Hi, I wonder how your lawn is doing now? It looks a lot like my lawn has looked in shadier areas and I mow high all the time. This year, however, I decided to fertilize the lawn to try to build up the soil. I have around 10,000sq ft and bought around 240 lbs of alfalfa pellets and spread them all over the grass with a few good quality seeds mixed in. Then I spread around 6 bags of milorganite (I know the product is controversially organic, but I'm limited by cost, availability, and ability) I have sandy loam and loamy sand and I don't water the lawn, since it costs too much in money and water... I do, however let the rain come off the roof(no gutters) and have sloped and put sheeting under the mulch to keep the moisture away from the foundation and crawl space. With the rains, and fertilizer, the grass is getting so lush and beautiful. It is beginning to go to seed, so I hesitate to cut it as it is approaching 6" and my mower cuts to 4. I'm going to cut as high as possible most of the summer. I do have a rash of plantain, however, in spots ( I hate to tell you how many hours I spent pulling it the last couple of years, and my hands are too valuable to me for other things to wear them out this way (so I'm contemplating spot treating them unless you have a better idea. (usually I chicken out and don't use chemicals.. haven't so far yet anyway)

I think 45 inches high is fine. Much higher and you may want to consider tilting it down a bit but I don't think that is necessary at 45 inches. I think my 46 inch Samsung is about 45 inches high and when in my recliner fully reclined, I only have to look slightly upward...not uncomfortable at all but rather plesant. Is your Sony 26 or 46 inches? How far away do you sit? By todays standards, I think 46 inches is good to about 10-12 feet and 26 inches is good for your lap! (if you listen to them LOL!)

My ceilings are 10 ft and I'd love another six inches above them -- I could have made the upper cabinet a little taller and maybe made the crown a little taller too. I did put glass in all of the regular wall cabinet ones and use them for display. I made the doors above the fridge and pantry solid (those are also taller since they come down to 84" rather than 96") as well as the one above the ovens. They are great storage for things like my canning pot, extra large trays, an extra coffee maker, the thermal coffee pump, extra water filters (used once every 1-6 months depending on which kind), etc. I don't have a walk-in pantry or a butler's pantry, so that is my extra storage space and I love it so much I'm going to add some like it I want to do something similar in my laundry room. I did include a tall 12" cabinet on the fridge/pantry wall that houses a narrow, lightweight folding step stool that makes it easy to reach anything.

desertsteph - yes, ideally I would prefer the MW to be lower. But I REALLY want my double ovens too! If I could just find a way to get both... ;-) momof3kids_pa - Thanks for the picture. That does help me visualize it better. Unfortunately, somebody uses the MW almost every day. That's why I nixed DH's idea of maybe putting it in our pantry cabinet. I don't want to have to open a cabinet every time it's used nor did I want it taking up valuable pantry space. It's so limited already. Anybody have some alternative ideas?