I've worked with all kinds of wood, and maple is tricky stuff to work with. It will tend to blotch or not take stain well at all. I found a beautiful little table at auction, completely ignored by everyone because it was covered in gobs of army green paint. But upon close inspection I could see it had details in the turned stem. Once stripped, it even had paw feet! Sweet little antique, my father told me it was hard rock maple. There's a reason it has that name, it is hard as a rock! For $22 I was really happy but when I went to put stain on it did not absorb well at all and looked hideous. I ended up taking sanding it back off and just leaving it nekkid with a protective top coat. ;) I have a Heywood Wakefield BR set that it's good shape structurally but finish has seen better days on top. When I researched refinishing it, I learned (from a guy who specialized in HW restoration) that maple was often covered in what appears to be 'solid' color because of the way it reacts to stains. I'm describing that 40/50's look of seeing little to no wood grain. Leaving my table bare worked well for me, I actually prefer it that way. Probably won't suit your needs, though. I'd google 'staining maple' for more info. Here's one article that offers some good suggestions: Staining and Blending Difficult Woods He has pictures, too ;) I'm personally not in favor of putting stain over any type of poly or varnish. Stain was made to absorb into wood. Applying it on top of varnish or poly means it's sitting on that surface. Just can't see successful long term results, but that's just my humble .02.

I think you all are spot on. Even with the high loops, we're still getting some backwash. It's all about pressure...the high loop is designed to accomodate the pressure caused by gravity pulling on the fluid in the hose. However, once the fluid from the other DW draining comes into play, it's not only the weight of the water, but the force of it being pumped out as well- and that's just too much for a high loop to handle. We also don't like the disposal hooked up to the smaller side of the double sink- we let the installer talk us out of having it on the larger bowl and have regretted it ever since. Sounds like we need to find a good and flexible plumber to redo this mess. We had one plumber take a look at it while he was over to quote us for a different job and all he did was go on and on about how it wasn't to code because there was no airgap installed (untrue!) and how no DW would drain properly without an air gap- untrue! When I asked about a Johnson T and he didn't know what I was talking about I knew we needed someone better that at least knew as much as or preferably MORE than I do about plumbing. Also, one more thing: I just want to thank everyone here in Kitchens again for being so amazingly helpful and taking the time to respond. Even though we did our kitchen in 2006-2007 and I was a regular poster through the beginning of 2009, I love that I can get such help after being gone a year, and knowing that I would get the same quality of help even if this was the first time I was ever posting here. I recently posted some plans in baths and building a home (we're planning a large addition) and got almost no responses....that really drove home how amazing this kitchen forum really is. Thank you!

flyleft and spank md, thanks for all the information about mosaic supplies and hints on what to do, you both have given me. I really appreciate it. flyleft, I am going to go to the bookstore today to see if either of those books you recommended is available, if not, I will order them on the internet. I think they both would be a good investment because I can see myself doing more mosaicing. And I still have the two bowls to do too. spanky md, you are right about the tile looking much better after it is grouted. Thank you for reminding me about that. I remember when we did our master bathroom, we had some stuff called redgard painted on the backerboard as added protection from water and when the tile was up without the grout - it looked ugly because you could see that red coming through. Once it was all grouted it looked beautiful. Heh, I might use some of that redgard stuff on the top of the wood - it supposedly seals out moisture. I think I still have a little bit left. I found this site, linked below, last night and in the mosaic questions section, they talk about the fiberglass mesh technique being used for walls and when you don't want to hand lay each piece again. They also talk about the contact paper method - which I would probably use in this application, because I laid the tile with the good side facing up. The back of the stones still have some of the fiberglass mesh on them from when I peeled the stones off of the backing. The guy on this site also says wood is ok for interior use. I do know one problem with cracking grout can be if it is mixed too thin or too much water is added. When we redid our two bathrooms and the slate floor the grout mix was very thick according to the directions on the bag and none of that has cracked. Of course, the bathroom is done on backerboard and the slate is on a concrete floor - so no movement there. The previous tile in the guest bath was laid on linoleum and one piece near the door had cracked grout - I don't think the linoleum was glued enough underneath that section - or it got water underneath it. I will probably seal this piece since moisture from a drink placed on the table could soak into the grout. For this project, I think I may just use the wood and see how that goes. I will still need to find the copper to put on the wood. I'll check out the hardware store in town to see if they have some copper sheeting. As usual I have entered into another project that is going to be more time consuming than I realized. But definitely something that will be fun and creative. I can see there is a lot involved with mosaicing and lots of different products that can be used for different applications. Thanks again to both of you, I will definitely post my completed piece, but it may take me a while since I want to do some more research and I have some other pressing projects that have come up unexpectedly. Here is a link that might be useful: See - Mosaic Questions - Category

Well I have to be careful bc I'm running the natural red oak wood floor from the other room, coming into the kitchen area-I didn't want that in my kitchen bc it is just wayyy too much of the same tone and too close together (light wood). So I can't lay another color of wood down (darker/lighter), so I'm looking for tile ideas, or maybe this LVT stuff? Anything other than a wood floor with the natural cabinets...Thank you!!!!