Update to the 6 & 10 Rule: It only applies when the 1/3 - 2/3 Rule of Cantilevering applies (1' can cantilever over 2' of cabinets). If your slab is 2 cm, you can have up to a 6" overhang without support. If your slab is 3 cm you can have up to a 10" overhang without support . If you are using a pony wall or cabinets with a depth of less than 2 times the depth of the overhang, then you need to provide support to equal at least 2/3 of the total depth of the countertop. . Thank you Joseph Corlett, LLC for the additional information!

- Are you a solo cook? For daily meals, will there be two cooks? For dinner parties, will there be multiple cooks? Mostly solo, with occasional interference, um, assistance in prep, etc. from others. Mysteriously, no matter which way I turn, there always seems to be somebody in the way. Perhaps there are additional people living here I haven't met yet. - Do you typically serve food family-style (at the dining table), buffet-style (dining room sideboard or kitchen counter?), or waiter-style (plate in kitchen, serve each guest individually at dining table)? Buffet style? Horrible dictu. Either family-style or plated, depending. - Any quirky needs for where and how you prep? Like my "sink on my left" fetish? I like my sink on the left, too. but perhaps I'm just used to it. I would love vertical prep space, like an 8" shelf to put stuff on as needed so it doesn't end up ten feet away. But I may not be able to achieve that. In any case, I like cockpit cooking--everything I need in arm's reach, nothing in reach that I don't need. I like to expel things out of my way when I'm done with them, so I thought a long time about a garbage can accessible through a hole in the countertop. Then I realized the danger of breeding Swamp Thing on bits that get stuck in dark crannies. In addition to getting rid of garbage, I do not like to touch or see cooking implements once I'm done with them. I want them out of my way. Sounds weird, I know. But that video of an iron pan careening into a Kohler cast iron sink at top speed held special meaning for me. - Are you a big baker? How important is a baking center? Occasional baker. My mind doesn't really work that way. But I bake for holidays or just when I feel like it. A full-blown Iron Confectioner Baking Stadium would be nice, but I'd settle for a place to keep baking stuff out of the way of other prep tools. - A big oven user? Need double ovens? Speed? Steam? Need venting over the oven? Yup, I'm an ovener. Double would be fun for those Yorkshire Pudding occasions. I'm actually liking my tiny Easy Bake. It will be horrific when company comes, but for the two of us to roast the odd chicken, it heats up fast and works well. I do need someplace to cook my Christmas seven-hour pork shoulder. - A many-burners user? Need four, six, eight, ten? Six would be nice. I'll live with four if I have to, but what really bothers me about four burners is the crowding. - Any preference for range or cooktop/wall oven? No preference, though obviously a range is generally cheaper. - Are there any unusual tools you plan to include? Grill, griddle, deep fryer, wine cooler,(swing oven, blast chiller, immersion circulator, live fish tank . . . ) I'm not much of a nanotechnologist, so if I ever get the hankering for a molecular gastronomy experiment I'll just use the basement workbench. I'm a little old school, so I need to keep out my vintage Osterizer and two no-control toasters, one of which was my parents' wedding present in 1938, on display. The blender gets the most use. I need a place to securely clamp things, like apple corers and pasta makers. The chitarra can stay in the cupboard; I think it rusted, anyway. I need a place to store two sets of pasta board and pins. One is mine and oversized; it's a piece of plywood a counter deep, with a long dowel that can hang from a cup hook on the end somewhere. My mom's I'd like out on display; it's an old breadboard with a smaller roller. Plus there's her wooden spoon that needs to hang on the wall somewhere nearby. Never had a grill, I think I'd like one. - What size refrigerator is ''necessary''? How much pantry (linear feet of shelf) is ''necessary''? An unusual size is OK but not too small. The fridge always seems to fill up with wine and salad. Of course, even with French door fridges I can never find anything. I wish they were all six feet wide and a foot deep. I do have a root cellar in the basement, where I can store overflow cans of tomatoes once we get the paint cans out of there. I should mention the spice thing. You know when you go into a supermarket and see that huge rack of spices? OK, trim it down to one jar deep. That's what I've got. It's in an upper cab now, on those little step shelf inserts, and it's horrible. I want alphabetical. Neat. Accessible. All in a row. - Is a bar/beverage area important, for mixology, chilling, decanting, jello shots? Way. I may be able to find a nice bar for the DR or LR. But mixology has to happen somewhere. - How many people do you want to seat at this dratted ''eat-in'' zone? Two? Four? Two comfortably, 3 a little awkwardly, possibly 4 with permanent sciatic damage. Just to appease the future toddler moms. - Do you prefer pots and pans to hang or be stored in drawers? I loathe hanging pots and pans. In my apartment pots and pans were in a super susan, the kind where the door is attached and you just push it in, right next to the range. Worked well, except for flat pans, which you had to stack to infinity. So, I want them hidden, but I don't want to unnest two hundred pounds of metal to fry an egg. Appliances to live on counters or be hidden away? I imagine the stand mixer has to stay out, unless you figure out a way to lower it from the ceiling on command. Toaster and coffee maker out but out of my way. The Cuisinart should be accessible--the days of jamming my hand into a cupboard to find a sharp blade really have to be over. - All things being equal, do you prefer lots of upper cabinets or fewer? Lots of windows or fewer? The light here is great, but houses are somewhat close together. I want to keep at least one window on each wall (size may be flexible), but a wall of windows would not really be that pleasant. I do like uppers, but some need to be glass and I desperately want to avoid that oppressive Great Wall of China look. - Are you a "can't live without double dishwasher'' sort? No. - How ''traditional'' a look do you want? For example, in the 1920s homes didn't really have fixed kitchen islands. I'm thinking serious vintage, with allowance for creative interpretation. My inspiration is that online collection of 1920s kitchen photos, but I'm not going to replicate an entire dysfunctional '20s kitchen--I just want the charm. I don't 100% need a fixed island, either, but I'm not opposed to one.

My DH is a Swedish Citizen; when he came to the United States, he came on a visitors visa. When he decided to stay, we then used every penny we had to hire an attorney to ensure it was done legally. As with the majority of legal immigrants, since moving here in 1999, my DH has followed all the laws, paid all his taxes, and been a thriving member of the community. When people who have paid their dues and done things by the book see others who haven't be rewarded with breaks that essentially say it's ok, it doesn't matter that you broke the law, show us you did it for at least x amount of years and we will reward you with legal residency, it's bewildering. Years and years ago, I lived on a ranch in Mexico for 8 months, our house was made of rock and mud, no running water, we washed clothes in the river, cooked on a sheet of metal over a fire and basically lived off the land. I get the poverty in Mexico and why people want their children born here first hand but at some point a line has to be drawn. Why should people who have already broken the law be entitled to skirt through loopholes to take advantage of the benefits we pay taxes to provide? When a child is born to a family who is here legally, he/she absolutely deserves to have any rights afforded to them by our laws, but as harsh as it may sound, I don't think that children born to parents who are here under illegal circumstances should be entitled to those same benefits. And as a side note, many times the immigrants coming here illegally also tend to break many other laws we have in our country. Everything from drunk driving and driving without insurance to working without the proper documents or violence and we reward them. It's bewildering. Granted, there are legal immigrants who break laws as well, but the numbers are not anywhere near as big.

Like others I can relate to this thread. We are in the process of settling my mom’s estate currently. Want to move most of her things along. Many items are in storage. Better than my house, but it is getting expensive storing all this stuff. I think my biggest space wasters are photos, 7 decent sized moving boxes of family photos. Very little family interested in having any of these. What to do with these, no idea. Then the 5 boxes of genealogy research, Grandma was a librarian and this was one of her passions. I do plan to move this information onto the computer, so the boxes will go away eventually but it going to be a big project. Also have china and silver plate, that I need to figure out. Sterling, I will likely sell one of the two sets. Love the other one. Everything on the estate front is such slow going. My grandparents collected Chinese art, sculptures and such. Most pieces are 19th or early 20th century. My mother kept them all. There are probably 80 pieces,. They are not particularly valuable but worth the effort of auctioning over donating to a thrift store. Contacted an auction house, they are so slow. Over a month waiting for estimates, but supposedly soon. The auction house is fairly close and reputable so I am being patient but I am really just wanting to get this done. JJ - I have the ivory problem as well. While I am morally opposed to the ivory trade, the artistry of these antique pieces is just incredible. Would love to donate to a reputable museum rather than just have the pieces destroyed. However, my understanding is that there were several billion dollars worth of ivory in private collections when the law was passed making it essentially illegal to sell any of it, so probably many others in the same boat. Again, no idea what to do. Asked the auction house if they have any recommendations. Thankfully, most of mom’s things were sold in an estate sale last year when she moved into an assisted living complex.