I have had them in the flowerbed for 4 years. They come back up and bloom every year, but you have to plant them en masse to really get a cool effect, and then, they are gone! I planted mine in an area where there are perennial butterfly plants so that when their blooms go, there's other stuff to pick up the empty space. The best time to get these is in spring when the bulbs first come into the store in those plastic bags. They are cheapest to buy this way (maybe $3 each) than waiting til the nursery has taken it upon itself to plant, sprout and bloom them for you, when I have seen the cost be as much as $10.99. If you thought that you were going to have that great flower all summer, $10.99 would be worth it but when you know its going to be shortlived, its not

Yes, crazyhouse6, the crystal ball sconces come single. These are my final contenders, but leaning (right now) heavily toward the first one. The shade on it is actually glass. I also like the LENGTH (for my space) of the second one and the last two, but the last two are probably too modern. What do you guys vote for? Finding out later today if they can put the sconces on the towers without yanking out the towers and repainting. Here's my two favorite chandys and another inspiration photo so you can see where I'm coming from (if you don't already know!) - simple tile pattern, monochromatic, but romantic finishings:

I'll call this morning Elizabeth & see if there will be an open house soon. They had one about a month or six weeks ago but we forgot about it! :( I was just going to call our broker but it sounds like more fun to tour it with you! The listing says that the stove stays...also, if you look on the far right side of that picture...isn't that an old wringer washer? They hauled dumpster(s) full of 'stuff' out of that house so I wonder what's left? Gravel's a great street also. We looked at the 18th century cape on the river immediately across from the Morgan's berth. An estate thing. Three siblings that couldn't make up their minds what to do with the property so I think it's leased for a year...that was back in January or February. The house has been pretty well stripped of its history but the site is worth $1.5M...at least. I'm sure the Historical Society would insist anybody purchasing that property must attempt to put it back together. ($$$$) Being on the Groton side though helps 'cause Stonington is darn near impossible to work with. We're in the historic district & my neighbor wanted to pour a 4x6' concrete pad with a lean-to roof coming off the garden shed for their trash cans. Stonington wouldn't allow it! Ridiculous. We wanted to add a 1/2 bath. Stonington said we'd have to raise it 8' in the air! Again, ridiculous. I'll let you know when the next open house is. I'm looking forward to seeing the basement!! Too bad it's been poured w/concrete but the timbers should still be there plus the fireplace supports. Speaking of fireplace supports...if you look at the above listing...off to the right of the webpage you'll see another listing by the same realtor....on Pequot Trail listed at $675K. We seriously considered that one about a year ago. Built 1790. The cooking hearth fireplace w/oven is fantastic. The site, while not near the water, is probably the prettiest I've ever seen...about a 5 acre meadow filled with daffs & bluebells...gorgeous! There's a pond w/waterfall & about 1.5 acres of perennial gardens. But, there's about a 1/2 mile private road to access the place. Plus, there's a Stonington approved 1.5 acre building site at the far end of the meadow you could sell off...worth about $150K+/-. The owners are a childless couple...she works for Pfizer & was transferred to England about 2 years ago & he's a vet staying in the house until it's sold. The house is FILTHY. Cats. Price is down exactly $200K from when we looked at it. Anyway, the fireplace...in the basement the fireplace sits on the most humongeous piece of ledge I've ever seen in a basement! Even more amazing, the timbers are not hewn...just trees still with their bark. It's worth touring just to see the basement & construction. That house isn't going anywhere anytime soon! I think the only reason it's not sold is because it's so dirty & filled to the ceilings (literally) w/junk. She's a research doctor & they have a seriously out of control book habit. It needs to be gutted so, again, $$$ to make it liveable. /tricia

As for your specific questions: i) I would center the cook top. That is basically where you want it to be for functional reasons anyway, and you'll be able to see that wall very well when you are approaching the kitchen. You will have a good vantage for seeing the symmetry, and it will look nice. (As opposed to centering something that you will never be able to see head-on, so who cares if it's centered.) Also, your stove when centered definitely isn't too far from the sink. Actually, doing that gives you an almost perfect amount of counter between the two to really have space to get some work done, but still be able to dump a pot of boiling water in the sink without having to walk too far. ii) I think you could do a combination of butcher block and soapstone quite easily by having the peninsula be butcher block. It is handy to the sink, so it'd be a great prep area. Like this: Here is a link to more photos of that finished kitchen: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2550583/bricktons-finished-kitchen If you were doing an induction range (instead of just an induction cooktop), I could also see doing everything in soapstone except doing butcher block on just that section of counter between the range and the fridge wall. Here is a new layout with all my suggestions incorporated. I also made the fridge wall cabinets a bit deeper (even counter depth fridge are not 24"). And I deepened the peninsula so you can have standard 24" cabinets under it and still have a 12" overhang, plus you have plenty of space to make that counter deeper, and a that is just more great work space, so why not?