vermonter 2009- In our last house we used Boos maple counters, they were well made and Boos was great to work with, good customer service, product arrived on time and in the correct configuration. Their work is good, but quite utilitarin (no fancy style edges, no exotic woods, etc.). I have heard that Brooks makes nice stuff, and is more of a custom shop, but while I have seen their stuff in a showroom, I have no direct experience with their products. We have an American cherry butcher block that is over 25 years old, and well used (we cut on it daily), the color is still vibrant and the unit looks great (it's a Pompanoosic Mills product). Nice choice. Good luck- sandyponder (ex Vermonter)

We just moved into our new kitchen and our island includes a prep sink and a Craft-Art iroko countertop. Our new dishwasher vents steam at the end of each cycle, but that is under a granite countertop. I can't offer you an opinion informed by experience with this countertop, but I do think that steam venting under the overhang of a wood counter on a daily basis could be a problem. We previously had Fisher Paykel dish drawers under a laminate counter. Some steam is released when the lids on the dishdrawers rise at the end of a cycle, and this resulted in damage to the underside of the overhang. If you can't move the sink and dishwasher to an area with a granite countertop, maybe you could use granite on the part of the island around the sink and above the dishwasher and walnut on the remainder. On the other hand, maybe someone who has had more experience than I with wood counters will chime in and tell you there is nothing to worry about. Good luck with your project! Sarah

I went looking for images of those elements. Ribbed glass panels in cabinet doors is easy enough. Here's one in a bathroom vanity: Ribbed glass (or ''seeded'' glass) is also often found in period light fixtures: As for marquetry countertops, if you asked most kitchen cabinet makers for such, I imagine they would gape blankly at the gabbling woman. But there are plenty of companies doing stock and custom hardwood marquetry inlays using CNC laser cutters. Here's the thing - they are doing it in floors. Google ''hardwood floor inlay'' and see. Yes, many of the rosettes are infeasible for a 26'' counter, but look for the ''border'' designs - or create your own. Assemble a 26'' wide section of inlaid ''floor'' on a 3/4'' plywood substrate, encase it in Waterlox, and I do believe you'd have yourself a marquetry countertop. Another option - perhaps cheaper - is stenciling on hardwood, of which this is an example. And so is this What else? Beveled glass is readily available, as is chrome countertop edging, and any furniture or auto upholstery shop can cover a panel of 1/8'' plywood in soft butterscotch leather framed in silver studs (maybe not actual silver, but close enough). I don't know exactly what version of Art Deco you are headed for, or if you even like butterscotch, but the point is, you are not doing yet another white kitchen, you're doing something that isn't being done by the mainstream, so the ordinary kitchen sources are not making this stuff. Sure, there is cool Art Deco hardware around, but what passes for ''Art Deco'' kitchen cabinetry in the online catalogs is . . . disappointing. You are going to have to make it, or at least source it, yourself - and I think if you're comfortable outside the painted lines, you can. You'll find yourself hiring a floor guy to work on a countertop, hunting down the local hot rod upholstery shops, telling your cabinet maker to fit bathroom vanity faces to kitchen cabinet boxes - they'll still look at you like you're crazy, but you'll know you're not. Go for it, girl!

If you do any landscaping around the foundation of your house, I think stained/leaded glass would end up being pointless because shrubs, etc will hide them. Could you let us know more about your landscaping plans?