This is Mr. kris_ma. She asked me to step in to answer some questions: eastbaymom: The vent hood is from Bosch. I think Kris got it on Overstock. The "micro-drawer" is a Microwave Drawer from Sharp that is in our Island. We really like having a microwave that isn't above the stove or taking counter space. The NeverMT is a kit that allows us to hook up the sink soap dispensers to large jugs of soap so that we don't have to refill them. And the hidden storage is an assignment that *I* got based on an idea that Kris picked up off this board (which is why she isn't allowed to frequent here any more :). The 3" trim board between the fridge and the over-fridge cabinet is installed on a piano hinge, so that it swings backwards to store large flat trays, placemats, etc. on top of the fridge without them being seen. sandbox5: Here's the story of the wired sound: Kris found some Cambridge Soundworks Ambience 80 speakers, which install in the ceiling. We ordered four of them (2 in the kitchen and 2 in the living room) and got permission from our contractor to run some speaker wire while the ceiling was torn off, and I ran wiring from where we wanted to speakers installed over to the location of our pantry, where we planned to install the sound equipment. We also had the electrician install an electrical outlet inside the cabinet. After the kitchen was finished, we cut holes in the ceiling to install and wire up the speakers. Inside the pantry, we ran the other end of the speaker wires into an electrical box with speaker terminals. For sound equipment, we got an Airport Express, which has a mode that allows it to stream music from iTunes. The hardest part was finding an amplifier that would fit inside the pantry and not generate too much heat. We ended up buying two small PylePCA3 amplitiers - one each for the kitchen and living room speakers. We put these in the pantry, along with the Airport Express and connected the audio out jack on the airport into the amplifiers (we had to use an RCA jack splitter to connect to both amps). We keep the amplifiers on, and can stream music from our laptops anywhere in the house. We also use a third party software program called Airfoil (for Macs only) that allows us to stream music from *any* application, not just iTunes. I hope that helps.

Looks real good, CATH. As I remember, you seal the rocks w/something to make them shiny. Are you gonna do the counter top? Many years ago in So. CA, I saw a guy who mosaiced his whole kitchen counter and backsplash in rocks. I loved it so much I always wanted to do that, but never got to, and now it's too late. You're lucky that you get these rocks free.

thanks for reminding me about a remnant of St Cecilia--that does look like the granite and guess we can check with sellers to find out... I guess it depends on how the cabinets are set up for --I would really like to have porcelain instead of stainless--but that is heavier...and I don't want to start cutting doors and matching stain--- and thanks for the compliment about the house... the way the market is acting to day I think we are nuts to be buying this house now--the seller did not even want to come off his price much when even here in TX it is soft--if not as bad as other locations...plenty of houses are sitting on the market due to people worrying about the economy or just tight credit right now ... we are in position to pay cash... my husband is just really tired of looking--we have tried to build twice and could not work out the right design for the lot or get the builder to commit to a price-- we one house under contract more than a year ago that really fit what we wanted but was older than this one--and location was further out...then seller wanted to take home off market because they son became ill...so we said ok... we offered on couple of others but would not get into a bidding war over them when the market was hotter... frankly I think this guy should be grateful he is selling his house two weeks after putting it on the market-- the appraisal came in at much lower number--but sellers are going through divorce--he has to pay realtor's fee too and is just not dropping his price to appraiser's market comp estimate...but some aspects of appraisal don't take into account value that is in the house--like the fact it has a piered beam foundation vs a post tension slab...there are other custom homes in neighborhood larger than this but they have not come on the market for their value to hit MLS...and like I said the lot is a nice one...we can get a pool in and still have room left over... Originally I wanted house with 2 LA down but we are just not finding them in the price range and age of home we are looking at in this area--and I don't want a house that is like 4600+ sq ft-- it is must the two of us...so even this house is really bigger than we will use most of the time... so in some ways this house is compromise--but it is very attractive and has a lot with privacy which is something you almost can't find around here--at least in town...

I've never seen a DW under the sink. Where do the pipes go? I really like the idea of putting it to the left though, it would be less noticeable there. I wouldn't get a panel (not with my lower-end cabs) anyway. My DH said, "Why do you want to hide the fact that we own a dishwasher, is it embarrassing?" One of those things, where, If you don't get it, you don't get it! I am unsure about the vintage sink. I've been looking for one for ages but they all need reglazing. The salvage store sells them reglazed, but I've heard it doesn't hold up. Also, I measured, like Francy suggested, and realized that if all three walls are "fitted" the sink area will be less than 55" and I like counterspace next to the sink. I am not opposed to the undermount sinks (That have no lip?, am I using the right term?) I think they may make clean-up easier? I have seen some pics on here: wilsonb, klb 2000, and vjrnts - they have great vintage-style kitchens with undermounts and soapstone counters. I'll have many questions to ask about maintenance - I probably should start another thread for that. I want to thank all of you for giving me so much attention - I'm not used to it :) Most people I know have new houses. Even those I know in my part of town (the historic part) have brand-new kitchens. Dh is only interested in cost and maintainability. It's great to find people who speak your language!