I think just the plain bedding is a good test too. Of course you would want to use the exact same amount of bedding for each bin. Another good and easy form of measurement may simply be appearance. Some bins may look more broken down and worked over than others. Maybe a digital photo of the previous feeding area right before you feed again; or photos once per week? You may consider weighing food samples rather than measuring by volume because of difference in densities with bread being the least dense. I'm not sure how you would handle the differences in water amounts between food unless you dehydrated everything or froze/ strained it. For example, 1 oz. of coffee grounds might have a lot more food value than 1 oz. of apple. OK just thought of something. Add foods at a controlled weight in their natural form. On a side note - dehydrate one sample of each and reweigh so you can report what % of water each food is. Then when running the bins, be prepared to add a controlled amount of dry bedding and/or water to maintain proper moisture levels. You might find that the apple and squash tests need dry bedding where the bread one doesn't. Keep us updated!

Neet-Oh. I wonder if it works for bubble gum, too? I've never tried this one, but there should be an effect. Blow up a ballon inside the house, then take it out into the frigid weather. It should skrink. Bring it back in and it should return to normal size as it warms. They were doing this one the weather deck at our local TV station: Toss a glass of water (just the water - not the glass) up in the air and it instantly freezes into snow flakes. To dramatize the coldness, they used a glass of hot water.

Try asking over at the paint forum~ Not much traffic here. Here is a link that might be useful: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/paint/

If the windows cannot change and it's important to you that the sink be centered and under the middle window, then the DW will not fit on the other side. Wanting it centered is not a bad thing, it's just something that means more to some than others. We all have things that are important and are worth some compromises. FWIW, my DH was very insistent our main/cleanup sink be centered in front of our bay window...and I think I agree with him, although if it meant sacrificing function I may not have. In your case, if you put a prep sink & a second trash in the island, I think it can be an acceptable compromise since you have wide aisles. Yes, there is a "danger" of backing into an open DW when working at the island, but with... wide aisles (important here) the fact that the cooktop is away from the DW (so you aren't moving toward the DW when going to the cooktop) it looks like you have approx 36" b/w the open DW and the edge of a prep sink (if the prep sink is in the left 18" space on the islands), leaving you with enough room to work at the island w/o the DW getting in the way ...I don't think it will be that much of an issue. Since most trash & recycling occur while prepping & cooking, I would be sure to make the trash in the island a double-bin pullout. If you don't recycle much or don't mind walking the recyclables over to the other side of the kitchen, you might be able to get away with a single trash bin in the island, but I don't recommend it. The one by the cleanup sink could be a 12" or 15" single-bin trash-only pullout, but then it would affect the "centering" of the sink under the window! BTW...it helps if draw in the open door...most DW doors are 27" tall, so draw in a 27"tall x 24"wide rectangle to show where it opens into the aisle...that will tell you how much space there is b/w the open door and the island for walking past the open DW as well as how much room b/w the door and the prep sink in the island. (Line the "bottom" of the DW door with the edge of the DW square, not the countertop edge b/c the DW door opens from the DW, not the counter.) Our DW opens partially into a 47" aisle and there's plenty of room to walk by it. It's partially b/w the end of the peninsula & counter on the other side and we've never had a "roadblock" when the DW was open. So, go and draw in the open DW door and, while you're at it, do the same for the open refrigerator, MW drawer, ovens, and trash pullouts. Yes, the MW could face the cooktop. Since it's a cooktop and not a range, there won't be an open oven door to worry about being in conflict w/an open MW drawer. My MW drawer is the previous model (i.e., not one of the new, bigger ones) and opens approx 16" past the countertop. So it would stick out 16" into the aisle. If the aisle is 48" wide (or even 45" accounting for counter overhang on both sides), that leaves you with a 29" (45" - 16") walkway b/w the open MW and the cooktop...plenty of room to walk by. And, since MWs aren't open for very long, I don't think the fact that it's open while someone is working at the cooktop will pose a problem either. I do like the crown around the bottom of the hood.