You'll like the vinyl fencing, Susie. We had one installed 7 years ago. Wood is just too difficult & expensive to maintain here...needs repainting every 2 years. Now, each spring when we power wash the house, shed, concrete sidewalk, patios, & outdoor furniture we also power wash the fence. Gets that green slime that covers everything here off in a flash! Looks like new again. Same problem with wooden screen doors. I LOVE the Victorian styled wooden screen doors that are prelevant here but they only last 2-3 years & rot. Gets expensive. Five years ago, we bit the bullet & installed a powder coated stainless steel with brass trim storm/screen door with leaded glass insert (plus screens). That baby is heavier than beejesums but will last for years! Wood is a great material but in some climates it's a real bear to maintain. Since I grew up on property being operated as the largest pressure treating wood facility west of the Mississippi & the resulting Superfund Site...I refuse on principle to purchase pressure treated wood for fencing, outdoor furniture, doors, or anything else. That stuff is BAD, IMO, for both people & the environment. And, even if you are inclined to use pressure treated wood it still looks best painted &, hence, back to the wire brushes & paint. You'll like the fence. Ours is white because all coastal NE houses have white fences & we weren't inclined to rock the boat, so to speak. So, just getting out the power washer instead of the wire brushes & paint brushes is really great! /tricia

Hi hillarie - sorry that I didn't see this sooner! I LOVE my Donna Sandra tops - they have a few amethyst type spots, but nothing really "sparkly". Do you have a pic of the slab? It's possible that this batch is different. I used to have pics on here... but for some reason the links look broken - I will try to fix. I will say that one of the best things about my tops is that it's hard to tell when they are dirty due to the movement in the stone... you really don't pick up easily on crumbs, spots, etc., which is so great with a husband and three small kids who can make a quite a mess :) Romy - thanks for your post! I am so glad you love your deep drawer - I still love mine as well! Do you have a reveal thread yet? Just from that little peak I would bet your new space is amazing!!

Thanks. It's an original O'Neil Ford home built in the early 50s. We're trying to preserve as much as possible while updating. My wife's been on a tear with finding vintage fixtures and furnishings. It's going to be an MCM museum when we're done, if I'm not broke by then. Any opinions on a backsplash behind the cooktop? We can get a piece of that granite to fit it for about $500 or do SS.

Joseph Corlett hit the nail on the head. Choose your appliances in advance, but don't buy yet, and look at the specs carefully. Do not buy until near to installation. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the clock starts ticking on the warranty upon delivery, not upon installation. If you buy your appliances too far in advance of installation, you will be foregoing one, two, or more months of your warranty. Since the warranty is built into the price of your appliance, it is like throwing away money to forego it. Furthermore, if you need a repair more than 12 months after delivery, but it's only been, say, 6 months in use, good luck on that expense - it will likely be high. P.S. Echoing what Anglophilia wrote, take extra care with the dimensions of the fridge. We have had a number of threads on this forum with people not realizing that their fridge is deeper than expected, and that it's sticking out from the cabinetry much more than they'd planned. Or, conversely, the cabinetry was made an inch or so too deep so that the fridge doors can't swing open fully.