Kitchen valances — those mini-curtains hanging out at the tops of kitchen windows — were all the rage from the 1970s through the 1990s. The '90s versions were often rather big and ballooning (my mom, ...

Valances aren't just the ornamental (and possibly gauche) decoration framing your grandparents' windows. They may still have a space in contemporary kitchens.

It was right around the time of 1980 that a small floating “kitchen witch” began to live high above the kitchen table at my parents’ house. Sporting a sly smile, she was securely anchored on her ...