by plastic (and your description)I assume you mean PEX. Properly installed you have nothing to worry about. I cant answer the question about the pipe sweating because I have never lived with PEX. Unfortunately I cannot comment on the thawing aspect. Though in the crawlspace, be sure to insulate the pipes if you are worried about freezing. Drain lines can freeze, but can often be resolved with a pot of boiling water down the pipe in question. If they are drains that are not frequently used, put some a small amount of antifreeze down them. The blue windshield washer fluid works well for this.

I was happy with the end result of the Barker cabinets. I thought they looked good and the finish seems to be very good--no damage in the year or so we had them. I actually saw them again when we visited (sold the house to a friend) and they still looked new at the two year mark. We had one place where edge banding, trim and cabinet met and the colors were not quite right. My GC made it work with some extra cover panel or something. The drawers opened and closed beautifully. My GC grumbled a bit about the door sizing and it being difficult to adjust them perfectly, but again he made it work. (He was a carpenter before he became a GC and made my bathroom vanities for me, but wouldn't do a full kitchen because of arthritis). The countertop is honed marble. I wanted a light color and Dh and I both really liked the looks of marble. I tried to find a more sensible substitute but we were never really happy with any of the other options and everything else was actually more expensive than Carrara marble--which was dirt cheap for us, almost as cheap as IKEA butcher block. We decided that we would be okay with scratches and etches. (Also Carrara can be rehoned in place, which reassured us that if we needed to make it look new for resale purposes we could) I loved that sink. It's the kohler stages 45. I wanted a second sink, mostly for the rest of the family to wash hands and get water to drink, but could not fit one in. The stages with two faucets filled that need nicely and functioned beautifully for food prep, etc. I think for induction you want a dedicated circuit and 40 amps? The appliance forum here would have the answer or someone else may chime in. I just know that out of all the great things in my kitchen, my induction range is the one I miss the most. And yes cast iron works. Anything that a magnet sticks to will generally work with induction. edited to add:. Thanks for your kind words. My kitchen was awesome due to the generous and knowlegdgable people here.

Wow, that's really innovative and thinking outside the box. Thank you so much for all the renderings. I wish we were still in the framing or planning stage. I've seen some walk through wet bars in model homes that kind of look like your giant walk through pantry, but I've never envisioned it in my house. Hubby says what we have is what we have and we have to stick to it. He says the fridge can't be moved due to plumbing/wiring already in place. I'll have to do the best with the layout we have and maximize on the counter space (21" on either side of the stove which should be sufficient since I just read that bare minimum is 15" and I know that's just safety code bare minimum so ideally it'd be like 24-36", but it won't happen in my kitchen) and base drawers we have. My kitchen cabinets designer is helping me put in as many sets of base drawers as possible. It's not a custom cabinets place so there's some limitations.

>>>"Can't believe they don't ALL offer this feature..... Does anyone have personal experience with the 800 series and this feature??"<<< There are several brands that offer an enclosing tub and leak protection/detection systems. From shopping for a new DW last year, I recall that, besides Bosch's "AquaStop" and the system on musicgalnd's Asko, all of the Miele DWs have a similar system, and I think that GE models have something called "floor protection." There may be others. It will be buried in features lists somewhere if they have it. My personal experience is with Bosch dishwashers, and specifically with older 500 models and on the new 300 series models. However, the AquaStop is the same as on the current 800 series. It works very well. A friend's 500 series model --- which was about ten years old, IIRC --- stopped running and flashed an error code. I pulled the DW and found something less than 1/8th" of water had collected in the tub that formed the outside base of the unit. That water triggered the protection system. The water protecting tub/base looked like it could hold up to 3 inches of water, Sopped up the water with a towel and the unit would run for several cycles before enough leaked to trigger the protection system. (Running it was how I found the leak which was in a cracked pump housing.) Occasional mopping the containment tub bought time for shopping for repairs or replacement. All leakage was contained and there was none on the floors. My own experience was with a new 300 series model which I bought for my house in early 2017. My unit (from the first production run, I think) had a leaky water inlet solenoid or housing. Might have been shipping and handling damage or possibly a defective part. (That can happen with all products from all manufacturers.) Again, the AquaStop shut off the water supply and the tub totally contained the dribbling leakage. I live in a rural area, so it took some doing for Bosch customer service to find a warranty servicer for my area --- turned out to be somebody nearby who was their factory rep. (Apparently, the customer service database was a bit goofy for my area.) Anyway, the actual repair took maybe 5 minutes with a $9 part. (I could have done it myself, but Bosch was paying for everything and i wanted to keep the warranty in force.) No damage to my kitchen's wood floors One thing to keep in mind with leak protection systems: they protect against leaks from the dishwasher itself. They will not help if you have a leak in the supply hose or the plumbing to which the hose connects. Best to install a new, good-quality supply hose when you replace the dishwasher. You probably will need a new supply hose, anyway. That's because current dishwashers use a 3/4" hose-thread fitting on the inlet instead of the 3/8" brass compression fitting that was used with older dishwashers. In theory, you could buy a 3/8 to 3/4 adapter and re-use the old supply hose, but I strongly recommend just getting a new hose for peace of mind. With your 25-year old set-up, I also would watch the supply-line valve for the take-off at the hot water line and make sure leaks don't develop there after disconnecting the old hose and installing the new one. This is from experience. I originally installed my valve about 20 years ago when I installed my first Bosch DW. Sure enough, that little side valve started leaking out the handle when I turned it back on after connecting the new supply hose for the new DW. >>>"The tines on the [Bosch & Asko?] racks are really close together though. It works great for Corelle because you can really pack in the dishes. Not sure how the narrow tines would work with stoneware dishes (ie Fiesta)."<<< There is a lot of loading flexibility in the current Bosch models including options for narrow and not so-narrow tine spacing. My china is old restaurant supply Buffalo China dishware. The pieces are as large, thick and heavy as a lot of stoneware. I have had no problems loading them in my current or previous Bosch DW. However, YMMV. Best to take a box of your stuff down to your appliance seller to be sure that things will fit to your satisfaction.