I have the same shelf as zenman, but I don't use a heat mat. I buy the mylar blankets from the sports dept at Walmart. They are in a small box hanging on a rack and the cost is about $3. I drape this small blanket over the top shelf and attach it with clothes pins to cover down to the next shelf. I don't use any lights on the top shelf, and because heat rises, the heat from the lights on the second shelf heat the area above that shelf. The blanket holds the heat in and the tray with the dome cover holds the moisture in the tray. At the first sign of germination, I remove the dome and move the tray down under the lights and drop the lights down until they almost touch the plants. I grow in a building that is well insulated and will only add heat if the outside temp is below freezing. The lights create some heat, but I intentional grow tomatoes on a cooler shelf. Peppers, on the other hand, need to be on one of the open shelves that has a light under it as they will benefit from the extra heat that rises from that light. I also have my light fixtures plugged into surge protectors so that I can control all of the lights by just flipping a switch rather than plugging and unplugging cords. The sports blankets that I use look a little like aluminum foil, but are soft and almost transparent. When I first start the plants I use another blanket to wrap around the shelves because the silver color tends to reflect more light onto the plants (I think). Sometimes I remove it from the lower shelves and some years I just add a small fan to make sure there is some air movement on the plants. Later in the season, I remove it because I don't want the plants to be too hot, but I leave the top part covered and continue to use it as a germination chamber. I am attaching a picture, but the light wasn't on in the room when I took the picture so you have to look closely to see the top shelf which has no lights. I have watered from the bottom, from the top, and misted and I never have had damping off, so I can't say which is best. I would never mist if I wasn't running a fan though. Here is a link that might be useful: My shelf

Denise, I was going to ask if anyone had any suggestions on what to put in the place of the Magnolia. I don't think there's any way I could talk my husband into taking it out, but I was trying to figure out what would look good there just in case I did. I think the variety of Magnolia is Little Gem so it's not supposed to get big like the regular Magnolia, but I agree that it kind of blocks the view. I'm really not much of a tree person, which is why I was glad to get rid of the trees on the middle tier. I like planting flowers and the trees cause too much shade sometime. I would love to fill that center spot with daylilies and other flowers. I've been trying to get hubby to let me take out the Yaupon by the front door and put something lower growing. I would actually like to take out all of the yaupons, but I can't make up my mind what I would want there instead. We have a shorter stone wall in the backyard, so we had to do a little bit at a time also. Laurie

Oh, yes, I wasn't following the description that well, and was looking at the labels on the pictures. The dairy sink being the separate one makes sense. I also totally missed the 24" dishwasher on the plan. So sorry about that! Ignore entirely what I said about it. That's why I ask questions. Besides learning more, I also get my mistakes fixed. :) And it helps my approach to know that your rabbi requires separate dishwashers. That pretty well points to the other requirements you have. :) One really important piece of advice: Have a backup plan for Pesach. Unless you're much further along than you sound like, you're in the zone of if everything goes right. Make a plan for what to do if things go wrong and you're not in your new kitchen in time. At least if the sinks and appliances are in on time you'll be able to cook ahead. :) Re the overhang (which doesn't show at all on my screen), 30cm should be adequate. It's a little tight, for long term comfort, but so is the width. For squeezing in a few kids for breakfast or baking it should be fine. OTOH, I have many fond memories of my mother bringing the mixer to the table so that we could make hamentashen, cookies and other fun things. If you're kneading by hand, you might like doing that on the table better than the counter unless you're tall. My optimal height for kneading or rolling is 33", which is halfway between the standards for table and counter. I figured out, however, since I have a carpet under the table and don't want to bake there, that I could use my counter by wearing tall clogs, rather than having a special, lower, baking counter. :) Can you explain more about how the range and window will interact? Do you ever kasher the oven for dairy baking? Would you ever consider getting a wall oven rather than the toaster oven? I know there are budget limitations, but sometimes you can build what works for you now then allows for an easy transition to a planned change in the future. The big problem with the toaster oven niche is the heat. Toaster ovens aren't usually well insulated and they throw a lot of heat around all sides. OTOH, if you have a niche big enough to transition into an oven later, it should work well for either. I think the whole niche should be lined with tile for it to be safe for the toaster oven. That's five sides. The whole plan makes much more sense to me now that I know that the L is the dairy zone. If you had enough produce for that to be your parve zone, I'd think you had a farm and could process it outside. :) Yes, the whole thing makes a lot more sense now. I can definitely see all the baking and dairy meals in that area. I just think you're going to need a bigger dairy oven as your kids get bigger. Teenagers are a lot like goats--they'll eat anything and everything and leave a wasteland behind them. Is the dairy cooktop induction? The boil time would be great for pasta, and it's really wonderful to cook on in general. You can melt chocolate or make toffee (matzah toffee!!! major crowd pleaser) without a double boiler on induction, for instance. The biggest issues I see for the perimeter flow are the path from the stove to the dining room, which I assume is outside the bottom opening, since the other is the laundry. (Do you have a kitchen porch? Or is that the laundry? Or does it open off the laundry?) I'm thinking the straight path is going to be handing things across the peninsula, which isn't a good idea, dripwise. I'm not understanding the prep flow, though. If the parve sink is on the right, then it's the parve counter that runs by the stove? And if you wash meat on the meat side, and then carry it through the parve zone, does that make sense? Or do I have it backwards still? Regarding pantry size, the amount of pantry storage you need is just a bit more than your cabinet will hold. Do you have a makolet (sp?) on your block? That relieves a lot of the storage pressure. 60 cm really isn't enough for a family of 8 for American style, shop once a week, storage. If you can send a kid out for a can of whatever six days a week, it's a lot easier. The best way to know if it'll do is to start with the must haves. If your baking supplies will be in the pantry, for instance, group them together as if they're on the right sized shelves and see how much room they take up. Do the same with all your staples. Since you won't have drawers (roll out tray shelves), consider collecting boxes that will fit that you can slide in and out...but remember, either one takes up some of the shelf width. One way to gain more room in the kitchen is to find some space elsewhere for the cookbooks. You can copy out your most used recipes and put them in a single binder. Keeps your books clean, too. :) That takes a lot less space than all the books. I'm not assuming you have room for them elsewhere, but if you can find it, you'll have more pantry space. I think you've done a good job of squeezing things in, covering your requirements and staying on budget. I keep thinking of ways to change things around, but they start to compromise that. Regarding the backsplash and corner by the range, tile before you put the range in, including behind the riser. Just let it be what it is. It'll be much more comfortable to cook with the range away from the wall, even if it's just by that little bit, the tray cabinet is good to have, and it gives you a place for a spoon rest and a trivet on the far side. As to colors, the Formica sounds like a good color. I was asking about the floor because that ubiquitous stone (agreed about the ignorable factor) is nice and light and should look fine with the color you're describing which is more toward a medium value. I think you could go with either the black or the blizzard white (very low speckle factor) Caesarstone and have it look good. The black will be snazzier, but show more streaks. OTOH, the white can yellow over time and exposure to sunlight. It sounds like it will be attractive, warm and pleasant. Too much "character" in a small, busy kitchen can be overwhelming. Your neutrals should have enough variation not to be boring, and enough boring to be calm amid the chaos.

Although you didn't ask for this advice, I have to second Jenny "with no taste's" comments. I think the wall color detracts from the clean contrasts in your slipcovers. The picture posted by Jenny seems to have a cream wall behind a blue/white chair, but it doesn't look like the wall was painted with that chair in mind. If this were my room I'd paint the walls white. The obvious accent color is yellow but there is no reason you couldn't choose something out of one of the prints instead. I think your picture mats are neutral and would probably look fine with any new wall color. But you certainly want to know which wall color you are using before doing anything with the mirror or lamps. I think I might like the two lamps with the white shades, but I can't see them because they are too low. The round table is too low but since the legs are not really visible, can you put something under them to bring the table up a few inches? Once you are committed to your table heights, you can raise and lower your current lamps using stacks of books, till you see what height lamp works best. Of the new lamps you are considering, I'd definitely stick with the clear glass. The clear glass will add to the airy, clean, crisp look and it will help reflect light.