1) QUIETNESS Pros: tip hardiness, vigor, quartered flower form, petal count, heavy flower production and fragrance, and blackspot resistance. Cons: can ball up, very (too?) long laterals, 24"+, although they are strong, could hold petals longer but 100% heat proof blooms, no wilting or crisping. It's supposed to be a shrub, but I give it HT management. 2) SWEET FRAGRANCE Pros: large flowers, 5", that last, vigor, first to bloom in spring and last to bloom in fall, fast repeat, no bloom wilt or crisping. Cons: wrong name, little fragrance, winter protection a must, will black spot, I spray it. 3) LADY ASHE Pros: profuse blooms, high petal count, deep blooms, very long lasting, fragrant, excellent summer flower production 'til fall, tip hardy - no protection needed. Cons: will get black spot, more that you would expect in light of its other outstanding qualities. 4) JULIA CHILD Pros: vigor, heavy bloomer, no bloom crisping or wilting. Cons: black spots a little, average fragrance, winter protection needed here. 5) EVELYN Pros: high petal count, intense fragrance, large, exquisite bloom, slow to drop petals unlike so many Austins, blooming machine for me, unlike others' reports. Cons: weak, leggy stems, hanging, weak necked blooms, black spot prone, needs winter protection here.

Our appliance choices (and by "our" I mean all of us, not just mine) are so personal -- it's fascinating! Like trailrunner we spent over a year just doing research on appliances. For my husband, who does the vast majority of the cooking plus we're vegan, having a separate all-fridge and all-freezer was a must. Based on our research, talking with owners / repair centers, we easily chose the Thermador 30" freedom all-fridge and all-freezer columns. It's been 2.5 years and we're still really happy with them. There was a problem with the freezer's CPU (?) but it was taken care of quickly and fairly by Thermador. We were pleased with how they handled it. My husband also insisted on a continuous grate gas cooktop. Because I have a problem with things boiling over I needed sealed burners and separated wells (so the boiled over fluid wouldn't go everywhere). We live at high altitude (5400 ft), so we needed high BTUs, plus my husband is Japanese and does a lot of high-heat Asian-inspired cooking. For us, the Thermador 36" six-burner cooktop was the right choice. It is super easy to clean (we're messy) and we're happy with its performance. I love to bake and I'm only 5'4" -- I desperately wanted a french door or side-opening oven. This was the thorn in my side as when I started my search Gaggenau only came in either 24" (am I remembering that correctly?) wide double ovens or a single 36" oven, and holy cow is Gaggenau expensive! Jeez. But then I became obsessed and Gaggenau was going to release a 30" double oven ... so I did it: Gaggenau 30" double wall-oven, side-opening. So expensive but I'm still so so so happy with my side-opening ovens! Use them every day, every single day. Truthfully, the baking is fine. I know there are many Gagg lovers who rave about the superior baking from their Gaggs -- I think it's fine. But I will tell you this: it heats up quickly, the fan is quiet, and the controls are easy to use although not intuitive. Everyone who comes over needs serious instruction in how to turn it on. Our microwave is a Sharp R-1214 over-the-counter which is, you know, a microwave. It gets the job done. We didn't want a countertop microwave nor a built-in where we'd have to have the fancy grills, so this was it which wasn't an over-the-range (didn't want or need the vent). Our dishwasher is a Kitchen-Aid, one highly recommended by Consumer Reports. We knew we wanted hidden controls (little "helpful" hands), super-duper quiet and it had to have a grinder. Our previous dishwasher was a mid-range Bosch and it did not have a grinder. My husband refuses to wipe off anything before it goes in the dishwasher (I wipe into the garbage -- I refuse to rinse), including popcorn kernels. I think it's a dumb move on his part but by getting a dishwasher with a grinder I can at least not have to deal with a flooded dishwasher. I was furious when that happened. Anyway, so far so good! We also have GE Monogram 24" refrigerator drawers. Perfecto! For our needs (and I'm including budget here) they perfectly meet the bill. They are easy to open / close, easy to clean (all things considered), hold everything we need them to .... Our vent is a remote blower Broan. I can't remember anything else about it, but it's powerful and has the remote blower -- the remote was the issue for my husband.

Yes, it does, loves2cook4six, thank you! I just finished chatting with an operator at kitchensource at the suggestion of sjhockeyfan but she wasn't able to provide any info beyond the Hafele specs for the unit. If I understand you correctly, you can only store short items on the bottom shelf of the first unit but you can store taller items on the top shelf of the 1st and 2nd units. Would I be able to store something that is 14" tall on the top shelf? Oh, wait, it sounds like I can store items as tall as 11" on the bottom shelf of the 2nd unit, it's only the 2nd shelf of the 1st unit that is quite height challenged. Is that correct? My goal is to store my KA stand mixer, bread machine, juicer, and 2 slow cookers on the shelves. I know I can store them on 2 ROTs in a 19.5" wide cab but if I can get them and more on a Hafele Magic Corner II in a slightly wider cab, it would be worth the $$ to me. Thank you, thank you!!

April, I understand your goals - get the most kitchen you possibly can with your reno dollars - but I think you're crowding too much into your space, reducing ease of function with these versions. My feedback is blunt, sorry, but I want to see you get the most functional kitchen you can for your money. Versions 1 & 2: You've lengthened the table and right hand bench to 58" or 60" (is that grey thing a 2" spacer?), which means that there's only a 12" or 14" gap between table and 24" deep pantry for someone to slide into the left hand bench. That's tight. I can't determine the width of the table but I recommend one no wider than 42" to give you enough room for benches with padding or pillows. These two versions also only give you a 34" to 36" aisle between peninsula and right hand bench and the full sized fridge across the aisle. I'm assuming your fridge is 36" deep - box, doors, air gap and possibly handles included in that measurement. Even if your fridge is slightly shallower, that's still a pinch point, potentially impassable when the fridge doors are opened. You wrote that one of your beefs with your current kitchen is that traffic jams up in the narrow aisle around the fridge. You're going to recreate that same frustrating scenario with versions 1 & 2. Version 1: I'm not sure what purpose a 12" side cabinet will serve on the left side of the fridge, other than to take away valuable counter space between fridge and range. Because you're opting for a 33" Susan, not a 36", you will only have 9" between sink and open oven door. In other words, no one can be at the sink when you open the oven door. That limits your kitchen to a one-cook kitchen. I thought one of your goals was to create a kitchen that could accommodate multiple cooks during family gatherings. Simple fixes: Move the fridge to the left end of that run and add the 12" from that cab to the cab between fridge and range. Shorten the right hand bench and table to 48", eliminate the peninsula, move the oven cab to the left of the DW, change the 33" Susan to a 36" Susan and put a 30" cabinet where the oven cab was. Hmmm, one problem with this is that you now have the oven doors opening right behind anyone seated in the right hand bench. If someone leaned back or flung their hair back ... well, that could be a problem. You can address this issue with a high backed bench. Version 2: The sink/DW area has ample room but it's at the cost of the fridge/range & oven side. 9" on either side of the range doesn't provide enough room to set a pot down or enough clearance for many pot handles, nor is 9" wide cabinet space that useful. I think you'll find this a frustrating set-up. Simple fixes: I've never used corner Susans but I've seen enough posts here that one with too small an opening is frustrating to use. If you eliminate the peninsula in this version, you have enough room to swap a 33" Susan for a 36" Susan. However, that does not address the space issues of the fridge/range, oven wall. I don't think this plan is a viable option. Version 3: Part of your sink will extend beyond the window. Will that bother you? Based on comments made here, it does bother the majority of people. They want to see a sink under a window or not under a window, not partially under a window. If I'm following your key correctly and doing my math correctly, the banquette is version 3 is only large enough for 2 people, one on each side of the table. Is that your intention? I fear you're trying to make this large enough for 4 people but it really isn't. The corner is unusable, which means the bench along the sink wall is only 52" long. That's enough room for 2 people - each need 24" of room - but that leaves only a 4" gap for people to slide onto the bench. Unless you're really, really skinny - skinnier than Twiggy (that dates me) or Kate Moss (for the younger crowd) - that's not possible. Easy fixes: Move the fridge down, eliminating the 9" cabinet. Exchange the lazy Charlie (never heard this term before, funny!) for a 36" wide Susan, which puts the sink under the window. Put a 30" cab where you show a 24" cab in your plan. Go with a 36" square table to create a banquette for 2 with room for people to slide onto the bench. To seat 3, reduce the pantry to 36", lengthen the bench on that wall to 94", and opt for a rectangular table, 36" x 52" - an odd size so likely custom. I realize that in one of my earlier plans, I had suggested a 60" long table but that was when I was incorrectly remembering that a table can overlap a bench by 6", not 4" or 5". I also suggested that 18" was enough room to slide onto the bench because the pantry in that plan was only 18" deep, not 24", which does make a difference. You may be able to make 18" work between table and 24" deep pantry - you'll have to do a mock-up. None of these plans show the doorways moving. Is that beyond your budget? That's understandable but it does make squeezing everything into your space a challenge. ;-) Here's an idea to try: This pretty much reflects the changes I suggested for your version 1 and for the banquette area. The key thing I did in this plan was to move the ovens to the top left corner with a 26" cab next to it. You can store baking supplies, pans, etc in this cab, plus the counter gives you landing space for items coming from the ovens. I moved the pantry to the left of the DW, which means it shrinks from 48" to 32", unfortunately, but it no longer has to house the MW - that's in an upper cab on the DR wall - so that helps. Plus some of the items you may have stored in the pantry can now be stored in the cabinet next to the ovens. You should end up with about the same amount of storage as before. This lay-out will allow more than one person to work in your kitchen. The 42" x 48" table overhangs the bench by 4" on each side. You can add additional storage if you add a drawer to the right hand bench.