I had no idea what you were talking about until Ladywindsurfer posted. I do have one Clivia miniata. It is a houseplant for me, although a pretty hardy and unusual* one. I place it outdoors after the last frost date and it stays out there until night temps drop into the 40s. In the winter I pretty much ignore it, not watering it much, if at all, until late March/April when it goes back outside. In summer I place it near the patio on the south side, but under a shade tree. In the winter it is on a shelf in a corner on the dark side of my kitchen. Originally I kept it in a closet over the winter, as the instructions tag told me to do (sort of like with Amaryllis), but I believe they underestimated the length of winter here. Inside it does better in low light and where I can check it and give it a smidge of water it if it gets bone dry along towards spring. I also like to watch the big round seed pods ripen and turn red over the winter. It usually blooms shortly after being put outside and then sets its seedpods. Leaves are thick and big and last for a long long time. *Unusual as a houseplant, not because it is rare, but because it flowers outside and the seedpods are what you see when it is a houseplant! P.S. mine is about 5 years old, never been repotted and I can't remember if I ever fertilized it, must do something about that and the repotting when I get around to it. LOL

I have one and I am not happy with it. The faucet does not retract as easily as others. I feel I have to pull on the handle to hard to pull out the spray. Honestly I wish I bought Rohl instead. They said it was a installation issue. They gave me an additional weight to help it retract better. I realize that’s not the issue. I also feel like the metal reacts with the temperature of the water and makes it harder to pull. I have another sink where I installed a cheaper $500 dollar faucet and it works so much better no issues at all and it was installed exactly the same way as the MGS. MGS claims this is the first time they have heard any complaints about the faucet. I doubt it and also the lever that turns on the water unscrews really easily and you have to keep screwing it back in. It’s really annoying I don’t know why they would not make a permanent fixated part. The rep told me to glue it so it does not come off. This should not be a $1200 dollar faucet in my opinion.

I don't know a whole lot about them, but I did get a quote from a local cabinet company that sells their line of cabinets mostly to contractors. I think it may depend on the look that you want for your kitchen. Since I was looking for a painted finish on maple with some glazing, I had the shop order sample doors for me. I wasn't impressed by either their cream colored or their black heirloom finish. The brown glazing on the cream colored cabinet looked as if someone just took one big fat crayon and put a bold fat line around the raised panel. Also, the hierloom black finish was too regular where the corners were rounded with the sander, which looked rather fast, expedient, and too regular without a lot of thought as to how to make it look like a vintage cabinet. It also appears that you can get "semi-custom" cabinets from them in the sense that they will do customize sized cabinets. For example, I originally wanted a Victorian cresent panel door on two upper cabinets prepped for glass, which isn't available from all cabinet manufacturers. I also wanted 10" deep peninsula cabinets, which they could also accommodate. So, from that point of view, it's a flexible line. Also, the black heirloom finish was only available on alder wood, and it is too soft of a wood for my purposes. Doing a search on the Web, it appears that Karman was bought by Wellborn. I thought that the door samples were well constructed. I think they have enough door styles to choose from and if you were to stick with cherry or a stained wood species you might be okay. So, I ruled them out. The all plywood option is also available as an upcharge. The actual construction of the boxes and drawers looked fine. You may want to get samples from them as well before committing to buying from them.

If you have the space, I'd opt for picking up a used portable (full size) dishwasher. The top of the dishwasher would add to your counterspace whereas one like those Danbys would be subtracting from counter area.