What Gardengal said. I have a gorgeous grouping of oakleafs that are in a rather protected area (they do get some wind in the winter, but not a whole lot). The first couple seasons I burlapped them, but I no longer do - they are now fully established. The ones that get clipped by more wind in the winter don't throw as many flowers as the ones that are more protected (it's the house that protects them from the winds). So, I would plant them in a protected area if possible, and if not you can always winter protect them. Or, you could just grow them for the foliage effect and not worry about the flowers (truthfully, that's originally why I planted them).

I got my scale from a Laboratory supply catalogue. I work in the food manufacturing industry and these are the scales used in food labs. I am in Canada and ordered mine from Canada Wide Scientific. It has a tare button, so you could put your bowl on first, press tare to zero out the weight of the bowl and then measure the ingredients. It's a great no mess way to measure butter.

If you want a more utilitarian look, the Grohe K7 medium is a scaled down pre-rinse-style faucet; we like ours. The Blanco Culina is cute though. My folks have and would recommend the Grohe Concetto (not sure whether that is considered a pullout or pulldown), looks similar to the Delta Trinsic. Good luck!

mgmum, your messaging is not enabled, so I'll post a link to my OneDrive Kitchen album (scroll down to skip my wandering explanation). It starts with the hand-drawn plan--I found GW before I knew how to upload pics or use a Paint program. I did a DIY mini-remodel using some cabinets from the old kitchen, some new cabinets, and some salvaged cabinets and other recycled/upcycled elements. If you click on each pic, then click on it again, the captions should appear. The whole mess is documented, so if you just want to see the final result, scroll to the end. I mentioned hosting big family dinners--the kitchen is set up specifically to facilitate feeding a crowd. I could have a better working layout, but I need the long counter with no appliances, and a direct path to the new dining room. The range used to be on that wall, and the burners would still be hot from cooking, when it was time to serve the buffet. Many times I've covered the still-warm burners with a noodle board, so no one would accidentally touch them. I moved the range across the room, in part to clear that wall, but also to vent it to the outside. My vented hood is one of my favorite parts of the new kitchen. So, we start in the LR, file past the buffet serving counters (counter on one side, island on the other), and walk directly into the new dining/flex room. I'll include the link for that album, too, although you can see it in the background of the kitchen pics. Scroll down for a pic of the table set for 20. We can seat 6 at the kitchen dining table (usually the teens/young adults), which is open to the kitchen on the other side, and four more at a drop leaf table, which we move from the new room to the LR, which is connected through another opening, so no one is isolated in another room. I live in an older home with a circular traffic pattern--I guess now it's more of a figure-8. Before adding the new room, we had to move chairs out of the LR, push everything else against the walls, and squeeze around each other to seat the whole family together. One Thanksgiving we seated 24 at tables in the LR, and I said, "Never again, unless we have a separate dining room!" I think I've posted the story before, but that year my FIL had a friend visiting from the UK, and they decided to come early and visit with my DH, which left me without my usual help, so I was really running behind schedule. Then my mother arrived with her friend, who became bored because the British friend was getting all the attention. Mother's friend decided that since I was alone in the kitchen, he should come in and sing to me--'Devil in Disguise', while I shooed him from one spot to another, as I needed to check the oven, open the fridge, grab something from a drawer, etc. My mother dragged him back to the LR, but as soon as her attention was again on the interesting British friend, 'Elvis' returned for an encore. As more family members arrived with their dishes, he decided that holding court in the kitchen suited him just fine. I was ready to wring his neck by the time I had the buffet laid out. Now, I can set up the tables the night before, place the serving pieces on the long buffet counter early in the day, have everyone seated comfortably in the LR before the meal, set the drinks up on the island at the last minute, give the signal for the blessing, and breathe a sigh of relief. Everything is arranged for point of use, and my relatives know where to find things without asking, so if I'm running behind, they can set up tables and chairs, set up the coffee maker, set the tables, etc. I have trained them well. ;) Kitchen album New addition/dining room/playroom