Even if you have laminate, there is usually a plywood base beneath it, right? You sure have my curiosity up, so I'll go check my Kenmore Elite DW. I've had 4 of them (3 different houses, 1 killed by the hurricane), and never had any problems. It also has a sanitizing on-board water heater in case the normal temp of the water is not hot enough to sanitize. If you think your kids might try to open it and get burned, you can engage the LOCK feature. My front load washing machine has that, and will NOT OPEN while water is in it or while the machine is spinning. Even showers these days come equipped with an ANTI-SCALD feature, to keep us old folks and the kids from making ourselves crispy critters. Personally, I keep the water heater temp down as low as required for the DW, but no hotter. That costs a LOT of money. I really want to have an auxiliary preheat solar energy system on the metal roof we plan to install, the keep that in the summer instead of paying a high power bill. DH says he taught students to build those things once upon a time, and he can do it for us. I'm all for alternate power sources. Sorry....I got off topic again. Drats.

Thanks so much for the replies. For those interested this is a new construction so there's not much for photos. The kitchen will be L shaped with a 4x7.5' island. I'm not sure on my budget for the stone but I believe I can go up a bit in price if need be. Right now I'd say mid range is my price point. I appreciate the photos poohpup and the input gr8day and herbflavor. I was considering something leathered with not a lot of movement for the perimeter and maybe something wilder on the island. Any more pics that anyone has to share would be greatly appreciated.

I also heard that one of the Korean companies was making microwaves. Sharp and Panasonic for sure. All microwaves degrade from the jump. The magnetron (is that what it's called? Too early for me..) degrades with use. Search the forum, and you'll get good explanations from Kas about this. Investing a ton of money in a microwave, therefore, doesn't make a lot of sense. OTOH, that part will last a heck of a lot longer than a few years, if you get a kitchen grade microwave (as opposed to a desktop cutsiepoo unit for which I have no data at all). The thing that makes so many microwaves "disposable" is wear and tear. If you have family members who SLAM the door, PUNCH the buttons, etc., and constantly fiddle with it, starting and stopping and opening and closing, and just using it a lot for one mug of hot water, the box is going to wear out long before the magnetron. If you're nice to it, and use it a couple of times per day rather than all day long, it could last 20 years or more. One of the things you can get with a more expensive unit, along with looks and snooty badge, is potentially a sturdier housing. It is also potentially possible to have a built-in unit repaired (I can't imagine it being worthwhile to repair a freestanding unit). There are people who do microwave repairs and they do make replacement magnetrons. The only situation where that seems like a possible good idea, however, is when you have the beautiful built-in that matches your beautiful kitchen which still looks like new. Re convection: The initial convection microwaves didn't work well as ovens, and also didn't meet the expectations of the buyers. That was before convection ovens themselves were well understood in the US. In the time I've been researching appliances and hanging out here (coming up on ten years), the general tone from users of them has gone from not worth the money to acceptable second oven. Again, I don't know if that's a change in quality or in user expectations. Convection ovens cook with circulated hot air. They do a good job roasting. Great for "cooking" or "baking" a casserole. Even baking a loaf of bread. For small things, like cookies, a lot depends on the pan, the cookie and whether or not it really wanted bottom heat. For most, it'll do an acceptable job. Some outliers really do better with a proper baking mode. Egg rising things like angel cakes and soufflés really don't like being blown about. If you can arrange the angle of the pan to the blower just right, it's possible, but still iffy. The heated air can also bounce off the surfaces in unexpected ways leading to uneven cooking/browning, contravening the evenness that you otherwise get from the movement of the air. It's likely that there are still poor ones out there, especially at the lower end. There must also be good ones. Just familiarize yourself with the features and abilities of the unit, and use that to sift through the consumer reviews to know whether it was the oven or the user, and make your judgment from there.

marciemarce We chose BM Stonington Gray. It was a compromise. I really wanted a color (green, pink), but I also wanted consensus from dh and dd. We chickened out of a deeper grey like Nightingale, as we are so fixated on making the house feel lighter and brighter. The color is fine, but totally uninspired. But it's done, so we can move on to the next project. Here's Stonington Gray next to the cherry counter tops... next to the quartz and in the eat-in area