With lots and lots of variables between your garden and mine, I have found that I have to wait four or five years for a rose to reach maturity. But I do know by the end of the third year, it's going to be worth the wait. For me, one of the most exciting lessons the roses have taught me is the difference in growing a rose which has hit it's stride and one that is just in the process of maturing. Sounds like you, too are being taught the same lesson. Bliss. Smiles, Lyn

Bob Wow!!!! I would run someone over for trees like yours lol I bet that lasts you the whole year! wished I lived in your area to see those amazing fruits :) mike I’m glad you’re safe and still getting pay! I know a lot of my relatives and friends who cannot make their mortgage payments and the wait time calling the bank to defer the payments is hours! I feel so terrible and yet there’s not much many of us can do in situations like these. My nurse friend told me that every time I go out when I come back in to strip to my undies and put all my clothes in the washer and go straight to the shower since I also live with my elderly mother. I’m very glad to hear of your safe family and mom :) Lol mike I love it so far the staying home except I’m driving everyone in my house nuts as I keep cleaning up after them and following my pets around with a broom lol I’m glad it’s sunny today we are forecasted to have two weeks of rain then what will I do lol! I have just tried my hand at grafting mike I’m so excited!! :) I cut myself several times I’m so clumsy and the whole thing took me hours lol oh well I guess we’ll see in three weeks :) I too am worried about Brian and family I truly hope he’s just been busy with his citrus. Take care my friend lots of hugs to you! :)

I find some of these things a bit ridiculous. "I have one of the most durable finishes in the world on my kitchen cabinetry, Loba's ceramic-infused 2K AT, and I take care of it. Even my cabinetey pulls were selected with room to reach around them without touching hands or fingernails against the cabinetry coating. Keeping everything but a microfiber dust rag away from cabinetry surfaces is both common sense and best practice if the owner intends to have a cabinetry coating hold up for a lifetime." Or how about you find a satisfactory coating for your cabinets and utilize your kitchen as a functional workspace... I am building some cabinets for my home this year, I have a UV spray booth big enough to paint a vehicle and could use a great UV coating which has certain advantages. I am not going to, because they are kitchen cabinets and that is overkill. "I have baseboards painted with BIN primer and three thin coats of INSL-X Cabinet Coat semi-gloss in my own home. The finish is durable and resistant to impact." BIN is not resistant to impact. Shellac in general tends to be brittle and BIN is one of the most brittle. It also can bridge on corners if you do have movement. INSL-X is just another version of a waterborne alkyd paint. It is durable, because alkyd paints have always been durable. However, while it might be great for a DIY project, it isn't satisfactory in a production environment, which was what the original question was about. Your defense of INSL-X effectively reinforces my point. Even a coating that is objectively weaker than other coatings can work great. That is largely because there is a coatings arms race now, every coatings company is trying to out engineer the competition and have now far exceeded the needs of most consumers.

I would agree that painted cabinetry devalues a home, because it hides the quality of the cabinetry-assuming it's higher end than builder grade. That said the OP does not care for the dark. It's their home. Everyone should be comfortable in their home. The question I have is how long have you lived here and how long do you plan to stay? Hopefully you recenly moved in and feel this is your forever home. That makes painting well worth the years of satisfaction you will get out of the cost of painting, as that is the only cost re-coop you will ever receive. It's such a relief to hear so many say STOP with the weird two tone top/bottom kitchens. The only exception I still like is an island being different. One poster is showing different stools and inadvertently gives a glimpse of how much brighter/lighter just painting the island might make the kitchen.