This years UCD cuttings were disappointing. Being new at this with only one unknown tree, last season I received cuttings from Jack. Just so you don't think I'm a complete klutz this is the result of last years cuttings. 3 Qtr.lb. healthy excellant growth no figs 1 Nice red 2 figs 1 Alma/BT/or nice red 5 figs 1 " 7 figs 1 " 2 figs 2 " no figs By contrast, This year's cuttings UCD Received 4 Brown Turkey cuttings: 1 small, few leaves 2 died 1 doubtful, one small leaf, Received one Celeste cutting.... dead Gene's Sal's. Received 10 cuttings 6 healthy growing nicely one has 1 fig 1 doubtful, has one small leaf. It is interesting to note that when Gene's cuttings arrived, I planted 5 of them upon arrival. These flurished and are now growing well. The remaining 5 I kept in the refridge for a month or so. These did not do well. If it were not for Gene's generousity in giving me the Sal's cuttings I wouldn't have had any success this season. Good luck everyone. Peg

If you have kids of an age to kick one another, this is always a possibility, but generally they grow out of that behavior and it shouldn't be too important a factor for planning, any more than kicking is a factor at any other rectangular table. More important is choice of stools if this is an eating area; don't get swivel ones if there's a kicking problem. A different problem is that there is only so much knee space. How deep will your overhang be? Did you discuss going leg-less with the designer? That is, using supports underneath the countertop instead of legs? I agree that the openness is a virtue. At the very least, I dislike the faux drawers idea you began the thread with. Visually it would be weird to see that panel with the implication of a 3-D back and there be none there--like a flat Hollywood set. Is that a t.v. behind the peninsula? In that case, I even more strongly suggest that the storage unit go up against the wall and the sitters move down. That inner spot will be the last one taken whenever people sit. I think you're envisioning someone sitting adjacent to wall and trying to talk to the cook at the range. How often will that actually be the case? More often the cook will be at the peninsula washing & chopping or messing with plates. The splash goes either side of the little sink plus behind it and the seats by it will seem just a bit too close. The end seat(s) will be the premium seating: possible T.V. viewing plus conversation in three directions--toward family room and toward colleagues and cook. And it's the first seating when entering through that door. One more thing to consider--how likely are you to pull a stool around to the inside of the peninsula? If you're like us, one stool will "live" in there much of the time. So if that happens, where will it go and who will it be facing? [Your layout is very similar to mine except that your door is my refrig and your wall adjacent to end of peninsula is my hall from another room, but there is no seating until what is your second seat because the peninsula angles out there. I sit to right of the prep sink at the pullout chopping board at the corner and DH sits opposite me when we are there conversing or such. Our little undercab t.v. is over your blind corner.]

I love cork floors. We had 1 for 18 years that covered entry way, powder room, kitchen and dining area. It wore well, scratches from our dog were barely noticeable. Ours was a lighter color and hid the dirt well. We live in WI with lots of snow, slush, and mud on shoes which didn't hurt the floors. Most times when something glass was dropped on the floor, it didn't break. The floor was warm to bare feet. I didn't get any care instructions and basically used a lot of water to clean it which caused some slight curling (not noticeable, could feel with bare feet if you were focusing on that) at the seams. Can you tell that I loved that floor? This cork floor was high quality,floating (non-glue) type that was more expensive than wood or tile at the time. One of my friends lives in a high end, penthouse condo with cement floors and she put in glue down cork. The glue down cork became uneven in places which they attributed to temperature changes in the concrete. She wishes she had gotten the floating cork. We drastically changed our layout and color scheme when remodeling and the floor needed to be changed. It was easy to remove the floor. I would have gotten another cork floor but the interior decorator said none of the color options were right for the cabinet color. In hindsight, I should have fired the decorator and gotten cork. I also like the new tile floor.

Another Ikea kitchens advocate here. Installed ours in 2003. Spent 11.5K on the entire 180 sq f kitchen - all cabinets doors and fronts were solid wood (pine, discontinued), tons of drawers, sitting area, stainless appliances, granite, etc. If you want to keep your kitchen for the next 50-60 years, spend $150K and buy solid wood cabinets. If you are like many other people will get bored with your kitchen and/or want more modern details in 10-15 years, Ikea is the best option. Thicker than other medium range kitchen MDF (0.75" instead of 0.5") frames, high end Blum hardware with doors and fully extended drawers that have soft closure option. Both solid wood and melamine doors are very durable. As for the designer look, it actually all depends on your design abilities. I've seen $70K kitchen and $115K kitchen that looked much worse than many Ikea kitchens. Pick a good counter, knobs, curtains; think about trim and light. I've heard this 'Ikea-kitchen-is-for-losers' song from many contractors, but never from the actual owners. I will use Ikea kitchen cabinets (hacked) for our master bath remodeling. I was interviewing several contractors - two of them tried to convince me to not use Ikea cabinets for this. When I asked them about the alternative, they offered their cabinets instead. After comparing their cabinets to the Ikea ones that I chose, it turned out that their cabinets are: 1. About 2 times more expensive without all drawers I want and about 2.5 more expensive with the drawers; 2. Have mediocre hardware without soft closure, etc. 'What are you talking about??' said one of the contractors. 'All hardware is the same!' Yeah, right... The new Sektion line promises to be even better - more drawer options, more glass cabinets, etc. It will also be more expensive than Akurum probably. So, if the budget is important to you, use Ikea fall sale. The spring sale is already over in US. I got 20% off this time and I am very happy.