The Vote is In.

Here are the "official" results of the vote I recently held on my blog.

We have some money in our savings account what should we do with it?

Buy a new car.
2 (16%)

Remodel the kitchen.
5 (41%)

Pay down debt on our car or house.
4 (33%)

Continue to save it for our children.
0 (0%)

Celebrate my birthday in a big way.
1 (8%)

As you can see Remodel the Kitchen won by the narrowest of margins.

I did celebrate my birthday in a big way. A whole month of gifts and parties and happy birthday thoughts. Thank you to my sister for thinking I deserved a celebration.

The computer wouldn't let my husband vote, since I had already voted, so Buy a New Car really should have had 3 votes and may still end up being the direction we go depending on the results of the most recent car repair we just paid for.

Pay down debt is always a good direction to go and doesn't require as much decision making as some of the other choices. You write a check and boom it's done. I think we will still be doing that with part of the amount.

I do want to remodel my kitchen, but more than that I NEED to remodel my kitchen. It is in sad shape and any day now the dish cupboard is going to detach itsself from the ceiling and end up on the counter or the floor. The drawers all have broken tracks and one of them is missing, the dishwasher doesn't work, only part of the stovetop works, and the cupboard doors refuse to stay shut. It is pretty much the original kitchen from when the house was built in the 1970s.

I have been pondering this change for awhile and have been looking in magazines and books but I'm just not sure what I want. The problem that I have is that it is a very small galley kitchen. It is 9 feet by 11 feet. I have no counter space and not as much cupboard space as I would like. I don't really know how to make best use of the available space or how to add space.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
There are a lot of houses in my neighborhood which are the same floorplan as mine. I am tempted to just go up and down the streets knocking on doors and inviting myself in until I find something I like, but I'm not quite that brave. I don't enjoy going to showrooms because I feel too pressured, but I think that it is necessary to know what is available out there and the potential cost of the ideas I might have.

Help! I need Help!