Good for you harmony--removing diseased roses. It's really way beyond time that those selling diseased/defective roses got in trouble for it. If they had long ago, perhaps we'd have very little RMV now in commerce. In California, and probably other states as well, it is quite likely illegal to be knowingly selling diseased roses. Why? Because California is a state with implied warranty of merchantability statutes on the books. Products are supposed to be reasonably fit/function as intended. Roses are assumed to be garden plants, to live and grow as expected. Diseased roses, certainly those with RMV, often do not--they aren't as vigorous, bloom less, and may even die, in ordinary garden conditions that sellers could expect buyers to have. Those sellers know, or should know, that their plants are diseased and thus defective. And they are not disclosing that information. Under the law they should be. Have you seen ads for products sold "as is"? Well that is the implied warranty of merchantabilty in effect, obligating the seller to disclose that a product has defects. In the rose world, growers/nurseries have long practiced selling defective products without warning the consumer of that fact. Few even mention RMV on their websites or catalogs. But it strains credulity to the limits that a larger number of them are unaware of the problem of RMV, and in their own roses too. They've made a conscious decision to stay silent. Some will object and say but the rose industry is in such bad shape, sellers can't afford to disclose RMV status. Well, they didn't do so even when times were booming for roses and the state of the industry doesn't exempt them under the law. Perhaps this non-disclosure contributed to the decline in rose sales as diseased roses are harder to grow, require more care, and thus are also more expensive to keep (alive) than would be expected. Tricking consumers repeatedly by the thousands over time likely didn't help the reputation of roses. Consumers may have just given up and decided roses were simply too hard to grow, when it was really *diseased roses* that were too hard to grow, but the poor consumer didn't know they'd been sold something that was unhealthy from the start. In addition, too many that knew better looked the other way for too long. And now growers/chains/nurseries feel entitled to sell their defective plants to unwitting consumers with absolutely no consequences. Some rose lovers like you harmony may be aware of RMV, but how many people have no idea of the existence of RMV nor what symptoms to look for? The shoddy business practices that allow companies to market unhealthy roses without warning the consumer needs to stop. At the very least harmony, you should get your money refunded for the RMV-infected plants. Melissa

Thank You again for all of your responses. So, we went to dinner last night and I presented the plans to her and it went pretty well.... I went through some of the things that came up here and the various trade offs. Her biggest hang up is the 39" aisle. She thought it seemed narrow and was concerned with feeling jammed into the space (she was surprised to learn that her current aisle is 42" so that seemed to alleviate her concern). We didn't have a chance to go back to her place after dinner, but she would like me to come over and help her envision the changes (putting tape down on the floor and doing a little bit of pretending). She likes the pullout trash and would want to keep that as well as the pantry which she was very enthusiastic about. the fridge was a bit of an issue for her and I would definitely have to take her to look at different options. I don't think the Liebherr will work for her, because she made a comment about her current fridge not holding everything and I am going to bet that the Liebherr has much less cubic ft. of storage than her current. The Liebherr has as big a freezer as fridge, where she needs much more fridge than freezer. The Fagor that profrip posted would be a better bet. Less expensive and also double the cubic ft. of fridge space in the same footprint. She made a couple of comments that she thinks for economic reasons that she should just redo the current layout (just as you suggested LWO!!). She expressed some concern about the lack of counterspace with the current plan though. I could see her going that route. I told her that in a "real" client/KD situation she'd have been presented with many options, one being to clean up what she has. She has a GC that she will use and is going to have him over to look at the plans. I told her that the two biggest issues for her to address with him is the electrical panel (which would need to move down so that it was accessible from inside the pantry)... not sure if an electrical panel can be moved. AND the pipe chase, which I was banking on being able to reduce in size - going from 16" x 20" to 13" x 17". I guess this would mess up the ceiling which would need to be patched... Anyway, this should be interesting. If I had to guess what she ends up doing, I will say that she will re-do what she already has. We'll see. She's a bit of a procrastinator so I don't see this taking place any time soon although I think she should put it into gear as I think there are good deals and promotions out there and people looking to work. bmorepanic, I gave her the one dish drawer as an option and she liked that. very good idea for a small space like this. I think she would also opt to eliminate the drawers that come down to the counter, but keep the cabinet above which was earmarked for her cookbooks. She loved the idea of sitting at her peninsula and flipping through her cookbooks. Khat, thank you for your comments... they made my day! and also the points you make are good ones about the uppers and the molding.

Great DaneS

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I appreciate all the great comments! It's also good to hear from the true experts that I didn't break every rule in the "glass mosaic rule book". Reading this forum and looking at all the pics just reaffirms to me that there are so many things I don't know about the whole glass thing. squirrellycanadian: The back of mine looks hideous too but I don't plan to look at the back so I'm ok with it...lol....I don't cry over what I can't see...lol linlee/ calamity: I freehanded this and honestly didn't try to make it look like it was blowing in the wind but now that you mentioned it I can see it now....lol I had been toying with the raised leaf vine idea for awhile and decided to try it on the door. I couldn't beleive how simple it was.... The putty I used is called Wood Plastic (actual name on the can) and you can find it at Home Depot in the wood fillers. It's $5.?? something a can which is a little more expensive than a plain wood filler BUT I chose this one because it is waterproof and can be used outdoors. I used approx. 3/4 of the can for the entire vine. It's like a putty and I just formed and shaped the vine with my fingers all over the door and then went in and made the leaves. I just put a glob of wood plastic on the vine and then took real leaves from my yard and gently pressed each one in to the wood putty to get the impression. Then I used the end of my knife and cut away the excess putty and some slits in the ends of the leaves for detail. It was set up hard enough to sand and paint by the next day. The paint is what really makes the vine pop. The paint is a green exterior paint from Home Depot. Once that was dry I sponged on/ragged off an acrylic metalic bronze (craft paint from Walmart I already had). I had never tried the process before but found it to be SO easy. Can't wait to try other things with it. Addiesue