Jen, your oven thermostat can be recalibrated or perhaps even replaced, most definitely! IIRC you live relatively close to an urban area - try calling around to appliance repair companies to ask who in your area works on old stoves and doesn't just say to throw them out. Emphasize its sentimental value - if you don't object to a "little white lie" you could say you inherited it from Grandma or something. (Well, you inherited it from someone's grandma anyway, when you bought the house! Right? :-)) You might also want to check out The Old Appliance Club, which rebuilds thermostats and locates replacement parts, although you'll still need a local person to actually put it in. I have the hots for Mary Lu's sink. Big time. When we were starving college students, DH and I once rented part of an 1800s farmhouse where the entirety of the kitchen equipment was a freestanding double-drainboard sink almost exactly like Mary Lu's, a stove that made AuntJen's look ultramodern :-) a somewhat random old refrigerator that sounded like a jet engine, and a built-in hutch about 3' wide. That was all. No cabinets, no counters. We prepared everything on the kitchen table and stored the dry groceries on bookshelves in the living room! Oh, and the bathroom consisted of a toilet in the corner of the kitchen. Just standing there in the corner of the kitchen. LOL The week before we moved in the landlord boxed it in and added an RV-sized shower, which is all that would fit. The lady who had the apartment before us had lived there for over fifty years and was perfectly content to wash with her old pitcher and bowl, so landlord wasn't going to go fooling around in there. (I think she came with the house when he bought it!) She had decorated the apartment (except for the kitchen, which was from somewhere around 1900-1910) in 1940 and it was virtually untouched when she died in 1994 and we moved in.

Beautiful rug, justgotabme! I really like that design. Pip's a big boy (around 18 lbs. worth of goober-cat), and we have enormous boxes. The one he pooped outside of today is definitely big enough to accommodate him (he DOES pee in there), and we also have a large, shallow plastic tote - the under-bed storage kind - that we've repurposed as a kitty potty. Putting a plastic runner under/in front of the box he pooped outside of today is an excellent idea. I was going to get a litter-trapping mat (have one of those upstairs and it works well), but a piece of plastic is a better idea given our special circumstances. Did I mention - Ugh, cats?

Sorry, my sink bowl is 20" not 22". I measured it right, just typed it wrong. Looking this morning at it again, I guess 17.5" isn't that bad. Last night when I was looking at it for some reason the difference seemed huge. But after a good night's sleep it doesn't seem like much of a difference. :) My current sink is split and the large side is deep (20") and the smaller side is narrow with the faucet behind it. In my mind I was imagining that sink as though the entire thing was the size of the narrow side which I believe was around 16".

There are pros & cons for each type of reveal (that's what it's called regarding counter overhanging the sink or not): . Positive Reveal -- where the sink shows/granite is cut slightly larger than sink Pros: Easier to clean b/c you can see the gunk and can easily wipe it off (it only gets nasty if you leave it there) You can use the ledge to put a cutting board over the sink (assuming a cutting board is available for the sink or you can find one to fit) Cons: Silicone (caulk?) might be visible, but if they use clear you won't see it when it dries . Negative Reveal -- where the granite overhangs the sink Pros: You cannot see the gunk buildup Easiest reveal for a fabricator b/c s/he does not need to be precise with the cutout since the stone will hide any mistakes following the contours of the sink consistently. Cons: You cannot see the gunk to clean it. Edge underneath is not polished so gunk is more likely to "stick" Dirty water/food can splash up & under where you cannot see to clean it. It's difficult to see underneath to check for gunk w/o leaning way over & into the sink. Dishes have been known to break b/c when you lift them out near the edge of the sink the dish hits the stone counter & can break (or, if the dish wins, the counter could chip...but I'm not sure how likely that is). . Flush Reveal -- where the granite & sink are the same Pros: Easier to clean b/c you can see the gunk along the edges No platform over or under for the gunk to collect Cons: Very difficult to do perfectly Silicone might be visible, but if they use clear you won't see it when it dries You will find proponents of all three types of reveals here...but in the end it's what works best for you.