Thanks everyone for your kind words of encouragement! I will try and post some more photos, including one of the side bookcase and shelf as soon as I get new camera batteries. Hi Aliris19-you were right, the grill is a plinth fan heater! We kept it as I sort of like the industrial vibe it gives off. It was originally dark brown but instead of replacing it we sprayed it's grill with chrome heat-resistant radiator spray to save money as it worked perfectly. That radiator spraypaint (which is about $10 a can) has done loads in our kitchen! Our ceiling spotlights (can lighting in the States?) were all brass coloured so we just resprayed them chrome whilst still in situ (we placed a card template around them) as we couldn't afford the expense of changing them. You would never know to look at them! Thanks Boxer-I'm glad you like the bowls on the shelf-they are my favourite too. They're by Emma Bridgewater-I'm not sure if she is known in the States or not? Have a great weekend all!

Well, here are some updated pics/narrative of our progress... BAD NEWS UPDATE...VERY BAD MOLD: We had a bummer of a weekend. The master bathroom (right next to my bed) started filling up with a horrendous mold smell when it got warm last week and the snow started melting. I am massively allergic to mold. I broke out in hives and my throat closed up so I could barely swallow. The contractor was demolishing the masonry wall so we had plastic sheeting up and I basically could not leave my mold-filled bedroom (where I am working.) The contractor was pushing us to do our demo part every day so he could finish up and move on to the next job, so DH and I were frantic and exhausted. And could not even begin to address the mold! So now that bathroom is sealed off with tape. Thank goodness we have another bathroom! We were worried it was the crawl space, which is only about 8-10 inches to the dirt, so any changes or waterproofing in there would entail removing ALL THE FLOORING to joists in the MBR wing, and excavating the dirt. Major, major, major $$$$$. BUT then last night DH made a discovery that someone had put insulation on the OUTSIDE of the sheathing, under the vinyl siding. Perhaps in an attempt to stop the pipes from freezing (which they still do, we discovered in January...) and that insulation is filled with mold. So- we are HOPING that is the only problem. He is planning to investigate it this week. THE HAPPIER PROGRESS UPDATE: The framers are finished, just some minor framing left for DH and I to do: for instance, I could not decide how wide to make the doorway between the new mudroom and the kitchen/pantry area, so I had them frame it to 5 feet. Then we stapled up rosin paper (that pink stuff) on the framed walls to get a feel for the space. I think we're settled on the 36" opening in the pics... it makes the mudroom more a seperate space which I think it wants to be. Blocks a little more light, though. Also when you come in the door, the first thing you see is the pantry area, and narrowing the opening a bit helps direct your view into the house instead... (no door is planned for that opening.) This weekend we finished pulling down the plaster in areas we needed to add blocking for cabinets. DH continued removing old ceiling tiles and knotty pine from the basement, since we had room for it in the dumpster and he's going to tackle the basement next winter. We set up a little temporary kitchen in the pantry area. I know... we won't use the right-hand burners! Here are two shots of the kitchen space. That piece of cardboard on the shopvac represents the island. The 2x4s next to it are the post we can't decide how to detail. The two left-hand openings out to the sunroom (what used to be window and door) will be filled in up to 42" with kitchen counter and backsplash. the right-hand opening is two steps down to DR and LR. We're also going to add a header over the opening into the patry area. This week: 1) investigate Bad Mold. 2) finish designing electrical and run new electrical circuits 3) (hopefully) patch in oak hardwood flooring in the area we ripped up the old kitchen floor. We'll cover it with rosin paper and cardboard and sand/finish it after the drywallers are done.

Thanks all! Mamadadapaige- I went granite shopping on Thursday. It was exhausting!!! But also fun. I narrowed it down to two choices that day, but now that the cabinets are in, I am totally reconsidering them. ARGH. Last week we were thinking we really needed to stay light-to-medium, because the cabinets are natural cherry (and will darken) and there's no window immediately IN the kitchen. But now, seeing the cabinets in place, with all the lovely wood movement, I am not so sure our "safe choice", which was honed Kashmir White, is the one. It seems a little speckled-y and even a little busy with the wood. I want something with more of a subtle swirl/vein thing going on.... soapstone feel..... So now were back to considering dark again... I might have to go back down to Gerrity and look at the Ocean Green again! Grrr. You have that, right? Is it as dark as, say, honed jet mist? Our middle option is honed Costa Esmerelda Rose. It has some pink in it, which I am not totally sure about, but the grey/green and the subtle swirl is very nice. I prefer the look of the normal Costa Esmerelda but it's definitely darker -as well as way too expensive!- Going to look at some local slabs of Costa Esmerelda Rose today and get some pricing. The actual cost of these might help narrow the decision substantially!!! I am sure I will be back here with photos asking for opinions soon.....

Also a feeling of being tired. :D It has been a lot of tedious labor with a good measure of handwringing. However, as I completed each stage, the feeling that it would all work out increased. Now, I would love for it to "just be done." But it really is all about the details so I just need to jump in and get it done. It has taken a very long time but mainly because of waiting in between the working. For example, we waited to address the backsplash until the cabinets and counter tops were installed so we could be sure we would like our choice. Originally I wanted to do magnetic stainless steel back splash, but I am glad I abandoned that idea and went for glass subway tile. We chose Emenee Everest and of course after waiting two weeks for a sample, we learn it is on backorder. :( This picture does not do it justice. It is a range of semi transparent sage green colors mixed with some white and some grey. It looks like it was made for our kitchen color scheme: Trying to fit all that neat stuff under the sink was a huge challenge. We don't have a framed outside wall, it is all brick, so I had to bring all the plumbing and electrical into the cabinet itself. We had to fit the large disposal, traps for both sinks, electrical, plumbing for dishwasher and the faucet as well as the filter and heater tank for the filtered water dispenser. Add to that the air switch and you can imagine it was some tricky work inside that small cabinet. I will admit to cursing more than once. :) We also had to build the cabinets in front of an air vent so we redirected it into the sink cabinet base. This means I had to seal the hole in the cabinet that goes through the floor for the plumbing. I used some metal flashing and metal insulating tape to create a sealed tube through the floor and cabinet. We had to abandon the idea of the slide out trash can. But luckily we can fit a small trashcan in there as well as a few cleaning supplies. I will say that the Black & Decker complete guide books, this forum and the DIY network had a lot to do with my success in this project. I feel like we certainly learned by our mistakes too though. Orchestrating the whole project on a busy schedule combined with waiting around for ordered items to arrive presented a time challenge. I think if it had taken another week we might have been pulling our hair out. :) We did buy four new cabinets. One for over the microwave because it was small enough to boost the microwave and allow us to fit the pot filler in there comfortably. The other one was the kitchen sink cabinet. Our old cabinet was 27" wide with a single 25" wide sink. That was decidedly too small. So I found a nice 16 ga sink that was affordable in a 30" size and a sink cabinet that matched in a 30" size. I know you are thinking that doesn't work. Well it did but was tricky for sure. We didn't have room for a larger sink cabinet but wanted a large sink. The other two cabinets were the ones above the sink on the wall. There is a funny story there but it is a bit long so I don't think I will type it out now.