Concerning Kohler quality, I have found (so far) that they seem to ship a lot of very flawed products, but are quite willing to replace them. I bought two Memoirs 2269 sinks and a Cimarron toilet and all were badly warped. The toilet tank lid had a banana shape - over 3/4 inch warp - and the sinks aren't even close to flat on the surface that meets the counter. If I shim up the back right corner so the front makes contact, I will have a gap to caulk of over 1/2 inch and the top will not even be close to parallel with the row of subway tiles behind the sink. Kohler customer service says they are sending me a return authorization for both sinks, but since they were a special order item I fear I may wait another 6 weeks for a replacement and then get another warped one. Doesn't anyone inspect these things before they're shipped? Gary

Kitchens and the Caribbean; 2 of my favorite topics! I think you can find some inspiration by looking at vacation rental homes in the Caribbean. (I look on VRBO.com for homes when I visit St John in the USVI. I've also used windspree.com and Destination St John and there are many more. If you google villa rentals caribbean, you'll find links to lots of houses and they all include kitchen pictures. Yes it takes some digging but might be worth it!) Many of them have beamed ceilings, big paddle ceiling fans, and often with bright colors. Here's the kitchen from the beach house on Lovango Cay: OK this one's a bathroom but it shows the exposed wood walls and beams that I see in some Caribbean houses (this one is Just Enough on St John): These colors look so tropical to me! Christmas Cottage, STJ; and Starlit Escape; STJ: Starlit Escape is the first house I stayed at on STJ. The kitchen has cypress beams on the ceiling; kind of dark but very pretty: Reef Madness, STJ; beams, yellow, rock wall (common in many of the villas) HTH

Well, now just how horrible do I feel, replying now over 2 years since the thread's last posting? Or for the fact that so little has been accomplished in yet another 2 years' time? I've read back over the ensuing posts a number of times over the past year however, and really appreciate the positive comments and words of encouragement. Although I've been AWOL for too long, rest assured that all of you at GW come up each and every time someone comes over to my house and asks about the kitchen. Few people believe me when I say I couldn't have done it without you! Also, additional apologies to jwm211, gam51, cran, marybeth1, cookin45, and anyone else who was unable to see the pictures for a period of time. I run a webserver out of my house, so whenever lightning strikes (literally) or TimeWarner has an outage, the pics go down. Thankfully TWC is actually pretty good about uptime. Now for the update. Since my pics from the first part of this thread, the following have been done: - installed faucet for sink (Delta Victorian, SS finish) - oiled the soapstone (duh!) :-) - installed weathered-iron cabinet knobs/pulls on all cabinets - replaced old wood ceiling fan with overhead light - bought a (very) small kitchen table so I could sit/eat! - installed handle on dishwasher - installed garbage disposal Here's a picture I took standing from the back area of the kitchen (it's shaped like an "L") looking at the main portion, from late April. It's pretty similar to how it is now, and gives a good feel for what it looks like "lived-in" on a day-to-day basis. Soapstone had just been oiled too, considering how dark a charcoal it is. :-) As you can see, it's still not quite finished -- namely, it *still* needs the tile backsplash (deee, yep still planning on the Sylacauga Alabama marble tile you have, assuming it's still available), undercabinet lighting, and a pendant light over the sink. Plus a new set of outlet/switch covers. Once those are done, the kitchen will pretty much be complete as far as I'm concerned. Meanwhile, a two-year update on the soapstone: is it possible to love soapstone even more now than i did in 2008? Time has done nothing to diminish my passion for those soapstone counters -- maybe that's an odd word to use, but I couldn't think of a more-accurate alternative. It does require periodic oiling -- for anyone thinking they can oil soapstone twice a month for the first 6 mos and then it's basically done, that's not been my experience. It doesn't fade to as light a chalkboard-grey as it was when I first got it, but it lightens enough that I'm compelled to oil it every, say, 2-3 months now. It certainly doesn't have to be done, but... I love oiling the soapstone and look forward to it. Nothing beats that just-oiled near-black charcoal colour with the veining 'popping' :-) I apologise once again for the excessively-long AWOL, really appreciate the kind words. If anyone would like any specific info on any of the parts, or would like to see more pics or closeups of anything, by all means just ask and I'll put them up! Cheers to you, Supra92

Amy Sivley, we had our cabinets painted Snowbound with extra white on all the trim. They look like the same color. Its a very stark white. in certain lights the snowbound has a pink hue & the extra white has a blue hue. way to bright for me but I’m stuck with it we did Pure white on our ceilings & love it. I wish i would have picked something that doesnt blind me when I walk in the kitchen. all our trim throughout the house is bright white & Im trying to pick a white for the walls & having trouble.we did Cedar Key in a few rooms & that looks great but I want to try white.