Using up a surplus of big cukes

When we went tomato picking at a friend's garden I noticed a large number of huge cucumbers.  I picked a box full to bring home and we have been eating bowls full of cukes in every way possible ever since.  This weekend I decided to try making refrigerator pickles after a friend suggested them.  I decided to make two large jars full and since my friend had warned me that the recipes made them quite sweet I decided to experiment. 

For one jar I mixed up equal amounts of vinegar to sugar and then added spices like salt, peppercorns, a bit of mustard powder, cinnamon and whole cloves.  I filled the glass jar with super thin slices of cuke (compliments of the Miracle Chef for which I have a newfound respect.  My husband gets to tease me now because I am using it for all sorts of things including fantastic scalloped potatoes...to think I ever disparaged it), added a few thin slices of red onion (only a few since this batch was meant to be mostly for the boys) and then poured the vinegar mixture over.  That's it.  Super easy and they are supposed to last in the fridge for months.  Most recipes I found online had quite a bit more sugar but it seems to me that they should preserve well in this amount of vinegar and sugar especially since they are kept in the fridge.

For the spicy pickles I added a little less sugar to the vinegar and then lots of onion slices, whole garlic cloves, salt, whole cloves, peppercorns, jalapeno pepper chunks, mustard powder and bay leaves.  I'm quite pleased with how delicious they are especially considering how easy they are to make.