I don't have a small NYC apt., but I sure do use every inch of my kitchen cabinet space. I can't imagine not having them. Again, where am I gonna store all my stuff in half the space?
Our FL house has the microwave mounted UNDER the counter and I don't care for it. A lot of the houses we looked at had that feature, so I guess that's the new trend.
Funny thing: FL house has a small desk area in the kitchen and over the desk are built-in bookshelves, I assume for cookbooks. We use it as a wine rack, lol.
