Thanks Maryanne, I was wondering where Michelle was..noticed she'd been missing a few days..Was hoping it wasn't her foot acting up..Glad to hear it's icky weather..Hope everything is comfy cozy at her house! Maureen, Are those little glass jars with the silver lid, IKEA? I have some larger jars from there, that have that same lid..I didn't see spice size when I was there.. If they are, I need to look closer next time. LOL ~oh and I agree...great concept..to bad it didn't work out perfectly for you.

Hi ! Thanks everyone for showing me your beautiful kitchens. I would love to see more! organicdonna and allison0747 I can see from your kitchens that ceilings and a soffit can help differentiate the spaces. Colleen the columns are beautiful (not to mention the stunning windows!) Patti823- love the cat!! She defines the space!! Mommyto4boys - I had to laugh out loud. I have three boys and after reading your post I could just envision my boys placing their footballs, hockey pucks and baseballs on the open shelves instead. Better to keep everything hidden like you said!! thanks again everyone - I am always struck by how kind everyone is on this forum to take the time and help others. Happy new years everyone - and happy kitchen designing!

I've always had good luck on Craigslist, too. It's amazing what people are getting rid of. Nice tables!

We needed the narrow backsplash because the back flange of the range went all the way to the Very back edge of the counter. Shaping the soapstone to fit over this was easy. Shaping the glass to fit over this would have been very difficult and expensive. The bonus is that black thing that sticks up 1+ inch at the back of the grate blends in to the black soapstone, whereas it would have been noticeable against the glass. You can see that there is a narrow backsplash of soapstone in the last picture very clearly, but it is not that noticeable generally, (say as compared to a 4"one). The outlet is there by necessity, but again from far away it sorta blends in.