I thought I'd have a tough time with keeping the mint indoors but figured I'd give it a shot, as I love tea and like to steep some spearmint leaves with it. when I 1st got the mint (which was kept outdoors at the store), I tried replicating the environment it was used to. I'd put the plant outside during the day, only to find it severely wilted within an hour. it was a strange and unforseen side effect. either the temperature was too high or the sun was too strong, although it did the same when placed in a shaded area as well. so, it's remained indoors ever since. it's looking awful, I'm positive I killed it by the way I cleaned it the other night, I have to figure out how to do that correctly! I was fortunate to have found the cococoir- it was the only bag in the store and I've never seen another one since, even though I went to several different shops, so now I'm stingy about who gets it! what do you think of bottom watering? I have everything from African violets to Chinese evergreens to succulents to rosemary to fittonia, etc. when I water one of my basils from the bottom (via one of those "self watering" pots), it not only does very well but the top of the soil is barely even damp. from my limited experience, I could be wrong in thinking this is a good thing, but it seems like it is- as I said, the Basil seems to be doing great, and I'd assume there's less of a risk of infestation when the top of the soil isn't wet right after watering. I dont know what it is, but every single plant I have remains very wet for awhile after watering, even the ones with tons of perlite in the mixture. I watered my begonia over a week ago and the top of the soil is still extremely damp, I feel like it's very unnatural to have them remain in this condition for so long. I'm just not sure what to do about it, do you have any advice on that? (oh, and I also keep a small fan running on one window full of plants for the entire day, then switch it to the other window of plants at night. I thought that would help them dry a bit & also help with air circulation, but it doesn't seem to help with drying, at all) thank you!

amberley - sorry I didn't check in sooner. I love your layout - what a great 1st try! I spent an hour writing a post two nights ago an then managed to delete it just before I submitted it. I don't know if you've moved on from the drawing you posted, but I'm going to put in a couple of thoughts and hope at least one or two are helpful. Please bear in mind I'm not a "layout guru", but since this is a Chef's table I'm jumping in. 1. Would you consider switching the dishwasher and the trash pullout so the dishwasher is on the left? That would give much better clearance for walking behind the person unloading dishes. You could simply move the sink to the right 6" (the sink would be a little more behind the island, but 42" clearance should be enough for passing anyone washing dishes). Or you could also steal a few inches from the pantry to the left. This might make the hall/LR entryway a little tight. I don't know how much traffic this entryway gets, but there is another entry way just on the other side of the fridge. Stealing a little from the pantry could move your range a little to the left and give you a little more counter space on the right (it looks like you have only 15-17") for ingredients/utensils/mise en place and "on deck" pots/pans" 2. Also for better dishwasher clearance, would you consider shortening the marble area 6", getting rid of the mixer cab, putting your mixer underneath the butcher block and expanding your baking drawers from 30" to 36"? (don't know if this would cramp your "rolling" style) I'm biased against the mixer cabinets which have a shelf that positions up to the counter, because the ones I've seen tend to shake a lot once the mixer really gets going. 3. If you're doing volume baking, would you consider leaving space for a 18"x18" rolling cart w/5-6 shelves underneath the area labeled "bookcase or open for stools"? I made a 6 shelf one for myself out of Metro shelving. It has a cutting board insert top. It acts both as a cooling and loading rack for baked items (when kids are little allow pans to cool on counter for 15 min before putting on cart). It can store all sorts of baking and cookie pans & parchment paper/silpats. And it can be rolled to wherever it is needed in the kitchen. Just an idea! 4. Also for sheet & baking pan storage, have you considered using the cabinet above your fridge. I went with a 24"d x 36"w cab and put vertical inserts in it to keep the pans sorted and standing up. That way you only have to be able to reach the bottom corner to pull them out. It's a great use of an area that's normally "hard to reach" storage (unless of course you're really tall which I'm not). 5. I like having the microwave by the fridge as a lot of what I use it for is heating up leftovers. Would it be possible to add a shelf above the "Micro T.O. Stack" and put the microwave on it? (I know for some the unenclosed microwave is an "aesthetics violation"). If you can go with a smaller microwave that's only 18" wide, you get a little counter right by the fridge. This also keeps the microwave out of reach from little ones (Although now that DD just turned 11 and is allowed to use microwave, she's complaining it's hard to reach). You could also put plastic wraps and bags in the top drawer stack and use this station for wrapping/putting away food that goes into the fridge. I like having the plastic wrap by the microwave because I'm always using it to cover containers and bowls I'm putting into it. Again, I hope at least one of these is helpful. Congratulations on your fine start.

We just replaced all of our IKEA Akurum STAT kitchen doors and drawer fronts. Like others, many of our doors were cracked, swelling and discolored. If you want to replace your doors with brand new with the SAME HINGES, you can order them from Swedish Door Company in Canada. https://www.swedishdoorco.com/ They are a full-service cabinet door company and they also do IKEA warranty work. We just installed all of the doors and door faces. The product is PERFECT. Beautiful paint, drill holes exactly where you'd expect. You simply provide your cabinet door measurements, and they know exactly which IKEA door size you have. They make a note that it is an AKURUM reface, which tells them exactly how to drill the holes. For us, this was a good solution because we did not want to replace all of our cabinet boxes. They can send you product color samples if you want to change up the color. The exchange rate helps with price. We found the pricing very reasonable. Hope this helps!

This one is so large and powerful. I've been watching it since it was a wave and early on was concerned it might enter the Gulf. The tracks are all over the place now and I just hope it goes out to sea for everyones sake. I am really concerned about this one though. If you would like I have links to some really great forecast sites.