Hope you caught these persnickitydesign posts: "It was pretty much a full time job (plus overtime) and it still took a year and a half for me to get everything purchased & everyone lined up. ...One of my oldest & dearest friends' DH owns the HVAC company. He did our house at cost. Another owns the company that did our fireplace and garage doors. He also worked at the lumber yard for years and gave us the names of many of the subs that we ended up using. ...our friends came by to help us out and worked for free" "Our permits were $433. We're on county water & sewer and did have to pay a tap-in fee of $1067. There were no charges for the gas and power." "We are fortunate enough to live in an area where the cost of living (and cost to build) is extremely low. Plan prices are not mentioned. Also, keep in mind the year of the build--2008. There was a wee bit of a recession going on then, centred on the collapsing housing market. Trades were desperate for work, suppliers for customers. I had the fortune to build in earlier declines. With cash in hand, you were like a god.Now, not so much.

I can't see the pictures. it maybe because I am at work. 1. Sodastream and French Press for coffee. I use both. My soda stream is in the walk in pantry. We use it about 1 x per day. It was not worth the trouble of keeping it on the counter. I use the electric kettle to boil water. I use the kettle 2 plus times per day. I keep the kettle on the counter. The french press goes in the drawer when not used. I keep the kettle close to the faucet so that I can fill it easily. I find that the electric kettle boils faster than the gas range top kettle. I have high power gas range. Even so, the electric is easier/faster. It is also easier for the kids to use. I have a large island. that is where I do most of my prep work. So I can afford to leave some stuff out on the perimeter counter. 2. I have a 30 inch range plus a Miele speed oven which is a combined MW and regular oven. It was expensive but it gives me the second oven that bakes well and allows us to have a MW and saves space. We only use the MW to heat stuff. I only put glass or ceramic in the MW. So even if i have already started to preheat my oven to bake cookies and I forgot to melt the butter, I switch the hot oven to MW setting, put the butter in a pyrex, melt the butter and switch the oven back to preheat mode. It works fine... 3. I have a L plus island configuration. Ref/range on one leg and sink/DW on the other leg of L. I put the speed oven under counter on the island. I opted to not have a second sink. Sometimes i wish I had one. When my kids are doing home work for hours on the island and the paper doesn't get splashed by the water or I need the large surface to layout stuff, I am glad that I did not put the sink in the island. there are pros and cons to every decision you make. Another thing about the L + island versus a galley is how the room feels when you are in it. The L has a more open feel since there are multiple ways out of the working space. So you don't feel as locked in. This is an important concept in design. How does the space feel when you are in it?

Hi Guys! I've been on vacation and in and out a lot. Sorry this is the fist I'm getting back to this. I put them on each side of the window. I do like them there. I wasn't sure about the height at first but after looking at it for a few days I think it's good. They're a little lower than 60" in the middle. It does slightly bother me that they're not centered on the wall on each side of the curtains. They are even in height. Different angles of the room give that illusion. Should the one of the left be lowered a smidge to adjust since people will usually be to the right of the room? If that made sense!! Better? Still not done messing with a plant for one top of the bookends. Squirrel - Thank you for all the PS! I agree the lamp shade isn't the one. Awhile back I got tired of searching for it and just kept that one for now. One of the problems I was running into with larger shades was they would cover a lot of the scrolls and crystals and didn't seem to look right either. I know people have suggested a large drum shade was probably what was originally on there but I don't care for it on this lamp. Tried a couple different fringe ones and it it seemed to be too much with the base of the lamp. I will continue my search at some point! I just needed to get something on there and walk away for awhile.

That was kind of my fear with the counter runs. As it is, I'm the only one in the household who ever clears a counter of clutter or wipes one down! My thoughts around the area between the fridge and pantry centered on storage for glasses and dinnerware near the fridge, the peninsula seating, and the table. The pantry was placed there for access to cereal, pet food, school lunch prep, snacks, and so on as the FR is beyond the kitchen seating area and is used quite a bit. I agree about the corner cabinet. It is bulky and crowds the corner. I currently have a blind corner cabinet in my kitchen (wall cabinets) and it doesn't bother me at all. Opened cereal is what you see when you open the door an I manage to hide the new umopened boxes in the blind corner! I have another question if you don't mind...This plan shows 30'' cabinets which is the reason there are so many in the plan- they don't hold a lot. I hesitated with a 36'' height because I didn't want them to abut the ceiling especially with concerns about how level it might be. Do you think it would work anyway, if I dropped them 1/2 an inch or so an topped with molding? I really don't want space to collect dust or install a soffit there. Thanks again for your help. Buehl, Bmorepanic, boxerpups, and friends- feel free to join in and lighten the burden I've placed on poor rhome! ;)