Judydel, thanks for the kind words. I'm finding that gardenweb is a mixed blessing. I've learned a lot, and have a much more efficient kitchen for instance (made my cabinets into pullouts) based on drooling over what others have, but I get carried away with my dreams when I see the lovely kitchens and baths of others. I can only look so long or I turn green! After I pull myself down from the clouds of what "everybody else" seems to be able to afford, I find something that functions better while staying in the budget. A girl can dream, and then if that same girl can gain some perspective and be happy with the end result, I guess that's a win win all around. And I can't complain, I have a home, a car, food, okay, this isn't Hot Topics, must relax... Sweeby, again, thanks for the kind words. The vanity is hardly my dream vanity, but it will do. I'd rather have solid then pretty, at this point. I'm sick of my MDF furniture falling apart, but just can't stomach the sticker price of "good" stuff. So, I've come to love Craig's List. I'd like to try to update the vanity a little, if anyone has any ideas. I'm thinking I might remove the bottom trim, add some 2" or so legs, and as I said before, might strip and stain (even though that is a new paint job done by the "flipper" I bought it from. As far as the Fairfax faucet goes, that was on my list for a time, but there's something about it I don't care for. I don't like the seam running up it, and something else I can't quite put my finger on. I like the Portola a lot better. Thanks again everyone for your help, any more ideas? Like how to update the vanity a little? Amy

Here is my recent experience with the purchase of Fisher & Paykel dishdrawers. We live very close to Tax Free Delaware, but we are located in PA. All of our large purchases usually do come from DE, from small stores that don't have a PA store, therefore no tax is charged, even if they deliver it. However, when I went to purchase these drawers, based on many threads about having good service to back up the purchase, "just in case", I decided to go with a PA dealer who was much more knowledgeable about the product and also much more confident about the dishdrawers. I brought up the fact that I would now be paying 6% more because of taxes...he couldn't do anything about that, but he did discount the installation fee (which was awesome, these guys even installed an outlet under my sink for the thing to plug into rather than hardwiring it), he added a 10 year free warranty on both of the motors, threw in a couple of boxes of salt for the water softner, and I think he did discount the extended warranty that they offer. Usually we never get the warranty, but I wanted to make sure if anything went wrong after the factory warranty expired, we would be covered--it wasn't expensive. So, you can probably negotiate the "extras" more than the price of the unit. It also helped that we were bringing the "Tax Free Delaware" thing to the table. They wanted our business, and were happy to work on earning it.

Read those IEEE and NIST articles to understand why both say power strip protectors protect only from a type of surge that is not typically destructive. A power strip without an earthed 'whole house' protector can even make appliance damage easier. Can sometimes create house fires. Or put 8000 volts destructively through any nearby appliance. Page 42 figure 8. No protector defines a protection layer. Not one. Some protection layers have no protector. But every protection layer must always have one item - earth ground. Why does a power strip promoter not discuss earthing? He is paid to promote obscenely profitable protectors that have no earthing. Profit centers will not even claim protection in manufacturer spec sheets or discuss what does all protection - earth ground. Previous posts discussed secondary protection - an earthed 'whole house' protector. Homeowners should also inspect their primary protection layer. Only the engineer would recommend what to inspect. No profit is reaped by discussing a primary surge protection layer. A picture of what to inspect: http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html Each protection layer is only defined by earth ground. Any protector without an earth ground (ie plug-in type) does not do nor claim protection. A power strip must somehow magically stop and block a surge. And not discuss what absorb hundreds of thousands of joules - earth. One industry guru in his 1994 IEEE paper repeats what the NIST and IEEE say. Martzloff says damage can happen because a 'point of connection' protector makes damage easier. His very first conclusion says: > Conclusion: > 1) Quantitative measurements in the Upside-Down house clearly > show objectionable difference in reference voltages. These occur > even when or perhaps because, surge protective devices are > present at the point of connection of appliances. When selling a $4 power strip with ten cent protector parts for $40 and $120, then contradicting professionals and confusing layman is necessary. Professionals say a protector without earthing is "useless". Engineered protection systems locate every protector as close as possible (ie 'less than 10 feet') to single point earth ground. And waste no money on power strips. NIST says what all protectors must do to have protection: > What these protective devices do is neither suppress nor arrest > a surge, but simply divert it to ground, where it can do no harm. Since plug-in protectors do not have the always required earth ground, then the NIST also says what a plug-in protector really does: > The best surge protection in the world can be useless > if grounding is not done properly. "Useless". Obviously. No dedicated wire for an always required earth ground means no layer of protection. Why would anyone recommend a protector that has no earthing? Every telco switching station will suffer about 100 surges with each thunderstorm. How often is your town without phone service for four days while they replace that $multi-million computer? Never. Because telcos waste no money on power strips. Telcos always - as in no exceptions - earth surges using the proven 'whole house' solution. Then no surge is inside causing damage. One protector from Polyphaser (an industry benchmark) has no earth connection. A distance to earth is so critical that a Polyphaser protector mounts ON earth ground. Zero feet to earth. Another solution discussed by someone who did this stuff. Any current that is not earthed outside will be so tiny (ie noise) that protection inside every appliance (even GFCIs, digital clocks, and dimmer switches) is not overwhelmed. Routine is to have direct lightning strikes (or 100 surges to the $multi-million computer) without damage. Protection by earthing one 'whole house' protector is so routine that one should not even know a surge existed. An effective protector remains functional even after a direct lightning strike. House fires are another problem with plug-in protectors. Another reason why power strip protectors must be protected from surges - by earthing one 'whole house' protector. A protector is only as effective as the item that defines each protection layer - earth ground. Protector without a low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') earth connection provides no protection layer. Can sometimes make appliance damage easier � 8000 volts destructively on page 42 figure 8. In some cases has causes house fires. One protector or 1000 protectors connected to the same earth ground is still only one protection layer. One protector or 1000 - the protection is exactly same - only as good as the earth ground.

Just to add to the echo chamber - the appliances are fine. They are neutral and work with your cabinets just fine. The issue is the paint, or at least how the paint is appearing in photos. It does not highlight the warmth of the cabinets and is instead competing with them. It looks more a cool gray than a warm one. You don’t need to go beige, but you do need to go warmer. Maybe even a light sage. Depending on the backsplash you go with I’d also consider a much lighter paint - a warmer white (can still be neutral and not “yellow”) - which might lighten things nicely.