We only have gutters where the water would drip on your head as you go in and out, or where there is sidewalk (and hence roofwater on the head) or flower beds that would splash mud everywhere. Otherwise, it just comes off the roof and drops to the ground/grass. I think the main issue with gutters is keeping water from heavy rains from pounding on the ground, eroding a low spot that keeps the water near the house where it could cause settling of your foundation even without a basement, and splashing back on the siding where it could potentially find a way underneath. If you had a good slope away from the house and good grass cover to prevent erosion and splashing on the house, gutters may not give you much benefit except over doors and sidewalks. Then again, I'm in a dry climate and if we get 2 or 3 inches of rain over a several week period, we find all kinds of interesting problems from the excessive wetness--not from lack of gutters, but just from generally excessive moisture.

I ordered shaker style doors for another cabinet area I'm building. They're so inexpensive, I couldn't NOT buy from them. I've purchased drawer boxes from them before and couldn't be more pleased. Their door style selection, though, I found to be limited. Granted, I guess they do fewer things well, rather than a bunch of half-assed stuff. :) Their videos and instructions are very clear. As I mentioned, I also plan to buy from the Door Stop. Their selection is great and prices not so bad. Butt doors do meet in the middle, but I hesitate to say yes, chop that center thing out. Depending upon the width of the cabinet, it might be an important support. Imagine wide shelves, for example. There's usually a support on the inside of that thing. (What ARE the vertical things called? Rails or stiles?) My plan is to just get the butt doors and leave the middle thing. At 30" wide, it still leaves me some wide access. If it were a 24? Chop that puppy out. What's the name of your grain filler? I am going to go at the face frames of these other cabinets with something like that, and probably purchase maple or some other smoother wood for the doors. Cool! OH - and I also have mixed woods. Painted oak kitchen and painted maple credenza on another wall. I have chocolate hard wood floors (I can't remember what they're made of), and a teak dining table. The oak cabinets whose doors I want to buy from Door Stop I might even stain after really treating the face frames. Haven't decided. In my bedroom, where I've built the 16' 10" Tansu, with doors from Barker, I'll paint the maple. The en suite has espresso maple vanities, but from DirectBuy's ordering errors, I have 3 unfinished cabs in the window area, visible from the MBR. I'll probably paint those to match the Tansu on the opposite wall. Matchy-matchy in woods is unimaginative, to me. Like buying a showroom living room with all the furniture upholstered the same. Where's the character! :) C.

I opened this because I thought you were new to LA California! LOL! What rain? Anyway, you might get a better answer in the Louisiana forum if there is one or the Southern Growing forums? Most new plantings need water to get established. Even here in the Calif drought, many plants grow with no irrigation. You just have to pick the right plants. Good luck!

here is the plan as it currently stands - ovens to left of cooktop, 36" fridge to right. mind you this leaves the minimum 18" on either side of the cooktop. we originally wanted to move the cooktop to the island, but this would involve filing with the NYC DOB which would be a nightmare - our downstairs neighbors (10 unit condo) have the same layout as we do and did file a few years ago - and as a result, only just finished last year, to the tune of thousands more over budget (a budget that already involved architect, expediter, designer, etc, plus the rental of a separate apt while all this was going on, all of which do not come cheap in $$$ nyc/brooklyn). they strongly recommended (and we agree) that just replacing finishes and using existing plumbing and electrical connections would be best, as we can do that without filing, and we do not have six figures to work with here. we had contemplated trying to move the cooktop to the island and going induction, but we only have 80 amps to the unit and, again, do not want to have to file, not to mention the physical PITA of running 100A wiring up 3 floors from the box in the basement, and anyway that would require moving the sink, which, again, filing. so unless we sell and buy a new apartment (which we don't want to do), i think we are stuck with the layout as is. all that said, even if space allowed for the conventional AND combi AND speed, all 3 of those on an 80A limitation would push electrical limits, and we don't want to have to remember what we can and cannot run at the same time because of amperage limitations. doing a gas range in lieu of convection does not change/give us any more amps either. so at this point, i think based on what i'm reading here, we'll do a conventional and a steam, foregoing the speed oven. we do have a small countertop microwave that is not exactly in keeping with our modern aesthetic, but we do have it just in case - i can stash it in the side appliance pantry if needed but hope to wean off needing it altogether.