Amy - I live in CT too (you're in MA?), our tomato plants are growing like a jungle, lots of fruit but nothing ripening! Told DH I had a recipe for green tomato pickles but he didn't think that sounded good. We planted Sweet 100's and Early Girls. Plus a couple of butternut squash (hope those do well) and lots of lettuce hoping for a salad garden. The lettuce I started from seed at Mem Day is about an inch tall, the seedlings I got for free from nursery a month ago just got very tall and have started to flower, hardly any leaves so I haven't picked - we've been eating grocery store salad all summer! We have wild blueberries and blackberries, about 2 cups of each all summer long (blueberry bushes are growing well since we've cleared around them, but hardly any fruit - not enough sun). We're going to try transplanting some of the ones that are far back in the woods to sunnier spots along edge of lawn, maybe we'll get more next year. I'm making blueberry buckle (my grandma's recipe) for reunion this weekend, probably make a blackberry crumble tonight. I'd love to get recipe for raspberry chocolate jam so when the rest ripen I can try that. My dad gave me a couple huge (as long as my forearm) zucchini, I made 2 batches of bread/muffins on Friday, threw another 3-4 cups of shredded zuch in the freezer for later - might make more this w/e while I have the oven going for buckle. Made stuffed peppers last night, but with grocery store peppers. We had some of my dad's green beans too. Kids don't eat them, so we won't plant them. It's been a bad year up here - haven't checked farmer's markets (usually more $$, at least in the 2 affluent towns near us - I'll have to check more modest town on Friday). But grocery stores haven't even had very good prices. Corn just now getting knee high (a month late!), and *some* people have started 2nd cutting of hay, but not us (we just did 1st cutting 4th of July, other people were even later). Too much rain, no sun for all of June.

As you use your kitchen over the next several days make mental notes about how often you use the fridge for various purposes. Do you open it a lot during food prep.? How many items do you take out of it during prep? How often do you open it during non-prep times--i.e. breakfast, snacks, sandwich making, beverages? How many items go straight from fridge to table and back again? I don't use my fridge during prep as often as I thought. If I'm making a salad, I go over and grab all the salad ingredients at once. When I'm making a meal I have a pretty good idea about what I'm going to be using and I try to cut my trips down by taking several things out at once. Most of the items I improvise with (seasonings, oils, etc.) aren't refrigerated and are stored in the cooking/prep zone. Sometimes I have to walk to it for butter or milk or eggs, but not as often as I thought. I prefer to have our fridge near the table and out of the prep zone. It's accessible for non cooking/prepping activities all day long--which is how it is most heavily used. To me, keeping others out of my cooking/prep zone is worth the trade off of not having the fridge right at my fingertips. We tend to use a lot of items from the fridge while we are eating. Having the fridge close by makes meal times a lot more relaxing and setting and clearing the table becomes less of a chore. Our plates and silverware are near the table so others can set the table and get items out of the fridge without crossing paths with me. Also, I wanted to maximize window space in our prep area and there wasn't a good spot for the fridge. I like having lots of storage in my cooking/prep area for the tools I use. This is more important to me than having fridge drawers (plus I prefer to keep things simple-one less appliance to clean and maintain and no hassle trying to find something to fit the same space when it needs to be replaced.) The fridge is placed between the kitchen and dining area. It's not terribly far from my prep area--it's a straight shot to get to it, no islands or peninsulas to walk around.

Oh, Country, what kind of receptacles does one brush cats into?? (ROTFL!!) I'm on the other side of the "mini fridge" argument. I have a small fridge (bar size) from my old work storeroom which I first plugged in here for sodas for a party, and which has remained as a great place to store pre-prep vegetables, meat for parties, or large leftovers. The one thing I wanted for my new kitchen "just because I want it" is fridge drawers in the prep area, mostly for veg. It's not in yet, so I don't know if I'll love it as much I think I will, but oooh, boy! What a joy! Worth the money to me. It also solves the problem of distance from stove to fridge--I can put leftover wine, butter, etc., in the lower drawer and have them handy for unplanned needs (no little helpers to fetch for me). Because the island is wider than the drawers I'm also getting a pullout with dividers for baking boards which runs behind it. Because it's nearly as tall as the counter I can put truly large boards in it. And to be contrary, again, my island is going to be a little above counter height, at a comfortable level for chopping and shaping. I've ended up without a rolling area, but decided I could stand on a box for that. :) Whereas, since it's a small island (5'), the sink is going to be minimal. Really just enough for washing vegetables and brushing flour into. Of course, all this is theory, as opposed to the experience that others have, but it's my ultimate island.

They should be mixing the glue outside, and the grout when it is time too. Also, tile cutting should be done outside too. Just make sure the floors are all covered in the kitchen the counters are covered (they should take care of that for you). Also the path that they travel to and from the saw should be covered. You can use brown paper from Lowe's or HD. There was no dust generated in our house, we just got done 2 days of putting the tile up in the kitchen.