My lost & found experiences: Like a lot of people I often think how great it would be to find a bunch of money. But I always hope that If I do, PLEASE let there be no ID with it, because thanks to that guilt trip my Mom (very religious) laid on my when I was a kid, I'd have to do all I could to locate the rightful owner. I wouldn't ask for a reward either. I wouldn't turn it in anywhere because I believe that sadly in this day and age the average person would just pocket it. Found $65 on the floor of a nightclub in Avalon NJ, just the money, no ID. Sweet! Found $30 in Sears parking lot at Neshaminy Mall, NE Phila. - no car parked nearby. Again, cash only. Found a passport walking from the train to work. Tracked down the owner, called, said I'd bring it over. Knocked / rang the bell, no answer, car in the driveway. I think they didn't want to risk me asking for a reward (I wouldn't). I left it in the mailbox. When my 24 year old daughter was 3 she found a childs wallet in the playground with $3 and address / phone number inside. She wanted to keep it but I said we have to return it. The mother didn't eveen say thank you. I gave Kris $1 as a reward. When I delivered pizza part time I found $43 with no ID in the shop but it was where the drivers congregated and there was only one other driver working with me. I returned the money. Older peope are no more or less honest than the younger ones. Again as a pizza deliverer, I took an order to a florist shop. When they paid me I put the money in my jacket pocket, something I never did, usually. Walking back to the car I reached in to retrieve the money & felt only change. I turn back toward the door - I'm about 30 feet away - and the old lady who ran the register by the door is scuttling toward the bill, a ten, reaching for it when her eyes met mine. I quickly said 'Looks like I dropped my change.' She replied 'Yeah, I guess so.' or something like that. She got up and walked back inside.

I had a problem with a day care dog turning over the water bucket. Everyday they'd go all afternoon without water cause he'd turned it over. Me, being smarter than a Lab wired the bucket handle to the faucet. Tada! Came home, the backyard is flooding, the faucet is on full blast. How fun was that jerking that bucket around AND turning on the faucet? Ok yes, it was a blonde moment.

Once a friend of mine sent me a Christmas gift but it never came, until 6-9 months later! It was a homemade fruitcake. I was swapping with Kiwi who's in New Zealand and my package never got to her. Weeks later it showed up back at my house, pretty mangled. I had to resend it to her. I've had a few Netflix movies disappear when I mailed them back. I was putting them in my mailbox and putting the flag up but I only did it very rarely, usually I drop them in the drive thru mail drop in front of our post office. So, I got kinda suspicious that everytime I left them in our mailbox here at the house they would turn up missing. I quit doing that, in fact I only put mail that doesn't belong to me out there anymore. Then about two months ago I was leaving work and dropped my Netflix movies in a curbside box in Lexington and one turned up missing again. I hate getting the ex's mail. He's never lived in my house and I just find it really annoying that they are sending his crap to me.

Thank you all for your responses! I've been away from my computer for a few days and am delighted to see and read what you've all shared. " I couldn't give up extra storage and dead space, to me, is crazy! " I agree with you Jennybc. I hope your new kitchen works great for you. : ) Ilovecookie, you sound like an experienced island owner. : ) It'll be interesting to hear which island style is your all time favorite. Marykh, having a 48" deep island with a cooktop sounds like a very good idea. Island cooktops without a lot of extra depth always look so scary to me. It's neat that you liked your current configuration enough to do it again. Sjhockeyfan (bonus points for you!) I love the way you did partial storage and partial seating. Great idea! That's a good compromise, and you don't have to crawl like a troll under a bridge to get your things out from the back side. Nice. Scootermom, that's funny. I can just picture my dh sticking one of our little kids on top of a towel and scooching them around by their ankles to clean the middle of that mammoth island. I don't think I'd want one that big, for sure. Ah, Cloudswift, you have my favorite island cooktop configuration. I don't think we'll be doing a cooktop, but if we did, I think it would look much like yours. I also like your idea of doing storage just on the ends. Good thinking! Thanks for the pictures. You get bonus points too. ; ) Oldbat2be, just look at that sunshine streaming across your island. Pure loveliness. Sigh. I get the stuff spreading across the island. I think that's one of the downsides of a big one. It's all too easy to set stuff and then push it around rather than cleaning it off. A small island is much easier, imo, to keep cleared for working. But once the big one is cleared, like chiefneil said, it's a great spot to work! Debrak, I can picture you and your cat doing your island dance, LOL. We have a cat with a similar bent on life that likes to hop in our vehicle when we go to leave. I can't tell you how many times we've had to chase him from one end to the other of our 12 passenger van, over and under seats and around passengers and belongings before we can get him out(the little weasel) But we love him. Nhbaskets, I really liked your old kitchen, and your new one is going to be beautiful, too. That's great that your DH made you check to reach the whole island before install. You get bonus points for your picture as well. : ) Sherri58, I like the sounds of your island configuration too, with a mix of seating and storage. Do you have a different spot for hanger-outers since you won't have island seating in the new kitchen? I like to have someplace for those sweet visitors to go that's out. of. my. workzone. Otherwise, I like you, would make it all storage! Calquail, thanks for asking about the island dimensions, and thanks, sjhockeyfan for your detailed description. That's so helpful! Good point about going a little deeper on the shallow bases. Thanks all!