Thanks for the responses. We are also minimal users of the MW. Otherwise, the thing would have been specified 6 months ago along with the other appliances. Now we have to get drawings to the cabinetmaker and I'm thinking he's going to want something more specific than "throw it on that shelf to the left of the fridge." We did get it together enough to get the receptacle in roughly the right spot. I like the looks of yours, foodonastump, but I think we need ours to sit on the shelf because the mixer and food processor sit on the counter below and there's an undercounter light. Otherwise, I'd steal that idea in a second! (Am I correct that there's no place to hang a UCL in this installation? So I did some very casual searches last night and it looks like allowing 2 ft width will not be very limiting. A few are slightly over, but it's not like I have my heart set on a particular model. It does need to hold a plate, a soup bowl, once in a while a mixing bowl. I've always had one on a counter with plenty of airspace to the sides and above, so for all I knew "everyone knows" that you need 2 inches, or some such thing. Guess not!

Holy shmoly, lets see... Good points all. Nothing is particularly set in stone right now, so this is all good and workable. Let me give you a tour of the funhouse that is my head: emagineer: i like the idea of making the kitchen "U". It is short on counter space, and that would give a little more horizontal surface. I had put the sink on the south wall with a window above it (messy floor plans don't show that), but to make the top of the window even with the sliding door and still use a stock size window option, there would be no room for a backsplash, so i was thinking of moving the sink anyway. What you suggest may work out well. so, the shower area... i HATE cleaning showers, which was the impetus behind this design. I want the shower/bath area to be devoted to water and easy to clean, like with a hose and a long-handled scrub brush. I also wanted windows to let out steam and let in light. Glass blocks with mortar and an aluminum-framed vent window seemed a safe way to do this (the walls are actually insulated concrete forms, not wood, so i hope we're super safe), and the blocks will be sandblasted white glass, so it will just let in soft light. We'll have radiant floor heat, so it should stay toasty in there. The bathtub will actually be (my dream) a free-standing ofuro (deep wooden soaking tub) and i was figuring on using that spigot for a hose attachment (i am laughing at myself right now. i sound a little strange, don't i?) I put the shower room in the corner for the plumbing and the surrounding outer walls. The door into it will be like a glass shower door. The room next to it is for changing/towels/primping. If i moved it, it would be closer to the bedroom, but, well, i have this vision stuck in my head... And the separate toilet means both can be used at the same time. The toilet is pretty close to the bedroom door right now, so i think it's convenient enough. I have thought of reversing the toilet with the laundry so it could have a window, but we need to vent the dryer... I can put any window anywhere i want right now, so that's the most flexible part of all. whew! okay... rachelrachel: Well, if we made the loft a bedroom, we'd have to put in a dormer egress window, and that would add a bit to costs. Also, the vision we had was of a very open area upstairs, and bedroom walls would block things up. My husband likes (check that, LOVES) to hunt, and we've got some mounts and antlers he'd like to have up, so we're hoping the openness will allow them to be displayed, but not "in your face". Perhaps if we need to, it can be converted into a bedroom in the future, but for now, we see it as a place to read and nap. we've talked about prepping the work room floor for potential bedroom walls... perhaps some playing around with the toilet location and door and laundry and all would lend the floor plan to this a little better. We're already planning for a stackable washer/dryer. i don't really want the toilet to be right at the foot of the stairs, though, and as i was writing about earlier, i have a vision of the shower and changing room that would be hard to get rid of... do you know what i mean? Thank you for your comments! This is just the thing to stir up the pot. Keep them coming!!!

Hi Breezy, please don't feel like crying. You are getting great feedback BEFORE doing your kitchen, which is so much better than finding out after the fact that your layout could have been better. Do you have a way to change your PDF into a single graphic? For example, do you have a screen capture or snipping tool? (I use a PC -- don't know what it's called on a Mac.) My operating system came with a snipping tool and also Paint. So... open up your PDF and expand your view until your image is big enough to read (but not bigger than your screen.) Either use your snipping tool to capture the image (if you have one), OR you can hit the Print Screen button. This automagically takes a screen capture of your whole screen and copies it to the clipboard. Then open Paint, and click Paste (edit menu or shown at upper left.) You can then trim off the unnecessary edges. (I like to press Select All, then manuever the image to the upper left in Paint. Then I use the 'handles' at the right side and bottom to shrink the edges down and essentially crop the picture. Hope this makes sense. Or use Picassa to crop the image.) In Paint you can save it as a .jpg or .png, and upload it to your image hosting site. Now I've gone through this long winded explanation... and I'm thinking instead when you do your scan, you can probably pick a different format to save it in. Look for .jpg, .png, or .gif. Those will be images that you can upload and link to. Hope this helps!

Thanks Cyn427! Great suggestions. I love the sound of good ol' native Florida tree frogs, and encouraged what I thought were a slightly different variety when my Cubans 1st arrived about a year ago. CTFs sound like a really loud, squeaky, rusty massive gate swinging in a tornado, at all different pitches & keys. The noise is maddening! I did try soap n water sprays, vinegar & water (that kindof worked, at first, killed my grass & begonias, tho), tobacco tea, oil & soap (i use this for whiteflies, aphids, etc), garlic emulsion sprays - all to no avail. I dumped & relocated my rain barrels, moved 90% of the plants under our bedroom window area, left lights ON, left lights OFF, prayed, cussed, ....nothing worked! Our local black snake and corn snake population won't even eat them! These are some bitter, tenacious little rascals! Ear plugs only muffled the sound a little bit...... (sigh) but not enough to STAY asleep. We finally resorted to Removal.......SUCCESS! They are down to a manageable 2 or 3 now . And the geckos & REGULAR tree frogs are coming back. Hooray! Our neighbors chuckled & thought we were absolutely bat-crazy during the process, until the congregation moved into THEIR side yard. I now see them out at dusk, with their butterfly nets & strainers.....hunting big amphibious game, haha. :)