If it were me, and I will be 68 on the 14th, I would either keep that cooktop or buy a new induction cooktop. We have a speed oven that is at eye level and I sure don't miss bending down to put things in the old oven we had that was part of a range. We did buy a 30" below the counter Elux Icon oven/convection oven The big viewing window in it and the fully gliding out shelves make it easy to use even thou it is below the counter but were we doing the kitchen now, I would probably find a wall space for it-----just in case "Giezerhood is not good to us!!! At any rate , if you must have a range, I would certainly go with an induction range, there is no way the wife or I would go back to a conventional electric cooktop or range, and for the reasons you mentioned, Ease of cleaning, the controllabilty of the cooking---not to mention the speed or the energy savings over a conventional electric cooktop. Good luck with your pending purchases!! Gary

LOL we should definitely start a granite support group :) I also really wish there was a National Granite Database. In my perfect fantasy world, this database would have pictures of all the slabs of granite currently in the US, their locations and dimensions. You would be able to do a search for slabs by color or by name (oh and by the way it would automatically include all the slabs that go by different names) and put in your zip code to find slabs within a radius. I know you really have to see them in person, but it would sure be a start to help figure out what there is out there and where it is, without having to drive around for hours. Anyway, back to the real world ... THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your opinions and advice!! I really appreciate it! As of today I will say that I am leaning towards the Colonial Dream ... but I reserve the right to change my mind again tomorrow :p The main reason is that I think saskatchewan_girl was right about that it would leave more options open for the backsplash (we are planning to do some kind of tile) and also for the floor. We really want wood floors and are having a hard enough time picking a floor that will go nicely with our cabinets. I'm a little worried that with the Yellow River our floor options will be more limited and even more difficult. I know that the Colonial Dream is not really WOW and might even be boring. But I'm hopeful that maybe it will look quietly sophisticated??? (or am I stretching? :o) ...) I think that the reason I'm struggling here is that as a slab I think the Yellow River is definitely more beautiful and interesting than the Colonial Dream. I'm just not sure that it will translate to a more beautiful counter in my little island-less kitchen with its tiny runs, and so just like sheilaaus122, I'm not sure if it should "live in my house". mustbenuts, I looked at your slab of Yellow River (which is absolutely stunning by the way and actually much nicer than any I have seen around here) and also at glad's kitchen. I think it looks beautiful in glad's kitchen and also with mustbenuts' door, but then you both have white cabinets, so I wonder if YR would look as good with my dark cabs? I'm worried it would perhaps look a little muddy and maybe the overall effect would be too dark. It's hard to tell how much light there will be in my new kitchen as the current kitchen has such poor lighting. We have a fairly big north-facing window, and will be increasing the size of the pass-through in the south side and adding much more lighting - recessed, undercabinet and pendant. Still, our current kitchen is all creamish so I know the dark cabinets and wood floors will make it feel a lot darker. I was hoping to find a granite with a streak of chocolate brown the same color as the cabinets, but we haven't been able to find any like that. Maybe we should keep looking, but then I'm also nervous that if we let the CD go, then don't find anything better and return to find the CD sold out. (A couple of weeks ago there were 8 slabs, now there are only 3 left, one of which is not as nice. Haven't seen it anywhere else.) I'm not as worried about missing out the YR, as there seems to be more of it available. mlraff53, thanks for putting the cherry on my vanilla sundae :) - potentially being able to fit it all on one slab definitely is a big upside to the CD. Thanks again for all your comments! Any other comments are still very welcome as I am not yet committed ...

I definitely would not use halogen bulbs especially in the kitchen . Be sure what ever you do get can use other types of bulbs and its much easier and cheaper to get one that uses a normal E26 medium base bulb . We have all led E26 regular base bulbs in the kitchen . Halogen put out way too much heat .

How tall are your ceilings? With all the canned lights why not go with something that hangs down a bit more,and something with more width? I would even go with a fan and fixture..I have a converted chandler in mine and do not find it difficult to keep clean. Yours will be far enough from the stove it won't be any more of an issue than anything else in that room.