Thanks everyone for your input. Ineffable, I think the other thing about Daltile is it isn't in a lot of showrooms (at least not around here). Not enough margin I suppose. The brand that had a color I liked, Pratt and Larson, does in fact have trim pieces. Scalpmetto, thanks for the grout tip. Thanks, LiveWireOak, but given the distance we are using a GC and will defer to his tile person. Eandhl, No, because I have it here in Connecticut. I was sure I wanted zinc, but it has a blue cast and is kind of cold. So I got pewter. I am very happy with it but I don't want to repeat it in my summer home, especially not for $400 sq foot. Vedazu, I will look at Sonoma too. All kidding aside, if i do wetbed (yours looks great), will I ruin the cabs if I want to take it out?

Our raised bar on the peninsula will be 18" wide. About 5" of it will rest on the supporting wall; about 1" will overhang on the counter side; and about 12" will overhang on the other side where bar stools will be placed. It will be granite and therefore pretty heavy - its 7' long. We didn't want corbels to interfere with seating, so our granite fabricator is routing the underside of the granite and installing 1/4" steel plates under the bar (every 18" or so) as supports. The routing allows the steel plates to be flush with the underside of the bar. They will be visible only if one bends over and looks up underneath the bar. They charged nothing extra for doing this.

nellie820 Thanks! I am still working on my kitchen so I haven't posted yet. We still need to paint (any suggestions on colors is very welcome--I have 10 different swatches hanging in my kitchen right now!), change outlets (they are almond now so need to change to white), counter stools, accessories, new kitchen table and chairs and a banquette. I have posted a few pics lately asking for help with paint... but I still have a few months left before I post the finished project. If there area any other areas or angles you want to see just let me know:o). honey333-- I measured from the cabinet bases. From the cab base to the end of the drawer is just shy of 7/8". From the end of the cab base to the end of the drawer pull is: 1 5/8". It really doesn't seem like it is too much of an overhang I think because of the cab pulls. The only thing I may have done differently--but I am really nitpicking here--is on the island. On the cab side as I told you the overhang is 2". On the counter stool side, there is only a 1 1/4" overhang from the end of the apron. I don't notice it at all when in the kitchen but when I look at pics I notice the difference. I might have done a 2" OH on the counter stool side too just for symmetry sake (now my geeky science and math side is coming out:o)). Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

I am new to this forum. We're in the final stages of building a new house (only wish I knew about you guys sooner!) and I love seeing all of your awesome work! We put in espresso stained rift oak slab front cabinets (not too far off of celticmoon's awesome refinishing of her 20 year old oak cabinets!). Our paint we chose is BM Timothy Straw (2149-40) which is a goldish-lime green color. It is bright, but not too bright for our taste. I think we'll love it in our Seattle November weather! We also chose it (over 15 other test paints ranging from tan to gold to sage and even some blues) because it goes really well with the yellow-orange tones of the VG fir woodwork and Red Birch floors in the attached great room. I am SO happy every time I see it!!! Our backsplash will be a blend of 2x12 glass sticks, laid horizontally in a random brick/stick pattern, from Statements Flow Glass line (link below). It's mostly a blend of Glacier, Pepper and Ivory with 5% Mint and Chocolate added for little pops of color. Countertops are my next decision...I know I want light, but am not sure if I'll go for natural stone or quartz yet. I lost my camera battery charger this weekend, but will take some pics of the house once I have my new one and am charged up! :) Deb in Seattle Here is a link that might be useful: Statements Flow Glass line