These are wonderful! I'm embarrassed to say I had only been searching ON Gardenweb's site for kitchens, it hadn't occurred to me to use Google (I feel like a dunce)... Mpagmom your link had kitchens that I hadn't seen but are also beautiful and great inspiration, so thank you! I'm working on my layout and will post it soon, I'm so looking forward to getting opinions and suggestions from all the knowledgeable people here!

Thanks for the thread, Senator. Interesting pictures, though the "leathered" counters look same as honed in the pictures. Guess as some said, you have to see it in person. Babs, yes, there would probably be minimal eating at the island, we tend to sit at the table for family meals and serve buffet style, so food is plated before sitting down, and the island would only be used occasionally--probably mostly for guests having a beverage and sitting and chatting with me while I work in the kitchen. I've become a "compulsive placemat user" with my polished Antique Brown in the other kitchen's similarly used island, so feel well-trained to minimize accidents with the marble. For whatever occurs, I am prepared to embrace, and I think any etches will be minimally noticeable, given the honed surface, and the lighting situation in the room. Worst-case, I think a freestanding island would be relatively easy to refinish, though I think I would just let it patina naturally. I should have mentioned that the island with marble will be a secondary island, and the main work area of the kitchen will have a small island with the same countertop as the perimeter. In thinking about how my family uses our kitchen, I think the most potential for etching would be with food prep rather than the occasional eating at the secondary island. I see your logic though, for a kitchen where the island is frequently used for dining, there would be just as much risk of etching as on the other countertops.

You are probably thinking of ttodd's photo montage - great black and whites on a beautiful green wall. I was just thinking of her, as her montage was an inspiration I was wanting to duplicate for a long time. I finally got started this weekend. I have most of the frames in place - not all with pics. I will post a pic soon, and hope she will be flattered by my unabashed copying. L

I don't have a pic but I love my pullout pantry. 2 rollouts are attached to the door, so they come out when it is pulled open. The other 2 are accessible on rollouts, but only need to be pulled out to get near the back. It is 30" wide and so I can fit a ton in it. I stand to whichever side I expect to find what I am searching for and it is one motion to open it. It sure beats having my pantry stuff in the basement! I also did cubbies on the back part of my island, which I tuck my toaster, food processor, spices, etc.. in. It extends the counter space and hides the chaos from the other side. We designed it by accident because I had gotten the idea from Ikea to face shallow wall cabs on the back side of the island rather than putting a cover panel. When I was playing with their online planner is turned one of the cabs around and I saw the potential for facing 2 of them towards the cook. The 3rd one hides the back of our tall vintage stove. My only regret is I realized after that I could have skipped those actual 2 cabs and just had the counter that covers their top and sides form the cubbies. It would have given me an extra inch or so and made my spaces taller. I thought an 18" cab would be enough but the interior space is less than 18".... This is how they looked with the planner. You have to picture my counters going up to them, flush. My KA stand mixer is too tall for in there and I did not go for the spice carousels as planned in this pic. You can see how they extend my usable counter by keeping more stuff off of them. The middle top cab and the lower 3 cabs face away from the kitchen. I have put a lot of can goods back there and the one closest to the kitchen table has dh's extensive condiment collection. I am so glad that got moved out of the kitchen storage area :)