It is tough to say since this winter wasn't as cold as the last...I am in Putnam Lake and defiinitely a zone 5, but my mother in law in Mahopac is warmer, more of a borderline with 6. And even then, last winter killed LOTS of plants rated for zone 5 or colder. You are better off buying/planting stuff rated 5 or colder just to be safe.

I did all our kitchen remodel lighting DIY, and am very happy with the result. But I am not a lighting expert. In general, my philosophy is "put in too much light, with dimmers". The *best* thing we did in terms of making an impact was adding under-cabinet lighting. This creates better task lighting and really brightens up the place. We used low voltage Xenon puck lights from American Lighting: http://www.csnlighting.com/asp/show_detail.asp?sku=ALI2110&refid=FR19-ALI2110 These are on a dimmer, and I mounted one every linear foot. Remember to mount them closer to the front of the cabinets than the wall. For our island, we used two giant 14" pendants from Restoration Hardware: http://www.restorationhardware.com/rh/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod740064&navCount=2 For us, we wanted pendants that would shine down on our island (6' X 2.5') *and* provide ambient lighting, which is why we chose lights with glass shades. Also, these pendants hold two bulbs each, so they throw a blazing amount of light. As for the cans, I had full access to the ceiling from the attic above, so there was no constraint on accessibility. I found the following rule of thumb at a number of online sites: "Measure your room to determine how many fixtures you will need. The rule of thumb is one recessed lighting fixture for every 4 to 6 square feet of ceiling space for even illumination." Of course, the higher your ceiling, the more lights you need. In our case, since the pendants were throwing off so much light, I didn't feel the need to turn the ceiling into the starfield I see on some kitchen remodels. We ended up putting in just four cans in the ceiling, and four (!) smaller 3" cans above the sink. For the ceiling, we didn't want big cans, nor did we want the ones that look like dots of light, so we ended up with 4" rings with PAR 20 bulbs: http://www.csnlighting.com/WAC-Lighting-R-432-BN-WAC4264.html Now, if I look at your design, it looks like you are trying to put your can lights over your countertops, where people are working. But if you think about it, if you are cutting vegetable on your countertop, you are blocking any light from directly above - thus the need for under-cab lights. Also, unless you have a large ceiling light in the middle of your kitchen, your perimeter will be light but the center of the kitchen will be dark. If it were me, I'd look to install two parallel sets of can lights, with four in each row, running (on your drawing) from left to right, spaced equidistantly, across the center part of your ceiling. A total of 8 cans. In the center of your kitchen I would add a ceiling light, or ceiling fan+light. If your ceilings are 8 feet, it will have to be close to the ceiling, but you have an opportunity here to either 1) put in something subtle, that will throw off some ambient light or 2) put in something more dynamic, that will be a focal point for your kitchen. You've got a 45" space to fill over your sink - I'd put two smaller pendants, there, maybe even three, rather than just one. Same with your peninsula - there is much more visual interest (not to mention brightness) with more than one light. Of course, it is easy for me to triple your workload and costs!

Mike_home,Tigerdunes many thanks! I spoke with the guy recommending the 90K Lennox. His reasoning, besides the calculated load being slightly above the range of the 70K models was the fact that my ductwork trunklines are both 8x14 giving ~3tons of rated airflow. I have an old Ac unit with a 3.5ton condenser and my current furnace has a 4ton blower. He recommended the larger unit due to the fact that the 70K units do not have a 4ton blower. I would need this larger blower in order to get enough airflow so the unit does not freeze up. He says that the variable speed blower would also help with my airflow problems...He quoted me $8000 for an EL296V and a lennox 13ACX cooling unit.

Some butchers say that there is a flap of meet on the fat side that needs to be cut off?