I always liked having my profile up there for other members, too. I thought it was a nice way to tell other people about my approach to gardening, things that had been successful for me and those that had proven troublesome. I was always fine with the "send me an e-mail" aspect, too. I knew from whence the message originated and was able to keep my e-mail private unless I replied to the message (which I generally did). After the hand over, however, I had to REsubmit my information to the powers that be. In spite of opting to have my address remain hidden, there it was, BOLD AS BRASS for anyone to see/use/ ABuse. Naturally, I was blissfully unaware until the volume of messages in my in box increased markedly... . I was BULL----. I was not the only one, as I soon learned. More than a few "regulars" from other forums thought everything was OK, too... only to realize that the "changes" took time to percolate through, and what they thought was hidden, WASN'T. I complained, too... and received an anemic reply/apology about 4 days later. I was less than impressed. It was then that I decided to eliminate the entire profile. And I "flushed" any e-mails from places I didn't recognize; it still bothers me that "regulars" probably felt "blown off" (but I had no way of "recognizing" them via the subject line)... the very people I would have happily replied to had things not take the turn they did. I wasn't really interested in giving personal drapery consultations FOR FREE... in the past I had welcomed questions, requests for clarification. It will be a long time before I'll be able to rid my mouth of that bad taste.

-Prep sink. This may be useful in a multi-cook household or a huge kitchen, but I hardly ever used the one I had and it was just once more thing to clean. -Garbage disposal. My worms do a much better job, don't take up electricity and never smell or require cleaning. -Fancy multi-function toaster, oven, rotisserie, pizza, etc. Does nothing well. -Trash can with a motion sensor. Everyone I know who has one has them break in under a year. Mine only took 4 months to break. A foot pedal is much more reliable and a lot cheaper to replace. -Stainless steel sink. What a pain to clean. You can call it patina, butafter a while they don't look clean no matter what you do. (The one in my apartment right now looks positively foul no matter how much Barkeeper's Friend you use.) Of course cast iron will eventually chip and I don't know if the granite composite sinks will stand the test of time -Range-top grill. Only pay for these if you have a bodacious vent system and no way to have an outdoor grill. They are better than the George Foreman-like grills but not a patch on a decent outdoor gas grill or charcoal. ---- As for sink tip-outs... since discovering them I have knocked the front panel off every sink in every home I've rented or owned and installed these. In the bathroom they are perfect for the tweezers and nail files and such. In the kitchen, the sponges, scrubbers, stoppers and the toothbrush you use for cleaning around the faucet plate are neatly hidden away but close at hand. Love 'em!

I wish I knew how much of the bigger drawing is new. I can't quite tell about the powder room, laundry, etc. on the real wall, the wet bar - if they are new with the kitchen? Given that, I like layout 2 of buehl's without the seats or with only 4 seats. A somewhat thinner island and the sink moved over from the corner a bit more so people can approach the cleanup sink from both sides. I think the ideal island doesn't exceed about 60 inches of depth. There isn't a lot of difference between that and Sena01 at Thu, Jan 2, 14 at 6:48 except for the position of the refrigerator. Having had that exact position of the ref, tho - right next to an entrance, - I would not do i again. It drove me crazy not to be able to see who was going out or coming in. A crazier layout and just something to think about (doodles are free) is perhaps something a little more old school - sort of along the lines ye old table in the middle of the kitchen. Trades the laundry to the wet bar, the potty to the laundry, runs cabinets on two walls. Almost leaves the lower right hall door where it was. Adds the wet bar to the kitchen, but lets it double as a snack bar or breakfast bar (meaning toast, juice, cereal, milk, microwave) plus an in kitchen place for an undercounter ref. It has more places to prep - the table, barville, both sides of the cleanup sink and the counter by the bigger ref. I think both the ref and the pantry are drawn at about 42" but meant as a 36" ref and a 48" pantry. None of this is measured or precise. There may be other reasons why you might not like it, and those reasons might be plentiful :). But it values togetherness more than absolute efficiency. It puts all the seating together so latecomers aren't excluded. It envisions that family and friends sit down to do some things - peel and chop a lot of veg, squeeze lemons, make meringues, roll out cookies, etc. In that set up, I'd likely get a 2-3" deep board, maybe with short legs, for a little more working space when pressed into standing work, but still at the table... Lastly, I think the best kitchens take at least a couple of months to think through all of the issues and feel comfortable with the solutions you choose. Try not to hurry the process. We all know that feeling of pressure to get started and get it done. Try to ignore it and take as much time as you need.

It depends very much on the book. I found my way to RP while considering the purchase of an e-reader. I was getting frustrated with the limited selection of books in the small town I am living in. With the alternative being paperbacks which I would read once and then discard the Amazon Kindle is a better alternative. It`s a bit like going from vinyl to CD and then on to iPod. I work in a camp situation. The Kindle lets me carry a library in a small convenient package. The Kindle also lets me get books which are out of copyright free or at very reasonable prices. I am currently reading Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay on the Kindle. This is a book which had interested me for some time but which I never found before. On the other hand I am reading the Annotated Alice by Lewis Carrol with notes by Martin Gardiner as a hardback. It has the original John Tenniel illustrations and is a pleasure to open up at random. I suspect that I will pass it on to my sister`s children and that it will be enjoyed for many years to come. I think that I purchased the Kindle in March and the use of it has become completely natural. When I am immersed in a book I don`t notice the mechanics of how I am reading it. By the way I got The Country of the Pointed Firs on the Kindle and read it both in the standard way and also listened to it via the text to speech mode on the Kindle. Reading the story myself and having it read to me gave a different feel to the book.