frys, crockpot, always need the waffle maker on hand, a good vegetable steamer setup... garlic press, hanging baskets for fresh fruit and veggies (apples, onions, bananas if we don't have enough for the hook, lemons, tomatoes, whatever I throw in there to use up). Oh, a big skillet and a good roasting pan. I'm already planning out our to-be-belated Thankskgiving...
We don't do the breadmaker, I never liked 'em (easier and yummier for me to just use our mixer and glass bread pans). I haven't used our cast iron stuff in forever because we have a glass-top and it *would* shatter in our house...
My pantry downstairs (I could go take photos if you'd like, dh just redid the shelves this summer) where I have canned goods, noodle-stuff, baking supplies, cereal I snag on sale, canning supplies and home-canned goodies, my old dorm fridge which houses dh's beer...
And a 4 cubic foot freezer in the laundry room (in addition to our side-by-side in the kitchen) where I store ice cream I've gotten on sale, frozen chicken/turkey/beef/pork/prepped meals, butter, cheese, frozen veggies, juices, etc. I hit the sales - got 14 pounds of spaghetti for a few dollars just the other day.
Now if I could just figure out a root cellar to store fresh carrots/potatoes/onions/etc...
One other good planning tool is to double or triple recipes that you're already making for dinner one night and freezing the extras. For example, when I mix up Italian Turkey Meatloaf, I double the recipe and divide into 3 (we're a family of 2.5 on solids, I plan portions accordingly), freezing 2 portions. When I need something relatively easy to make, I thaw one brick of the meatloaf, throw in the oven, steam some (frozen) broccoli, and open a can of applesauce (from the pantry). If that makes sense...
In fact, tomorrow I'm making a giant double batch of my MIL's spaghetti sauce. A double batch will last us up to 4-6 months (last batch I made was before ds2 was born!) - I freeze it in baggies in a mini-loaf pan (each loaf of sauce is about one serving) then once it sets up I stick into a labeled gallon baggie. Takes an afternoon, but it's worth it to me, and then it's *so* easy to make dinner later on. That recipe takes at least 120oz of tomato sauce plus tons of other fresh ingredients, and I estimate it makes about 15 meals worth for us.
Geez, sorry about the rambling, I think I need to get out away from the kiddos and talk to adults sometime soon...
Lanna