I went through the same exercise a year ago and chose the 36" Wolf cooktop, a Wolf single oven with a Wolf convection/microwave on top. I have been using them for four months and am very satisfied. I chose the cooktop because (1) Wolf has a good reputation for quality and service, (2) I liked the layout of the burners, the placement of the knobs on top and the backlit indicators that a burner was on, and (3) the appearance of the grates which are very solid. I was also influenced by the fact that we are using propane and Wolf makes both an LP and a NG version, rather than having the system retrofit by an installer, which is true for some brands. I cook a fair amount but don't need all the burners to be high BTUs as they are on the range tops. I purchased a separate All Clad griddle which straddles two burners nicely. Previously I had cooked only on electric stoves. The one thing I notice with the cooktop is the need to be careful not to turn the burners too high or the flames come up the sides of the pot and cause scorching. It may be that the Thermador star design is better in this regard as the Wolf burners appear to heat the edges of the pot faster than the interior of the bottom. However, the simmer is fantastic. It never needs to be adjusted. The ovens were a more difficult choice for me. I went with the Wolf in large part because of appearance. My ovens are placed next to the Sub Zero fridge and everything matches nicely. The regular single convection oven is a good size. It bakes and roasts well; the broiler is nothing special. I have put three trays of cookies in at once and they all cooked perfectly. You do have to remove the racks for cleaning. Some GE ovens are attractive because the racks can stay in. I notice that there is much more spattering of grease in a convection oven than my older conventional one. Therefore I remove unused racks when roasting meat or poultry. The controls look complicated but are actually fairly intuitive once you go through them once. All in all an excellent choice but I am not sure the performance is any better than less expensive ovens. I was unsure about the convection microwave. It is, as Wolf readily acknowledges, a Sharp or Panasonic product with an expensive trim kit. The exterior is black plastic and not up to the standard of the regular oven. However, the microwave works well. It has about 100 watts less power than a regular microwave but that does not seem to make a huge difference. I was surprised that I use the small convection oven as much as I do. I use it for warming bread or leftovers and cooking small pieces of fish or chicken. It heats up quickly and is probably much more energy efficient than using the large oven for these tasks. It worked well for baking a single pie crust but I use the larger oven for cakes. I also use the convection oven for warming plates or holding side dishes as I did not get a warming drawer. Hope this helps. Wolf was a good choice for me but I am sure there are other options.

Thank you, les and dilly. Unfortunately, the first one is a tad too wide, and the further down on the Amazon one, it said it can only be delivered in the UK. The Etsy one might be a possibility, though, if I can get them to leave it unfinished so I can paint it. It's a bit too country/primitive for me the way they're finishing them. Thanks for the legwork. I'm grateful for the help!

Sometimes you can have ridges added to the shelf that will support the plates. Our china cabinet (circa 1958) has ridges to support the plates and platters.

My3dogs, thank you, thank you, for all your help so far! The fabric's been ordered, corbels located and repainted, (I had some from another room that I took down last year), and paint samples went are on the walls waiting for daylight to show their true color! Everyone's advice gave me just the inspiration I needed, now all I need is the right color for the paint. Sadly, BM's Rich Cream didn't work, it came out too peachy cream in our light, so I'm struggling with other yellow tones to find something, because I do want a true yellow tint to really highlight the flo blue. BM Yellow Lotus may be too strong - but I did like it enough to try that, along with Butter. Your valence instructions look great, and just so simple - yet they have such a lovely effect on the windows! You're so clever! I can't wait for the fabric order to get here, I ordered the coordinating Waverly stripe to recover the chair cushions, too. This will be sew fun!!! Heidi