The first thing we did was to replace the original faucet with a bar sink faucet. It's much taller and makes rinsing foods and dishes so much easier. I can even wash my hair under it, in a pinch!

Next, we replaced the oddly slanted white rack with one we found at BedBathBeyond. It's held on with suction cups. This was only a temporary solution. We later found white racks at Wal-Mart which fit the placement of the existing rivets perfectly and which have now replaced the rack in this photo.

And finally, the exhaust fan reconstruction. This was a fairly involved project. Rich removed the fan, did some metal cutting and bending, bought a switch box at Radio Shack, did some more snipping and trimming and then installed the modified version you see here. Same fan, much smaller housing.

Rich plans to make the switch box 'prettier' at some future date. I'm not sure what that means, it's fine as it is.

Having removed those treacherous corners means we no longer bump our heads on them. It really opens up the kitchen and gives the illusion of space.

The cutting board is a spare from the house kitchen and serves as movable counter space, a place to put a hot pan and the drain board when we do the dishes.