I don't have either of those, but I have a Wishblade, (the older one) and I love it. I fact I'm just sitting down to do my first project since I started decorating for Christmas. I would think that newer could only be better. I love the scrapbook pages I've done with the WB. That is mostly what I use it for. - Gail

Thank you for all the info. I purchased the Creative Memories Cutting System with oval today. I haven't used it but I'll start in this weekend. I found a consultant on the Creative Memories website for my area. Very nice woman and helpful. The cost was $38.00 plus tax. She left me a catalog for other interests I might have. She asked if I was interested in classes, etc. and at this time I'm not. She was fine with that. Good experience. Can't wait to try my new tools.

Yea, the counters aren't in bad shape at all. Except there's some water damage around that wood trim. Which is also the part I hate the most. That trim! And with wanting to paint the cabs white, I can't leave that and I don't like the look of that part painted, either. You know how you walk in the room, and something just stands out and as eye sore, making you not like the entire room. That's what these counters do for me. I really wouldn't mind the kitchen at all, if it weren't for those. Heck..I'd probably not even paint the cabs, (a whole other fear there). But, the green with the red paint kills me. If we don't get them done in the next six months, we're painting the kitchen again. Just to get rid of the red and green. It's funny, one of the reasons we bought this house a yr ago over some of the others, was because of the counters. I was so sick of seeing the same granite everywhere, this was a nice change. I think if I could go to a granite yard, pick out a beautiful slab I'd consider doing granite. But, I'm really just tired of seeing it in every single house I go to. High end homes, to middle of the road ones like mine. I have no choice but to do something cheaper, from a box store. And I just can't see doing the thin, little granite slabs all the builders and flippers do around here.

I like the pantry swap. It is something I actually considered way back when - long runs of shallow shelves/cupboards are the best pantries in my opinion. And the kitchen feels so much roomier now. And it is another (42"!) work space to the right of the sink. Put the microwave under the counter in the 42" section, and it is a great snack spot with its proximity to the fridge and sink. And if the hutch is where your dishes go (which it should be with the dishwasher right there), that works very well for people grabbing dishes for their snacks without entering any primary prep/cooking areas too. However, I really preferred your last island configuration. In this new one, you have nearly no drawers at all in the kitchen, and the chair opposite the fridge is going to be a terrible point of congestion. A lot of room is needed in front of the fridge for the common situation where a person is standing in front of the fridge with the door open taking many minutes to decide what to eat. The depth of fridge door + the outstretched arm holding it + a body is usually enough to block or severely impede any walkway. The standards for walkway space needed if people are going to be passing behind a sitting person (just passing, not even the extra-depth-requiring-fridge-situation behind them) is 60". There is a similar walkway issue with the chair closest to the stove backing up to the pantry. I had thought it so clever when you had the two chairs in the island only and had bumped them to the right, so they could both back up against that big open doorway. That allows for tons if room for people to walk by and created such a natural place for the marble opposite the stove where it is handy to the ovens but won't be warmed by them. I really think you should go with that plan for the island. It just worked SO well. Also, a suggestion. Make the pantry only 12" deep (depth of an upper cabinet) from the wall, but inset all the stud bays inside the pantry for extra depth (what you were planning to do for can storage). That would make your actual pantry cupboard depth about 14-15" in most places, which is ideal (deeper than that, and stuff gets lost in the back), but it takes only 12" from that walkway. Then both the counter left of the stove and the width of the island can go back to being 36" without pinching the dining room doorway. That is more counter, more marble, and more storage (5.5' length of island x 6" extra width x 35" height = 8 cubic feet of more storage just in the island, plus 24" depth next to stove x 6" extra width x 35" height = almost 3 cubic feet more storage next to the stove not including the extra space you'd also gain in the upper cabinet). All without really sacrificing anything from the pantry. Lastly, I think you will find that the tall pine cabinet pinches the walkway too much, but that is a decision you can make when everything else is in place. And having the trash in the walkway still isn't my favorite plan. Maybe you can do a 12" trash pullout in that 12" base cab between the stove and sink that is just for the prep spaces to use and put another can where you wanted the tall pine cabinet to go for all other trash. Just make that can not so wide that it pinches the walkway by the island corner, and use the above the fridge cabinet for your tall vertical storage that you have wanted that 12" base for. Like this: