Hi all,Good Morning! I see that a lot of you haven't received your books yet, is no problem to wait, lets give it the rest of the week for everyones books to arrive. After all the first lesson involves the book LOL. So everyone who signed up, once you all get your books, pop in on this post and let me know when you get your book then hopefully we will start on Friday or Saturday of this coming week. Woodpat, glad to have you join us. This will be a casual and very easy exercise, I am hoping to have lots of thoughts going back and forth between everyone participating in this.

Well, here's what I wish someone (hadn't discovered GW back in the "old days" in 1990) had told me about kitchen remodeling and managing the all-important "want" list: Certain parts of the kitchen are easy to change and certain things are not. Had I known, for instance, that one must measure the walls at 3 points to get an accurate in-between measurement, I would not, almost 20 yrs later, now be short 1/4 to 1/2" to fit in a pro-style 30" range. I would now have to move a minimum of six cabinets - remember, all of which are in perfect condition but more importantly, aren't made any longer so cannot be easily matched even by custom - in order to gain a lousy 1/2" of space. That's a slight exaggeration, mind you: I'm actually only short 1/8", but I figure some of those pro-stoves get pretty hot on the sides so I'd want a little bit of airspace, just in case. When we replaced our refrigerator in 2002, I found they had gotten bigger and bulkier (Energy star requirements needing more insulation), so instead of a 23 cu.ft. refrig I had to go down to 19 cu.ft. in order to fit in between the surrounding cabs. Thus, I know now that such things as light fixtures (not the wiring), floors, counters, sinks, faucets, venthoods and even DWs, aren't that difficult to replace. But it's a real pain when you're later limited to certain appliances only because you're lacking a few all-important inches somewhere. Once the cabs, electrical/plumbing/gas lines are in, it's costly to change those around. So Ive learned there's a reason for using a few filler strips. I could easily have planned for larger appliances by moving a non-bearing wall we installed in 1990 back another 4". I didnÂt, and can only regret it. I could have put in a good, middle-price stove (just as I did) and gotten 5-10 yrs of service out of it, then replaced it with whatever I really wanted to splurge on. ItÂs a lot easier to spend the extra a few years down the road, when youÂre just replacing one or two appliances, not remodeling the entire kitchen. When I started hearing about the Bluestar, I went to see one and loved it. Could have paid cash without any trouble. But it simply won't fit, unless I change out my cabs. But the Cormatin will fit much better, so I'm willing to give up a little of the BS performance for Lacanche's good looks and still better-than-average performance. If I were remodeling my kitchen top to bottom, and wanted a Cluny but couldnÂt quite afford it, thereÂs a few choices to be made. First you scale down as much as you can (the aforementioned easy-to-change stuff), and shop every sale like a fanatic. Sheet vinyl flooring remnant? Take it! Fight the crowds, serve your family cheap plastic-cheese pizzas, whatever it takes. Save every penny. No more Starbucks lattes, no more Haagen Daz. Bring your lunch, rent a movie instead of going out. Yeah, itÂs awful, but you (hopefully) donÂt have to do it forever. Ask your friends for help, whether itÂs watching the kids or going to the grocery store and taking your list along with theirs, while you stay home and tile your backsplash (after taking that free class showing you how at the local big box store). Promise to pay them back with half-a-dozen great meals cooked in your gorgeous new kitchen (and then be sure you actually do it). If you still canÂt manage the cost, plan properly. Arrange your upper and lower cabs, vent/wiring/gas or electrical, so that youÂll have enough room in the future. Remember my sad lesson of 1/2"  give yourself a skootch more room than you think youÂll need. Figure out what works best as a substitute. A 36" range with a small countertop convection oven as a second? Or maybe the Kenmore/Frigidaire 40" 5 burner? No, they wonÂt make your heart race, but they work, and work well. WeÂre in an incredible time right now, with a plethora of choices available at every price point. Then start saving for your Cluny. YouÂve got a bright shiny goal, itÂs either worth a bit of personal sacrifice or it isnÂt. In the meantime, at least youÂve got a working kitchen that has a better layout and is more beautiful than what you started with. We are all on budgets; some of them larger than others, but most of us cannot afford EVERYTHING we want, all at once. But if you realize that prioritizing your wish list between the "wants" and the "needs" can mean if you're patient, you may eventually end up with what you wanted  and sometimes, something even better than you originally thought.

I checked everything! Our @#$%&* framer made LOTS of mistakes. Put a wall where the stairs were to begin, another wall where a door was to be, cut the stair stringer incorrectly, centered two different doors on walls where I didn't want them centered and the plans didn't show them centered, etc., etc., etc. Lost his set of plans, then after borrowing mine, left them blowing around the inside of the rough-framed house shell. We were owner-builders, and did ICF walls--concrete--can't be changed once they're poured. My DH and another guy stacked the ICFs. DH is usually meticulous, so I didn't check him. Big mistake! Also, when we got the final set of drawings back, unbeknownst to me, the designer had made a last minute adjustment to the window height to "accommodate" the ICF structure (unnecessary). Between him and DH, all of the windows were dropped 5". Grr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!!!!! Anne

Completely understand all of that, having the dishwasher behind us would work in the same way as it would be very close when the door is open but the only other option is to put the dishwasher next to the sink and then have to move the range to the only other wall that you could use for it which is the back wall next to the fridge. I guess we could move it to the right of the sink but it would be just as far away or more than in the island What nobody is asking or knows is our preferences like I don't want my back to everybody in the kitchen while I'm cooking, so having the range in the middle of the kitchen makes it easier for me to see what's going on in the living area to my left, talk to my wife or kids when they are prepping things in the sink and talk to the people at the island easier. Does any of that make sense as to why the layout is that way?