Thomis: I respond in the same spirit of humility, for which I am well known; well, somewhat known: 1. March 20 is not at all too late to plant a cherry tree, or anything else. I have planted apple trees as late as early May, ordered in from Oregon. I am not proud of that. They were leafing out when I received them, and some were blooming, but they did just fine. 2. A Montmorency cherry purchased from a local nursery at a price of say, $25-30 is, without much doubt, on Mahaleb rootstock, which will eventually grow a tree about 25 feet tall unless kept down by pruning. A dwarf tree on something like Gisela 5 or 6 would be more expensive; maybe $40 locally and always over $30 mailorder. The dwarfing rootstocks have a cost. 3. Nothing wrong whatsoever with a Montmorency cherry on Mahaleb rootstock. I had one here for 25 years before it finally pooped out due to an accumulation of bacterial canker. 4. By about year 8 or 10, you will be producing enough cherries from your single tree to fill your freezer. That is to say, 25 quarts (pitted) or more. After that, you will be inviting the neighbors in to pick, and that is allowing the usual amount for the birds. I would think about it before planting two or more copies of this tree unless you want to make something like a lot of cherry wine. You don't have to pit them for this use. But if you are going to use them for pies and sauce, you will have to buy a plunger type pitter. 5. There is no reason to fiddle much with the soil to plant a cherry tree; even raising the Ph was probably unnecessary, although it probably won't hurt. Do not put peat moss or a lot of organic materials in your planting hole or you could create a bowl effect and drown your roots. Cherry rootstocks are sensitive to boggy, poorly drained conditions. Clay is OK, so long as it is not in a low spot that does not drain well. If I had soil amendments to use up, I would place them on the surface around the tree. 6. The one real enemy of cherry fruit is the cherry fruit fly, which shows up as a small white worm surrounded by black frass, which you see when you pit the cherries. You can deal with this insect by cleaning your tree completely of cherries so the infected cherries do not fall to the ground and pupate. Hoeing or cultivating around the base of the tree in late winter to expose pupae to cold and drying is also helpful. 7. Montmorency is a wonderful tart cherry, but Meteor is a cultivar with some genetic size control. It is available from Gurney's, but seldom seen in local nurseries. Meteor fruit is identical to Montmorency. Absent regular pruning, your Montmorency will require picking from a stable, 3-point orchard ladder from about year 12 on, so you don't fall off and break your neck. 8. We really like tart cherries here, and have been filling the freezer with them for about 25 years. Hardly a week goes by that we do not eat cherries throughout the winter. They are full of nutrition and antioxidants. Perhaps that is why I have not oxidized. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

The problem is you have a furnace in the basement trying to heat and cool a 500 sq. ft attic with only two supply vents. You will need more supply vents and probably a return. You should investigate if it is feasible to add more supply vents to the attic and improve the air flow. Is the roof deck is the ceiling of the attic rooms? Do you know the amount of insulation in the attic ceiling? The heating and cooling load of the attic is very different than that of the main level and basement. I would make the attic a separate zone with its own thermostat. I would also make the duct work modifications for the basement now if you have firm plans to finish it in the future. The basement should also be a separate zone if you really want good temperature control. If you are willing to live with a basement with is a little colder in the winter then you don't have to do zoning. Plan on getting a 95%+ furnace preferably with a variable speed blower. The top brand pairs are Carrier/Bryant, Trane/American Standard, Rheem/Rudd. Find a contractor who will do a load calculation and a thorough review of the duct work. Most contractors are not good at zoning, so you have to find one with experience. You don't have to change the AC now, but you should have a plan in place as to how it would be upgraded in the next few years.

Thanks again for all your great input! Here's our latest layout below including the following changes based on your suggestions: 1) running the cabinets to the window wall and ending there. 2) Extending the cabinet depth for the end cabinet (at window wall) to 15 (or 16) inches. The last cabinet before the window wall is 21 inches wide with 1.5 inch fillers on each side of that cabinet. The cabinets on the north (left) side run are 36 inches, 36 inches, and 21 inches. The cabinets on the south (right)side run are 21 inches, range hood, 21 inches, and 21 inches. What do you think of this final plan? Is it ok without the glass and not having the final (extended depth) cabinet going down to the countertop? We need to order the cabinets by Thursday or Friday. Do you have thoughts on 42 inch tall cabinets (with 2 inch trim) versus 39 inch tall (with 2 inch trim) cabinets? The 42 inch cabs with trim will pretty much go to the top of our 8 ft 2 inch starting wall height for our gable ceiling. Thanks for your help!

Does anyone know the answer to this - I have a 2 1/2" mitered flat edge and shaker overlay doors. When the doors were installed I noticed that I only have a 1/8" overlay over the door and drawer fronts. The counter does not protect the doors at all. Now the fabricator tells me that with a mitered edge they can only make a 1" overlay and not the 1 1/2 overlay that is standard with a flat eased edge. They said that when using a mitered edge only an inset door and drawer will do so that you can get enough overhang. Has anyone ever heard of this before? Any suggestions in how to correct this problem? How to add on to a granite edge. I can't rip out the countertop. Could possibly plane down the doors and drawers or make new inset doors and drawers but this is problematic to do.