While it's true that for some orchids you should wait for growth to repot, these types of dends grow and bloom throughout the year. Spring really is the best time to repot these...wait until summer and it'll have to battle the intense heat while recuperating its roots. I know everyone here just wants what's best for the orchids and its flowers but please put yourselves in Meghanize's place. Imagine this is your first time trying to grow dends. The only other orchids you've grown so far are phals whose cultural requirements are so much wetter and darker than that of dends. When others tell you to keep it dry, you would think "dry" in terms of phals which would still be too wet for dends. The dends are grown indoors right now in Pro-mix. There is almost no ventilation indoors, light will be limited since the sun is moving more directly over-head now, and temps are not high enough to sponsor much evaporation. The medium is just gonna stay wet for much too long for a dend. Did y'all read what Meghanize wrote? "It doesn't seem to have dried out at all since it was watered three days ago." I wouldn't even grow my phals or cyms in that type of medium. Add this to the fact that Meghanize is probably gonna grow them closer to Phal conditions than cattleya conditions because that is what she's familiar with and it's gonna result in root rot. If it hasn't already started rotting. I'm from the same school as Bolero, I always repot after buying them and for the exact reasons Bolero already stated. Then again...Meghanize, you do have 2 of them....you could repot one and not the other. However, if you choose not to repot the other, follow Jane's advice.

Cactus & Keiko, thanks, you have all reassured me that things are alright with my big baby. Cactus, I tried to not let it get below 55 on the cold nights, it usually stayed more like 68. I built a frame and double layered it with plastic dropcloths, then tucked a digital thermostatic control electric heater under there with it. I just had to be careful to turn off the heater and open the plastic on sunny days. I can tell my family thinks I'm a bit nuts to baby this plant like I do. They're more of a farming mentality than a gardening bunch. But this plant gives me so much joy in the summer that I think its worth it. When I got it from NSE, I was also skeptical about its small size. But I practically shoveled heat, light, and fertilizer down its 'throat' and it couldn't help but grow. My hubby would make comments related to that big plant from Little Shop of Horrors. "Feed Me!" I have a small koi pond. When I do water changes and filter cleaning, I water my plants with that water. All the sludge from the bottom of the filter box would go directly on top of the borneo's soil. Yum-Yum! Keiko, I hope its trying to make a baby! It made 2 babies last year, one of which I traded to another gardening friend. I hope it will get even bigger this year because its starting with a huge bulb, wheras last spring there was hardly a bulb at all. I'll go right now and mound up some yummy stuff around the bulb. I was a little worried about the effects of bright direct sunlight on it. Again, thanks!

Got it - no aqua globes :) I'll remember about the pitchers too - thankfully there were pretty small so I don't think I hurt its nutrient processing too much...as for lighting, I think it may be ok where it is without the bulb, but will keep an eye out for problems just in case. When I do get around to transplanting, does anybody have experience with planting in a terra cotta pot that is inside a non-porous pot, kind of like a self-watering thing? Here's a link to what i'm thinking about: http://www.ehow.com/how_2074657_make-self-watering-planter.html ...I think I may have found the advice either here or another forum, but never was able to find if it worked well or not. I'm also looking hard at doing this (see link) for my d. adelae: http://toppertwo.tripod.com/pop_bottle_pots.htm ...Of course I intend to "martha stewart" it up a bit ;) I'm a single mom with a busy boy and a veritable zoo of critters (plant, finned and 4-legged), and want to make sure my plants are happy even if i can't check them every day. What do you all think?

As for your specific questions: i) I would center the cook top. That is basically where you want it to be for functional reasons anyway, and you'll be able to see that wall very well when you are approaching the kitchen. You will have a good vantage for seeing the symmetry, and it will look nice. (As opposed to centering something that you will never be able to see head-on, so who cares if it's centered.) Also, your stove when centered definitely isn't too far from the sink. Actually, doing that gives you an almost perfect amount of counter between the two to really have space to get some work done, but still be able to dump a pot of boiling water in the sink without having to walk too far. ii) I think you could do a combination of butcher block and soapstone quite easily by having the peninsula be butcher block. It is handy to the sink, so it'd be a great prep area. Like this: Here is a link to more photos of that finished kitchen: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2550583/bricktons-finished-kitchen If you were doing an induction range (instead of just an induction cooktop), I could also see doing everything in soapstone except doing butcher block on just that section of counter between the range and the fridge wall. Here is a new layout with all my suggestions incorporated. I also made the fridge wall cabinets a bit deeper (even counter depth fridge are not 24"). And I deepened the peninsula so you can have standard 24" cabinets under it and still have a 12" overhang, plus you have plenty of space to make that counter deeper, and a that is just more great work space, so why not?