I found the Blackberry very straight forward. You could be reading your mail, click a link and read the web page and return to your mail without having to close the web page and return to the home screen. The I phone does not have a back button which I find so frustrating. My son has an Android and I find it more comfortable to use. It does have a back button. I like the screen better, seems clearer/sharper than Iphone. Iphone brags about their retina display. Sons, Samsung is brighter and colors seem better. Iphone is a data hog. You must remember to constantly close programs or they continue to run. There is no 'xing' off anything. You have to leave a page by returning to the home screen. There are so many things I dislike about the Iphone I won't bother taking the time to list. My guess is, if Iphone is your first smart phone, you'll love it because it's all you know. I also think it is appealing to younger people because of the Apple status symbol. Blackberrys were more 'business' orientated. They operated more like a computer. You could work from multiple screens and pages. Can't do that with the Iphone. Snidely, I've been following Blackberry over the past year hoping the company would come out with a new phone. I thought it was going under. I hoped Microsoft might buy them out. Now it seems they will release their new phone in the next few weeks. The tech reviews were very good. Blackberry will not have a physical keyboard but the testers report loving how well their new touch keypads work. The reports loved the ability to have multiple windows working at once without losing your place. I know many professional people who gave up on Blackberry and upgraded to Iphones. Not one of them thinks Iphone is better than their old phones. Many state they might switch back and are waiting for the release. If I can't get a Blackberry, I'd get an Android. I think its a better phone. Jane

The reason one window in the bedroom is operable is in order to meet the code requirement for an emergency escape and rescue opening in all bedrooms. I have many times advised homeowners on the GW to not allow a builder to use the cryptic convention of using 60 to mean 72" or 6'-0" on the elevation drawings. (By the way, in my experience, 60 means 72" as silly as that seems) All window sizes should be dimensioned in rough opening feet - inches for the benefit of the framer. All windows should be specified separately for the benefit of the supplier in a Window Schedule that shows the manufacturer, model, rough opening, glass type, color, mullions, hardware, etc. Otherwise you are asking for mistakes. You might ask the GC where the horizontal mullion/sash rail is in the middle of the windows that were ordered for the front of the house. Something stinks; I think someone is making you take responsibility for their unprofessional mistakes. I not only provide clients with window schedules, I insist on reviewing the order before it is submitted which is a tedious and thankless job since all manufacturers use different cryptic conventions for their order sheets. I have never checked an order where there wasn't a mistake and some of them would have been very expensive to correct after delivery. Sometimes a window manufacturer will make a mistake with a correct order but that can be corrected at no cost to the owner. The issue here is documentation. If the correct windows were documented all errors should be corrected at no cost to the owner with no debate. I should also add that in the past 40 years I've known only one GC to order through a lumberyard/box store instead of a wholesale window supplier and the resulting mistakes in that order were the worst I've ever seen.

A TKO DH? I've got one, too! He never thought about kitchens until we started to do ours, and then he was totally involved. I could usually convince him of MY opinion when it diverged, but he had a definite say in all aspects. Now that it has been finished for 4 months, he is no longer TKO and doesn't care to look at others' pics anymore or discuss kitchens, in general...with him, once it's done, it's done. (Anytime I try to show him something I like in a magazine or on this forum, he says, "What, so you don't like OURS anymore?"). He was with me in the obsession for the time it took to do the kitchen, but now he's over it. The upside: it is OUR kitchen, not MY kitchen, and he is passionate about it. He insisted on high quality materials, or at least the best that we could afford ("you get what you pay for" is his mantra, and almost nothing was too expensive. He repeatedly said that we don't do this everyday, and we should do it right). AND...he's all for updating the family room (new furniture, carpet, etc.) because it adjoins the kitchen, and he wants a new chandelier in the dining room, too, so I'm loving it!

I knew I could count on you guys! Thanks Rebunky. I'm thinking I might ditch the idea of a cabinet there completely the more I think about it? When do you get the KD drawings and elevation views? I'm so excited to see them! So am I! Well she was working on them but then I just hit them up Monday with the idea of putting the two windows in instead of the three high windows, so my guess is she's gone back to the drawing board a bit. Plus I know she just finished my fireplace wall. Haven't seen it yet, though. Thanks Autumn. CP - look at this space, the corner is not a 90 degree but it reminds me of what you have going on around the range part. I really like that space, including the narrow cabinets attached to the hood. I had considered doing something like that and moving the windows out a bit more, but wasn't sure how it would look. I think something like that might work and will see if I can mock it up. Thank you fishcow, mrspete, LL and Omelet. Cpart- I know you can move the table closer to the windows....but 42" with chair and stools sliding out is going to push people into your work area. A wider walkway on the 'helper' side of the island might be a good idea :) i think if you get big, chair-like bar stools the space between the table and island will be crowded, but if you do backless ones that tuck under the overhang when not in use it will be fine. It's not like people are going to be using both sets of seats at the same time.42" from island counter to table is pretty tight. Have you mocked that up? I'm answering all the above at once. LOL. Including Mrspete's comments about the narrowness. :) In answer to if I mocked it up, no I haven't because I actually have the same amount of space (actually a bit less to be honest) between my bar area and dining table in my condo now, so I know exactly how tight the space is. Is it ideal? Nope and if I ever need to have a sit down dinner, I can move the dining table further towards the sliding doors. Yes it would be tight for the people sitting on that side of the table, but they'll be sitting. And since the last time I had a sit down dinner for more than DH, myself and one visiting child was about 4 years ago, I doubt there's much worry about all that. LOL. Additionally as fishcow mentioned, I'm not planning on getting big type chairs for my bar area. The stools I have now have a small back but they still fit under the counter and I'm planning on something like that as I don't like "in your face" barstools. Plus if they are able to be pushed underneath, then people can stand there if they don't want to sit. To answer Mrspete's question DH likes to eat breakfast at the counter and when I do prepare dinner once in a blue moon, he likes to sit there chatting with me. I don't see any mention of a microwave. Since you say you eat out frequently, I'm guessing that you'd have leftovers to warm up. The microwave will be on a shelf above the oven. :) No leftovers to heat up as I normally order appetizers when I eat out. Otherwise I'd weigh 2000 pounds. LOL. However we do use a microwave occasionally. Since you say you're not a serious cook, why go with a larger-than-standard cooktop and range hood? No, I said I didn't cook often. When I do cook, I am serious about cooking and cook only from scratch. No canned sauces or soups for us. No microwave dinners, etc. Only fresh and real ingredients. Additionally, most of my cooking is done on a cooktop and not the oven. I do a lot of sauteing, making soups, sauces, pasta, rice, etc. Conversely, since I rarely use my oven, I'm going for a fairly basic oven. Instead of the glass cabinet, what if you use a narrowish china buffet? That is, a furniture piece instead of something built-in. It'd give a break from the cabinets -- a break from the white cabinets? My island will be cherry wood to break up the white. Plus my dining table and chairs are cherry. I also have the buffet already that is going to wind up in the living room. I may just leave off the china cabinet all together as I'm not sure I need the extra storage. Maybe this got asked already, but what is the distance between the DW corner of the island and that post at the entrance to the living room? That looks like it could be a pinch point. I think you're correct fishcow. It looks like I may have to shorten my island by about a 6-8" which is still a nice sized island. I noticed that myself tonight when I was looking at it.