Okey dokey, here's what I did. The sink, before the Bondo. I have gaps all around--down both sides, the corners, and at the bottom where one side had to be shimmed up almost a quarter inch. Note: I haven't painted the cabinetry yet. Supplies: I used a flexible spreader (about 3 inches across), razor blades, baggies, paper bowls and plastic spoons for mixing, acetone (nail polish remover)for cleaning my fingers, and HomeFix Universal Repair Filler (at the hardware store I just asked for "something like bondo that can be used to fill gaps in wood). The bondo has less than 10 minute work time, and as it firms, it gets much harder to work with. So i only mixed up teeny bits, and did all sections of my sink separately. My husband tries to tackle bigger jobs in a hurry, and the bondo gets stiff on him and he gets frustrated, and it looks lumpy. So take your time. Mix in paper bowls and with plastic spoons to make cleaning up each batch simple. My first attemps at bondo were on something else. I tried to apply it with the spreader (like I do with joint compound), and it was a mess. I'm a slob, and it looked bad. So while staring at the cracks around my sink, and knowing how bad it would look if I used a spreader to apply it, I had a revelation! I suddenly saw those cracks as edges of cake to be decorated, and I saw the bondo as buttercream! I would use a baggie, and pipe the stuff on! (For all I know, bondo actually comes in a squeezable tube. But hey, I prefer to think I was brilliant in inventing this!) You need to put something in the corners to hold the bondo, and stop it from squirting endlessley into the sink cavity. Crumpled newspaper would probably work. I glued little triangles of wood scrap in there, and I put pieces of shims in the gap under my sink. My side gaps were narrow enough to need no filler. When that dried, I mixed up one small batch, and put it in the baggie. I cut off the corner, and slowly began piping. For the corners, I zig zagged back and forth slightly past the surface. Then, I smoothed it with a pass of the scraper. Some of the bondo smooshed onto the sink. I very slowly took a razor blade and scraped it off the sink. Slowly and gently. Wipe excess as it accumulates on a paper towel so it doesn't gunk up your corner. If any is left on your sink, it will come off easily later with the razor blade, so don't worry. After it dries hard, you can sand it. I was very careful to keep the sandpaper away from the sink (I basically wrapped a bit of sandpaper around my finger). After sanding, I had a few depressions/dents so I went back and added a smudge of fresh bondo to them to level the area. It isn't all level, but one would never know that without squatting down and looking right at it. But I could have done a third pass with the Bondo. You can't see much detail in these photos, but if you run your finger over these areas, they are very smooth feeling. And they dry rock hard--not flexible like caulk. Right side of my sink: Left side: Bottom: I wouldn't have trusted my particular workers with this job. They looked very nervous at the prospect of using sandpaper against the sink. I knew that if my sink were to get scratched, it had to get scratched by me! But it was not a problem at all! Easy peasy! Now we need paint! Let me know if you have any questions! Francy

And a filler and end panel and blocking to the left of the DW to support the counter. The cabinet to the right needs an extended stile or filler if against a wall. And needs to have a finished end panel if exposed to the room. If this is an island, you've got to account for the plumbing and pony wall to the rear and how to finish that off. If this is in a wall alcove, I'd just make the whole run deeper and skip the posts. They add a LOT of expense and take away usable space.

Thanks Joe. I really want to pull the out the entire wall but I'm stressing about losing that few inches of aisle clearance in the doorway! And I think just bumping the sink will be a PITA - plus the deco strip won't work as I thought because the underside doesn't appear to be finished. I also worry that bumping out just the sink cabinet would make it difficult to reach the DW. Maybe we can just punt as far as the door opening goes and not make a decision on the bump out until we have the cabinets built and I can lay them out "see" how it feels. I guess we can shift the door way to allow for the bump out and if we decide not to bump we will just have extra wall on that one side (door way not centered). That would probably be OK since that is the side where people may be standing anyway - to use the coffee maker or microwave. And the light switch would go on that side too. Or just make the door opening wider and then build it up to reduce the opening size if we bump out. Can you tell that I'm really starting to stress about the little details now that we have the demo work done and have to actually start moving walls? I FINALLY got DH to sit down with me yesterday to talk about the detail issues and he seemed a bit like a deer in headlights. We are very tight on space in some areas and so precision and forethought will be critical.

As everyone probably knows, I am not a fan of rocks, bricks, or other bordering materials that are raised above the surrounding grade, but I'm certain there will never come an end to it. In most cases, if the material is flush with the grade and wider, it will look better. In landscaping, much is about proportions. Considering the typical brick edging has a thickness of barely more than 2", it looks almost as thin as a knife edge raised above the surroundings. Since it is usually "retaining" nothing but air, it looks a bit purposeless. If the raising was retaining soil or mulch, it would make more sense, but still look wrong (weak and fragile) as if trying to retain grade with manufactured eggshell. A border that uses the brick length -- 8" -- is a dimension that looks much more capable of retaining earth. If its retaining a grade change it should be positioned as one would do a curb (a mini-retaining wall) .... not sticking up in the air. If there is no grade change, it will look best set flush -- an inlaid border (mowing strip.) In the case of using rounded rocks, it looks better if their tops are uniformly set relative to one another and that the whole strip is not raised, but set as one would install cobblestone. Too, a single row of such stones is going to appear very weak. It would look better if they are installed to be a cobblestone border that is 12" wide or greater. Like all the other hardscape, one wants to correctly install it in the first place as it would be a lot of work to redo. Generally, the process of installing stones is to excavate a trench a few inches deep in which will be placed a crushed aggregate base of about 3". (Where I live it would be called "paver base," which is usually made of crushed concrete. It is basically a coarse, nutty sand with chips and dust in it and it packs down tight and hard. "Driveway gravel" could also be used.) On top of this would be placed a varying 1" layer of any sand which allows for adjusting the rocks such that their discrepancies in thickness can be negated. At the end, more sand would be added over the top to fill in the gaps between stones, as if like powdered mortar, keeping them in place. For added stability, a strip of woven, polypropylene landscape fabric as wide of the trench itself can be used at the bottom of the trench to give added long term stability to the overall structure. It would help prevent the border from sinking or moving. Landscape "fabrics" that stretch or can easily be torn cannot be used.