Rainidame, as you probably realized, you can use that system on both lower and upper cabinets. You can also use it on bookshelves as well. OK, now that you have things figgered out, lemme throw another idea at you. Have you ever considered making lower cabinets that are 32" deep rather than the standard 24"? What you do is build the lower carcasses 24" deep, but mount them 8" away from the wall. Then you make your drawers and pullout drawers 30" or 31" deep. You can still use 24" drawer slides, but mounted at the front of the pullout. Your countertops would be a standard 26" deep. The space between the back on the counter and the wall could be shelves, cubby holes, swingout units  all 8" deep. You could even store staples or appliances like a toaster, mixer, blender, etc. I realize you are somewhat short of stature, but, if you can reach the backsplash, you can reach items stored in this extended area. As and added benefit, your upper cabinets could extend depth of your upper cabinets by as much as 8". Of course, you have to have a kitchen big enough to accommodate the additional depth.

OK, I may be hooked. I'm giving up on getting my kitchen too much done-er than it is, and have spent a few days now actually cooking real food: it is so nice. Two years .... sigh. So this is great incentive to add in another thing. TR, could you please explain "the formulas from Wild Yeast"? Is this a website? Person ("Hers are all fool proof"). I've had middling success keeping starters fresh and active (yogurts, kefirs, breads), but I'm willing to try again. I've suspected my yogurt gets, basically, "tired" as a function of groddiness in the container so that's why I wonder about cleanliness. I've been all around on this issue and it may be a red herring; freshness may be the biggest factor, not entrapped bits. Do you find the cleanliness of the container matters? What flour do you use ... please don't tell me you grind your own! I'm not up to that yet. But I used to use massive quantities of Giusto's (may be west coast?) and liked it a lot. A baking snob once retorted that this was highly inferior: :( -- I have made some yummy stuff with it. But if you know another west-coast readily available company I'm very happy to learn of it. Thanks for your thoughts. I thought of your *blue* margarita the other day when I cracked out the blender at long-last. We used to have smoothies daily in days gone by. I'd been reticent to re-start for various reasons but I'm glad I dived back in. There's been a long hibernation involved with losing your kitchen for two years and re-entry is weirdly psychologically difficult. Who Knew?

These aren't the best pics, I think my camera is winding down. This is on the sink side of the island, where I usually work. Just noticed the grunge underneath the top: The other side where the grandson often sits, complete with crumbs, greasy fingerprints, and an unnoticed piece of candy under the table. Gotta love 'em: I cleaned house for this shot (picked up candy): We converted a marble-topped dining table to an island, by adding blocks to raise the height, and a cabinet and shelves for storage. I had to trim the shelves to accommodate the swing of the stools. Since the table top is heavy, the table is stable, even with the stools attached, and doesn't need to be anchored to the floor. Old pic, before the stools were added, with the bench stowed under the counter: Here is a link that might be useful: marble table conversion--click on photos for text

Any suggestions ??? Please I am so sick of looking at this stuff! Thanks so much in advance!