Glycera, I am very familiar with your kitchen: I love how well thought out it is and the advantium mounting is just one of those many details that had me slapping my head in wonder! Thanks very much for reminding me about it. What I recall (or think I recall!), however, is an OTR advantium mounted inside a cabinet but then vented seperately (out the wall). If this were doable, then I could use another type (less expensive) OTR microwave to fill the hole my advantium left.

Yes, Gentle Cream is significantly lighter than MT. I have been looking at pictures of really bright/sunny rooms that are painted a very light color and I'm liking that look. Very calm and soothing. Many of the other rooms near this room have color - green in kitchen, red in living room, gold in dining room. So, I wanted to go with something more neutral in this room. Trim will be painted BM Vanilla Ice Cream (a creamy white). Not too much contrast against the walls, but that is also what I am going for. Thanks, sayde. I did look at Stone House. I had helped a friend pick that color. It looks great in her house. Not so great in my house. And, I've been through many, many other BM colors. Eliminated them all for one reason or another -- too pink, too green, too yellow, too something. I don't have the luxury of saying it's just paint and I can redo it if I don't like it. This room is very large with catherdral ceilings and I cannot paint it myself. So, this is my one shot to get the color right, and it's very difficult.

Ours will end up looking similar to circuspeanut's. We have 93" ceilings so we made the cabinets to fit. As it turns out, I only have one cabinet that is hung at a standard distance from the countertop and there is a 7" "filler" that takes it to the ceiling. That area will be covered by a 1x6 oak board (actually 3/4 x 5 1/2) that has a routed grove a bit up from the bottom. Then it will have a small cove at the top so it won't stick out very far over the top of the cabinets. It is not going to be the same as what we have on the back wall, but not too different in style. Our back wall is built in, and this cove matches what we used on our door/window caps. This is made from a 1x6. Cut 1" off the bottom and turned it and glued it back on (board is actually 3/4" wide so this gave a 1/4" lip sticking out). Then we glued a fancy shoe molding at the top end. Our home is an old farmhouse - one that never had fancy woodwork in it so this keeps very much with the style of the home. Here is a shot of the uppers - the "filler" was built as part of the uppers and its main purpose is to provide support for the crown that will be attached on top. About 2" of face frame will show below the crown. These are old cabinets (36" tall) that are hung at 18" above the counter top - showing there isn't much room above them. This was taken during the floor tiling (last November). The old stove was moved and plugged in to the outlet for the future wall oven so we didn't have to go without a stove during that time. Cathy

I'm new to this forum and love hearing about taking chances on color. As you said, you can always paint it after a few years if you don't like it. I've been leaning towards navy blue or teal green for our island. We're also incorporating a banquette into it. As it faces the family room, I'll be using the colors throughout our family room and kitchen so it will blend easily. I love the idea of plum with green and other fall colors -apricot, buttery yellow, deep red. It would look great together although I'd tend to do more neutral sofas, chairs and other pieces, bringing the color in through throw pillows, art work, your kitchen decor- using lit cabinets on top with the same punch of color showing. As for countertops, I think the wood that I've seen on here looks great with the plum and then you can use whatever you like on the surrounding cabinets. Personally, I'd stay away from the brass hardware and go with bronze. Brass is already "dated" according to the professional guidelines I've seen although, it's still a matter of preference. If you like it, use it. There's also black hardware depending on your other colors. I'm thinking that I wouldn't want to distract from the plum with any shiny hardware that would stand out too much. Have fun with it! Rules are meant to be broken when it comes to color otherwise, we'd be living with the basics only.