Okay, I'll leave it be and hope for the best. The pine nuggets seemed perfect, with some pieces being dime sized at the largest and some being really fine mulchy stuff. I'll see if I can get a picture when I go down to my mother's house this weekend, I don't remember the brand name. Was a massive bag for pretty reasonable though, I've used that stuff for nearly ALL of my plants this last repotting season. While most are houseplants, for edibles I planted an olive and a cherry tree in soil amended with it. Guess I'll just see what happens over the winter!

Re: 3'-wide island w/ two seats at the end...it does sound tight. I have a friend whose peninsula is way too close to her fridge, and yet she has two simple 4-legged, round-seated stools tucked away under her overhang. It's pretty rare to see anybody sit there (and when they do, you can't open the fridge), but it's not a bad place for the kids to sit when they're cutting out cookies or whatever. Hers is what it is, but I sure wouldn't design it that way. For yours, I think the flow looks better w/ the peninsula. I also wonder about having those two stools so close to that prep sink (would it splash/spray? or would you move it down to the middle of the island . My existing 1960's kitchen has the peninsula design very similar to what Sweeby posted above (except that my cooking part of the kitchen is about 9'x10', and there's no sink on the peninsula -- it's just countertop). I was pretty happy to see this design here, because I've always loved my peninsula...I call it "the hot corner" because it's where everything happens in my kitchen...the kids pull chairs over from the table when they want to help me cook (the 4- and 7-yr-old...the 10-yr-old comes over to my side). The chairs block that lane of traffic (we have that same lane and it's very busy...too busy for full-time stools, but for the few times a week those chairs are there, I can live w/ it. It's also where guests stand and chat when we have company...on that other side of the peninsula. It would be really nice to be able to fit a few stools there for that purpose. Anyway, I will watch your plans with interest! Have fun!

I couldn't find any pomegranates or seeds, so I just left them off and garnished with mint. This was the first time I've had to do that. I think the biggest down side was that without the pomegranate seeds to signal what the stuff is, people think it's bean dip. A rather reddish bean dip! So I had to tell them. Now, back to my question -- Linda, how much cream or butter would I need per cup of dip? How do you mix it in? I guess I could use the mixer, but it would have to be very gently, because I don't want to break up the nuts and corn too much.

Thanks for the votes of confidence. I really thought I'd be starting a riot. So many people have told me just to leave it alone, it's fine, classic white kitchen, etc. But it's just never felt right. Now I'm excited about it! The rugs were just cheapies from Kirklands. So not worth heart failure, Amy! Believe me, paint would be the most mild thing that has ever been on them. Dog slobber, muddy paws, hair, pancake batter drips, grease splatters, various sundry spilled drinks, etc. all adorn those rugs. The beauty of the pattern is that they show nothing, and they're wool, so they've so far been indestructable. Just to set everyone's mind at ease, the pic of the paint tray was at the very, very end of the project, and there was only a few drops left in the deepest part of the paint well. No rug was harmed in the filming of this project. :)