Hi to both Marys. Last year was my first time winter sowing. Had mixed results, but am back again this year with about 200 jugs planted thus far. Started in late Dec. and am still planting every time a trade or round robin comes in. It's not too late. Everything sprouts at it's own right time. I will start planting my annuals soon as our weather settles down abit. We are still getting snow and hail squalls here in Washington. Talk about your crazy weather. There's no sign of globle warming here. I have about 20 gallon jugs sprouted thus far. We are not crazy. Unless we're crazy like a fox. I will have at least 100 new types of perennials, shrubs and trees this year all for the price of some potting soil and a few stamps and bubble envelopes. Imagine what it would all cost if we bought those plants at a nursery. Connie

I've been going back and forth over Bluestar and Capital Culinarian for more than a year (when my wife first started talking about an addition that will finally be built soon). And my research for the best range for me actually goes back five years. When I first started looking at pro-style ranges I wanted the highest heat I could find because I do a lot of stir-frying. I was tired of doing stir fries in batches and having the meat steam. I even looked at specialized wok burners with 30K heat or more. That just wasn't practical, however, and I knew my wife would not approve. I eventually stumbled upon Bluestar, whose visibility is minimal compared to brands like Wolf, Viking and such. Then I learned about open burners for its 22K plates. I was almost sold. The complaints about poor customer service and other problems did give me pause, of course. So did the fact that I knew so little about BS and couldn't find much information. That's how I stumbled upon Gardenweb. And that's how I learned about Capital. I decided to get the Capital Maestro cooktop because of my wife's budget concerns. Sure, it had sealed burners, but they went up to 20K plus and the price was nice ($1300). But she canceled a planned addition (for the second time) and I went back to the drawing board. Enter the Culinarian. First read about it last summer, when my wife finally agreed to an addition. It had open burners, hotter burners on all plates, more modern looks and people seemed to like the customer service. I finally found my baby. It just seemed perfect. Lo and behold, I disappeared from GW for six months. When I finally checked back in, I saw all these posts about problems with the CC - simmer, oven-rack placement, oven size. Back to the drawing board. I did look at American Range but ruled it out for reasons obvious to readers of this thread. Then I began studying Bluestar again. Supposedly the oven-door problem was partly fixed. Customer service supposedly improved. It seemed to have a better simmer ability. And the oven was better configured, while including one rolling rack. So now I am torn, but leaning toward BS. I figure I will replace the 15K burner with 22K and perhaps get a color. My wife, much to my surprise, prefers the Bluestar. She is not a regular cook, but she liked the grate design and flow better on BS and considers the oven far superior. She also thinks it looks better built and is more attractive than the CC. (We saw both in a local store). My 12-year-old daughter also likes the BS better, mainly because it can fit a professional size cookie sheet. She loves to bake. Personally, I think the CC looks better and is just as well made. I like the way it is designed for cleaning. I love the idea of four 23k burners. And my research suggests it has a slightly better broiler. That's important because I want a super high-heat broiler to get closer to my ideal of restaurant-like crusts on steaks and salmon. On the other hand, I can only afford the manual-clean oven (I don't like self cleans anyway). I don't like the rack configuration or how close the top rack is to the broiler. Nor can it handle a pro-size cookie sheet. The simmer problem is also a bit of a concern. I do plan to buy from a local, independent store that promises to back whatever I buy to the hilt. It's only a 5-minute drive away, so that's reassuring. I will get the support I need if problems do arise. Decision time is next week. I'll report back once I choose the last range I hope I have to buy.

Hola, I should have known better than to try to pull the above layout off. Thank you very much for your gentle disagreement to wake me up to the reality that sticking a large heavy portable island in front of doorways will not work. Question about REMODELFLA: "move the door down that goes into the bar/desk area": do you mean this? Does this layout work better? This modified layout is moving the current doorway down toward the porch, allowing more space for the island. This then allows me more wall space for a full bar/desk. As always, I really appreciate your help in reviewing my layouts. Thank you very much, Amanda Moved doorway down layout: Overhead view: Another view of walkway between island/fireplace: Recall, the island is 5ft wide by 2ft wide with a 1ft overhang for the 2 stools. The glasses drawers would pull out toward the fireplace (instead of toward cooktop) since it will be used more often than the Tupperware drawers. Familroom mudroom, and porch 'foyer'/desk/bar: I thought about doing a wide shallow U-shape kitchen, where the cooktop would be on the wall of the doorway (facing opposite of the wall oven/fridge). But the way I function, I like having a little barrier from people when I prep/cook. W/ the U-shape, people could stand near me and actually be in my way. Also, I need seating for my 2 kids (7.5 and 6yrs old) for snacks. (Meals will be in the diningroom, which is in the opposite corner of the house � labeled Livingroom. Need the space for my 12feet long diningroom table). 1929Spanish: The distance between the island and fireplace = 4ft. I think that is very spacious, since my current aisle is 28inches!!! The toaster oven area will be flushed w/ the wall oven. It�ll be the appliance garage mainly for the kitchenaid mixer that will slide out (so I never have to lift the darn heavy thing again). RHOME410: I wish I knew how to better utilize the good-size room (~17ftx13.5ft - currently the familyroom). But with the 4 doorways, there is no good way to set up the room as a famiyroom. This design feels very wasteful of a perfectly good room, but I desperately need a mudroom, which cuts into the room (instead of building out). That leaves a 'foyer' for the porch entrance. 2DWs: I ALWAYS have something in the drying rack. I cannot stand looking at it anymore. So I need the 2nd DW to hold all the drying stuff: plastics, knives, pots, etc. Also we host a few big parties each year, so having a 2nd DW would be great! AOKAT15: I kinda gave the condensed reason for needing to shrink the budget. We actually have the money for the renovation, but my husband got a wake-up call when we got our home appraisal back. In the comps, he noted that homes with Central air conditioning were valued more than our home (which currently does not have CAC). So he suggested that we do not renovate the kitchen, but instead install CAC. That is part of my plan, but my order of priority is to do the kitchen first, then CAC in a few years (I can live with window AC for now). DH does not see the value of spending so much money for a kitchen renovation, when CAC actually adds value, but renovated kitchen does not. So in our compromise, instead of the full-blown renovation (see link to full-blown layout thread), we would not go hog-wild, but renovate just to meet our top needs. There is always something else that needs our time/money. Waiting a few years does not help. Waiting will just eat the time/money of the future projects (masterbath, patio, finishing familyroom above the garage, outdoor ice-rink, new roof, cobblestone driveway, etc etc etc). We have a great diningroom that we use daily. I do not need a breakfast table/area. (In my previous house, I had a small diningroom right near the kitchen/breakfast table that is right next to the island with seating. A bunch of useless space.) Now we either eat in the diningroom or a quick snack at the island. Thank you very much, Amanda/huango Here is a link that might be useful: hog-wild layout thread

I think that the return of the back button has an importance far beyond its use; what it means is that Houzz is not using a take it or leave it approach, but that they are working on issues and maybe we can expect further useful changes.