And you and ruthie are of course both right that we each need to find our own balance. That's one reason I tend to pipe up around here if someone says doing something is "not allowed" or "against the rules" or "unsafe." I repeat, there is NO home canning police, and many variations from the USDA/NHFCP/Food Canada recommendations are NOT so much known to be unsafe as not proven to be 100% risk-free, which is a VERY different thing. Yes, Zabby I know it upsets you when I say such things. ;) But if you recall, it is usually in response to a specific question from someone who has never canned before or for years. A very different situation than when talking with an experienced canner who understands the underlying principles of home food preservation. True, there is no canning police but given the amount of UNsafe canning practices out there and poor quality not to mention very unsafe info available on the web, maybe there should be at least one place where folks can count on to provide exceptionally safe info - perhaps here? That way they get both sides of the issue and can decide for themselves. There is a very real need for stressing safety when it comes to addressing inexperienced home canners - many of whom lurk here and have come to trust us over the years as a source of safe info. Harvest Forum at GW comes up as a recommended source of good info many places on the web and usually pops up first or second when anyone Googles a canning question so it would be irresponsible of us to toss off a quick "oh, sure I do that all the time" answer when it is a clearly questionable area. Of course we can all toss out shortcuts and changes we have discovered to be safe over the years, but it should be done with care as to who may be reading what we say and provide the needed disclaimers too. How many times has there been a post saying something like "I read somewhere on the web that it is safe to..." Hopefully it wasn't here that they read it. ;) Dave

Thanks. There's no no-VOC paint available here. Anyway, wouldn't the tint add VOC's? Or are you fortunate enough to also have no-VOC tints available? The first coat dried in a day. I know that doesn't mean it's fully cured but it was touch dry and stopped smelling. Even if there was something different when we did the second coat (temp, humidity) should the drying time increase so much? I mean it's been four months. Makes a joke of going to the expense of using low VOC paint! Even regular paint is usually better than that unless you use the cheap nasty stuff. Any thoughts on the over-saturation that was mentioned to us? We were led to believe that if that's the problem you don't observe any improvement at all so we thought we could rule out that possibilty. Any thoughts on solvent-lock? We've saw that once somewhere so we checked for the tell-tale distinctive bubbles and there are none. The texture looks okay so we thought we could rule out solvent-lock. But since it's tint with solvent contained within a paint with very low solvent is it at all possible that you could have some sort of solvent-lock in the tint but without affecting the surface of the paint? On second thoughts that case of solvent-lock was accompanied by a smell that never ever ever got better. Our walls have improved a lot. It's just taking so long! If large quantities of pigment can cause so much trouble maybe the manufacturer should recommend that low VOC not be tinted dark colours. We didn't buy low VOC just for the sake of spending more money. When we've previously used low VOC the room has been fine the next day. With the darker colour we were prepared for it to take a few days, maybe a week or two. But not four months. One other thing, we were told that if drying is delayed then the paint will not be as strong. Would this affect washability? Would this affect whether we can stick those stick-on hooks on it? Nice to hear there's no-VOC available, I suppose we'll get it here too eventually.

FYI everyone - the top of the sink is just short of 34 1/4". My contractor said the countertop will be another couple of inches. So it all sounds standard. Too bad I'm not!! davidro1 - thanks for putting my mind at ease re. how difficult the work is! Cheri127 - not sure I want to pay $300-$400.00 more. Hmmm... Nutheroikie - thank you! :) I love the faucet, still (was so worried I wouldn't love it when I got it in person but it's grand). bayareafrancy - I'm 5'6 too and my bellybutton is 5" above the lip of the sink. Haha. Darn! ;) Thanks for the shims idea. Yes it will be painted. Kind of a pity though cause due to a door that can be swung open to hit the cabinet doors/faces, I feel forced to go with a higher-quality/harder wood for the faces and doors (inset). That means more money...but it seems a pity since the they'll be painted! But I don't think unpainted wood would look good with painted uppers. I don't want an upmounted sink either (no way - I want to be able to clean more efficiently for the first time in my life!). As for the faucet parts, they are interchangeable (within the same company of course) and the company that makes it is Jaclo: http://www.jaclo.com/products/sub_category?cid=123 They do have a gooseneck that isn't quite so high, but it doesn't come with the built-in sprayer as this one does - and I really like having a sprayer but no holes in the countertop. :) willis13 - interesting. I got my 8 year-old to measure the height from the floor to my elbow and while I'm not sure how well he measured, it ended up being 42" so after subtracting 6" it's at standard height! But the problem isn't the counter - the problem is how low the sink is. But the grid might help a little. I think I'd be very happy if everything were up an inch or two. I'm not a tall person (though my husband is something like 6'1 1/2) but again, both my husband and I have tall torsos. I'd look really normal if I walked on my hands I think. ;) I'm really stuck! I don't know what to do. Now's the time, and yet it will cost more and will postpone things more and maybe I'm being too picky. Or not. Shoot.

Dtric2209, I also got a log of negative feedback on my layout, but I couldn't afford to make the suggested changes, and didn't see. The need for them. And my kitchen is fine, I do love it. That said, I would reconsider the sink placement. You mentioned you are a soon to be mom (congrats!) and IMO there is nothing more frightening than carrying a hot pot of anything across a kitchen where a newly mobile toddler, or excited preschooler might be wandering. For me it would be a safety issue. My mother has a walk of 5-6 steps across her kitchen to get from stove to sink. It terrifies me! I make the kids clear out completely if I need to travel with a hot pot in her kitchen. That's not a reality in my own house. Frequently the kids are underfoot wanting to help, wondering what's for dinner, or just wanting to visit. My stove and sink are on opposite sides of the same corner, a quick peak that no one is standing behind me, and I'm good to go. As far as the micro, I have had a non venting over range micro for 10 years previous, and went with the same here. Venting it wasn't optional without huge issues, and I don't mind the reaching up (and I'm not tall). I use the micro a lot, but I'm used to what I have and that's fine for me.