tina, I need to check on that. The one Walgreen's I use it's the same as their old 35mm film policy. You sit at the little machine, pick & choose, hit submit for your order and a receipt is printed. Then you can do 1 hour express or return next day for your prints. At least the last time I used it was like that, maybe 2 years ago? Maybe it's changed in that time? As an aside, there is a certain irony to this discussion for me. I love to take photos, family, trips, nature, whatever. Often have a camera in hand. I was diligent about keeping them in albums, neatly organized. When things started to go digital, I remember being so disappointed, thinking some day that's all it would be. The days of sitting alone or with someone, touching & holding real pictures and reminiscing would be going the way of oh..8 track players? :) Sitting around a PC just somehow isn't the same. Now today, here I am, with all my pics on PC, backed up on an external drive. (Which is not enough to prevent loss, need to do something extra.) I rarely print out photos anymore, unless I want to frame them. Share, no problem, zip them off in email, or to Facebook, or my private Pbucket album that family has the password to. Whodathunkit? ;)

I have owned three Epsons and while they were superior to the print output of an HP I was able to try at home, I too noticed the ink dries quickly in them if you don't print often. I also found they were not very intuitive setting up for printing on 4"x6" photo paper. That may have changed/improved since I used my Epson (7+ years ago) but I still want to avoid one because of the ink issue. I'm going to do some comparisons with Canon and HP printers today and make a decision soon I hope. I am in the process of (re)starting my own home-based design business again. I had it for eight years before accepting an offer I couldn't refuse from a high tech company 7 years ago. I left them in September 2012 and wanted to get my travel to Southeast Asia out of the way before I got serious about going back to work.

Hi Barb, There are a couple different technologies in use for photo printers. Most consumer grade printers are inkjet printers. The secondary technology which you see particularly in some of the smaller format printers is dye-sublimation. What you need to consider is: 1. Picture quality. 2. Qperating costs. 3. Image stability. The image stability of some of these materials falls into the "don't blink" category -- in other words the prints fade really fast. There are printers out there that make prints that fade in less than a year. At any cost these are a waste of money. So let's start here. Henry Wilhelm is THE authority on the fade resistance of inks, dyes, etc. used in the art world. Avoid buying any printer from a manufacturer that does not cooperate with Wilhelm Research (see link below) in determining the durability of their materials. Look over Henry's site for detailed info on this topic. When you buy a printer you should know what Henry has determined is the life expectancy of prints from that printer. If Henry hasn't determined it you should assume the worst. I've paid attention to Henry's work for years and can give you this quick synopsis: Most of the smaller dye-sub printers available now do a poor job when it comes to image stability. A few years ago Canon was not fully cooperating with Henry, but they have been recently and their newest inks are getting good marks. Epson has taken this issue most seriously and done the most to create fade resistant materials. Many of the re-fill inks available out there fall into the "don't blink" category. Among the inkjets Canon, Epson and HP are competitive in the quality category and lead the industry. All three make beautiful prints. I've been using Epson for years now -- my decision was made earlier on and fade resistance was the tipping point for me. A secondary quality issue is B&W. Most of these printers are designed for color and make gosh awful B&W prints. If you think you want to do any B&W you're going to want to look at the higher end Epson or Canon printers that are designed for B&W. One of my friends (professional photographer) just bought the new Canon printer and is very happy with both it's color and B&W results. Given item 2 above the purchase cost of the printer can be a minor consideration. At $10-12 each for a photo printer that takes 8 ink cartridges we're talking about $90.00 to load it with small quantities of ink. So once you get past quality and stability you want to look hard at the operating cost of the printer. The loser in this category is Epson with the edge to Canon and HP. They all cost too much to run and you need to look at this hard because there's no sense buying a printer you can't afford to buy ink for. Good luck shopping. Joe Here is a link that might be useful: wilhelm research

DC- White cabs looking "cheap". That's also my concern with the whiter white. However if I look on Houzz at all the white kitchens with marble counters that I love, they have to be very white or those marble countertops wouldn't match. That's what I'm finding when I take door samples to the slab yard. If you haven't done that yet, try it and hopefully your can bring some samples home. Another instance when looking at white wood samples I immediately vetoed some of the whitest, and did the same with the door sample. Then the KD took me around the corner to view a wall display with range, marble countertop, etc and it was beautiful...and also one of the whiter ones I initially rejected. I prefer white over off white vanilla and cream or anything that usually coordinates well with tan, brown, etc, so not sure why this is so hard. I think for me it's the stark white, almost blue white that I don't like. Don't want it to look like Thermafoil and if it's too glossy it looks cheap to me unless its an uber contemporary Seimatic or similar cab. Looks like you can tell when the undertones are off so you just have to find a color that goes with the other elements you want. My countertop choice (whatever that is)will probably lead me to the right white. And regarding the cabinets alone, I think the devil is also in the details to avoid cheap. The right crown, hardware, etc, and not overdo gimmicks. Just not sure what the equation is yet! I think I know more about what I don't like than what I do like. Hopefully my KD can help me sort that out. Hmmm, sounds like a good idea for a new thread. How to avoid a cheap looking kitchen!