I have a Napoleonic-era mahogany dresser as well as a repro cabinet, both with beading--I adore them. Wish I could have put some bead into my kitchen too. I echo what Francoise says--bead or non-bead can both be traditional--and caution you to price things before getting too far into the planning, esp for a big kitchen. You will "marry" this look for a very long time. I love the bead but then, I'm the Am. history fiend. Bead, however, adds cost. The inset adds more cost. Many of us are working to keep cost down and this drives many other aesthetic issues. If you're going to use a glaze effect on crevices in your cabs, the bead adds to the effect and again makes the kitchen seem more old fashioned (or at least introduces the idea of longstanding permanence). Bead adds to the crevices for dusting, but I doubt that is news to you.

Wow CEFreeman, how unusual! I am proud to have a reclaimed kitchen in common. I believe this was the biggest project I have ever attempted, and DH never ever dreamed in his worst nightmare that he would have been putting a new finish on a kitchen full of cabinets! I finished my undergrad and did my graduate work in Lansing (in my 30's). Mason, being the county seat, was the next most important town around. I believe I went on a garden tour or antique shopping tour there with ladies from church. I loved that part of Michigan. I was born and finished high school in Detroit and lived in the thumb for most of my childhood. I am north of Detroit now. I will be happy to stand in as your "other" cousin Nancy if you ever need one in my area! I later realized I got "beadboard" and beaded inset all confused. That is what I get for writing posts a 1:57 (like 1:15 is much better).

I was in the Wal-Mart detergent aisle a couple of weeks ago and I, too, was amazed at the am't of shelf space dedicated to those scent beads. There was easily 3x more shelf space for scent beads than there was for powdered detergents! (and they are not cheap!) I wandered over to the clearance section and there were some more of the darned things over there. I relented and picked up a $2 bottle of 'em and put them in my cart. Then I thought about it for a minute and put them back on the shelf. "What's the point?", I thought. After you're exposed to a smell for an hour or so, you become inured to it and don't smell it anymore anyway. I already have about ten bottles of cologne that I rarely use and almost never in the summer because I garden and colognes can be a magnet for gnats, mosquitoes, wasps.... I'm going to assume that that would/ could also be the case with a lot of the laundry scents. So why spend even two bucks on something that isn't useful and might even be detrimental, if only in a small way?? Adding that my DS suffers from eczema so there's even less point in purchasing something that could potentially cause him more skin problems. Conclusion: Those scent boosters are pretty much useless, might even be harmful and are mostly just another way to wring a little more blood out of mindless consumers while hogging retail floor space from something more useful, like powdered detergent.

I'd like to try this hybrid Bounce Bursts + Downy Free, but I have one concern. Since the Bounce is designed to be used in the wash and I would be using it in the rinse, would the clothing become coated or dull? I love the scent of Bounce Outdoor Fresh!!