This has been a dismal summer for baking/cooking in my solar ovens due to all the rain (which is most unusual in Kansas this time of the year), so I've been doing nearly all my baking in my Sharp Convection/Microwave Oven. I make all our breads and baked goods, even our crackers, so the Sharp has gotten a work-out this summer. I try to use it over my regular oven because it saves time and energy and helps keep the heat out of the kitchen. The smaller appliance takes less energy. I can reduce the baking time by 25-50% for most things and get the same results as using a regular oven. That's the convection feature (hot air moved around the chamber by a fan). I also reduce the temperature by 25-degrees for most things, once again, that's common with any convection oven. But the unit uses a combination of microwave/convection cooking unless you choose convection only. I can bake two loaves of yeast bread (standard-size loaves) in 20-minutes and NO pre-heating necessary. I had a counter top model 15-years ago, but it didn't have the large capacity the over-the-range Sharp Convection/Microwave has. I can bake 12-muffins or a 9x13-inch cake pan in the Sharp. I can roast meat, bake a 12-inch pizza, or evenly thaw a pound of ground beef in 5-6 minutes without cooking it, bake cookies (I use 3 12-inch pizza pans at once), melt a stick of butter or make popcorn in a microwave popcorn maker. I wouldn't be without one. I haven't looked at new models (mine is 11-years old), and I'm not sure what's available these days, but if the Sharp died, I'd quickly replace it with a convection/microwave again. -Grainlady

Well, I've drawn out about a bazillion rearrangements, and out of those my husband and I selected about three of them for me to play around with a bit, to see if one shouts that this is the one to refine. I have to take breaks from this process often or I get too stressed out. Trying to keep it somewhat enjoyable. Graph paper speaks. It can make it obvious when the floorplan closes the house in too much, blocks views, etc,. Sometimes it shows that despite a room looking large, there is no good place to put couches, etc. because of walking paths to other rooms. The style house we are going to build is the old Florida "cracker style" home. It has a fairly steep pitched roof (metal), and a FULL wrap around porch. I don't want to bump out into or take away from the porch in any way. Most of the year we are able to use our porches. I've dreamed of this porch for years. It's more important to me than the sewing room, or anything else. An idea as to how we want the outside of the house to look like is to go onto the crackerstyleloghomes.com site and look at the "Fowler" That's the porch I want. I've come to the conclusion that I really don't want a loft. For one thing one never knows when they might break a leg. The other is I'm not getting any younger. After speaking with a few people that have lofts, many of them generally stop using them after awhile. Maybe it's the isolation thing. My husband and I also do not care for the extremely high vaulted ceilings that results over the unlofted area. The other issue is, lofts adds a huge, huge amount to the building costs. I'm afraid of having a half completed home if we do a loft. I know we have enough money to build a single story. I think. If we are very, very careful, and eat beans and rice. It's much cheaper to increase the base footprint, or build another structure than to build a loft and finish it off in nice wood. Some people will leave the floor joists exposed on the lower level, but I don't care for that look. I would want the ceiling portion done in tongue and groove like the walls. Heating and cooling costs also increase greatly with a lofted home, and they certainly aren't getting any cheaper!. The ceiling is so vaulted that it becomes wasted volume that is climate controlled. I think what I will end up with is a sewing room that is decent sized, but not quite as large as I would like. If I situate it properly, such as french doors that open into the great room, I can just wheel my cutting table into there to cut if I need more space. It doesn't bother my husband or I if I do that, and it can get wheeled back into the sewing room if company is expected. We really don't entertain much anyway, and if someone stops over unexpected to say hi, it doesn't bother me if they see my stuff out. I've been waiting to post a floor plan until we narrow the orientation of the rooms down to one we think will work. Then I truly want all of you to give me your thoughts on how best to refine it. I'll most liklely need help with the boxes that are storage areas and closets. Maybe with some prayer I will get to that point early this week. Moccasinlanding, I LOVE your storage ideas with stairs and such. They are excellent. I do like lofts....a lot. However, when I wrote down the pros and cons, the cons seem to be greater in number. Lofts can make less than "nice" things happen to the house, such as the high vaults. It certainly makes the house much harder to maintain, especially the outside structure being so far up in the air. (Think huge ladders). However, when it comes down to it, my main worry is running out of money mid construction. I refuse to get a mortgage or loan again. It's too nice living debt free now. My husband keeps saying how he can build me a sewing studio near the house (now to match it), for a reasonable amount of money. I've noticed that all the men I've spoken with LOVE detatched work areas. It must be a guy thing. They just don't understand my reluctance about it. The other evening we had a very violent thunderstorm. Bad lightning and rain, and we lost power for three hours. I pointed out that I couldn't see myself in a detatched studio in that kind of weather. In reality though, I wouldn't have stayed out in this imagined studio anyway. I love him dearly, but I swear the male species is from another planet. They probably think the same thing about women:) Maybe we women just feel more secure doing things within our homes, while men are genetically programmed to leave the house in order to hunt dinner for us. Sandy

I hate my cans; only use them when I'm cleaning. I work very well in my kitchen with just the under-cabinet lights and the sink pendant. The breakfast bar is fine with just pendants. The breakfast table has a chandelier with a downlight. (If I had a lower ceiling over the sink, a can would be fine there. I think the whole 'ambient lighting' thing is a nice moneymaker for electricians. It makes sense in a large space like a restaurant, but in my kitchen (16 X 24)...not so much. Would you expect the perimeter cans to light contents of your upper cabinets? (Or shine on *you*, casting a shadow?)

boxie, I love those stools. They look really comfy as well as pretty. I have seen them on a few sites, and would work well except for the fact that they are black metal, while my accents are ORB. In the end, I ordered the wood ones from overstock, since they were disappearing before my eyes this morning, and when I finally ordered my 3 pairs, there was only 1 left. Then I showed a coworker, who thinks I really should have gone with the metal. The deciding factor ended up being (of all things) that I don't know how the metal ones look from the back, I assume they are just plain metal, and the backs of the chairs are what you'll see when you enter the kitchen. I really wish I wasn't rushed into this...I'm a little nervous about the point that amck made about the potential for "missing the mark" on finish. It will probably be too $$$ to send them back if I don't like them, but there's always craigslist I guess. I also prefer the idea of the square seat as other posters mentioned and not having to change the fabric. But, like my coworker said, the metal ones would have made my gorgeous dishes pop. *sigh* I wish I was confident. All in all tho I think I did well on the price, paid about 700 after discounts for 6 stools including shipping.