18 gallons is about 2.5 cu ft. Ground up forest products (trees) is considerably different than conifer bark of the same size, and 'rich/dark' more often than not offers problems, rather than benefits when it comes to container media. While I'd stop short of saying it probably won't work well, I'll say that the odds are probably not good, but then you never know until you try. I would suggest getting some of this mulch and trying it in a soil you think might be appropriate for containers (soon) so you have an idea if it will work next year. If it doesn't appear as though it's going to work, you could leisurely inquire about other soil ingredients over the winter. What would you be using the granite sand/decomposed granite for? - for nutrients or as part of a soil's structure? Al

Measure all walls and round up to the nearest quarter foot. (Ex. 3.25x6.5) multiply em' all up and that's your footage. Now, add about 5-8% for cuts, waste, breakage and spares. That's what you buy. Measure your vertical and horizontal "runs" for the bullnose....4"? 6"? 12"? Easy to figure. Finally, how many corners? I'm guessing two....

Ah, yes, that would make a difference, ctycdm! Our counters will be the standard 36". Thanks, badgergal! I saved the photo of the garbage pull-out that you posted earlier so it's helpful to have the dimension to go with that photo. I saw the minimums listed on Rev-a-Shelf's site but I thought that was for the cab opening and all the photos showed the cans shorter than the door. But since you wrote that you only have 19" and had to trim the can, then I can safely assume that the 19 3/8" clearance required is for the can clearance. I'm considering the same thing in a double can, not a single, so you've helped me figure out that it will work. It will be a squeaker but it will work. Yay! It does, however, mean that I can't get the fancy one with the servo drive. Bummer. But it needs 20 5/8" clearance, which would mean cutting the can down by quite a bit. Oh, well. It would have been nifty to have that but it was also expensive so I'm glad of the $$ savings. btw, did I tell you that I was in Pewaukee in June visiting my aunt and cousin? Do you ever eat at Seester's on the lake? My cousin's daughter worked there over the summer. I always enjoy going back to visit but for once, I wised up and didn't go during the hot, humid days of summer. :)

Here are design rules offered by Starcraft Builders. I'd heed such rules or alternatively I'd mock up something in my existing place to replicate what you're intending to do and see how functional it will be. Living with a design mistake which causes daily inconvenience is a real drag. The goal is to have easy access to all seating and easy entry and exit from that seating. You should be able to push the chair back and leave the table without causing inconvenience to yourself or to others. Optimally you should have enough room for someone to walk behind the seating as well, think of young children sitting in those seats and a parent behind them cleaning up a mess or cutting their food or some other task. This is your only eating area so it needs to work well. If you had a banquette and a dining room, then functional impediments in the banquette are not so critical. If you go with a bench, then this entails a tight squeeze from either side in order to get into the bench, and that's assuming only 2 people on that side, if 3, then someone is "pig in the middle" all the time, unlike with chair seating, where the person in the middle can enter and exit without disturbing the people seated on either side. As I noted earlier, if you expand that bump out just a bit more, in 3 directions, then you look to have adequate room. Alternatively you can use a round table but then this cuts into the aisle space between dining and kitchen. A few other points. Have you checked that your stairs are code compliant? The closet in bedroom 1 looks awfully large compared to the closet in bedroom 2. If you buy a stackable w/d and shrink the closet then this buys you 4 ft of additional K/DR space. Also, where is your front door? Having the stove on the island usually requires more complicated venting infrastructure. Have you considered a U-Kitchen with stool seating on the peninsula? You might be able to have this plus a DR if you push the K back 4' into the closet.