Deanna, I agree.I have been a member since 2003. Sometimes active, sometimes not. There is a gold mine of information and experience here. Tammy

A2gemini~ I am loving the input so far! Let me explain why the cabinets are the way they are. I had quoted cabinets at about 13,000 online, big box stores came in higher and custom were way higher. Had a general idea about the baking center, passthrough, second oven where the fridge would go and sink/dishwasher. MIL was in Re-Store and saw cabinets and bought them on the spot. Hickory raised panel, solid wood. She wanted the island and figured she knew someone who would take the rest of the cabinets, either me or her sister who is re-doing her kitchen. Since then we have added a window, removed an exterior door across from the pantry and created what we have now based on these cabinets. I wanted painted wood cabinets and we currently have 850$ in awesome cabinets (yes that need to be painted) But I figure I can spurge on appliances at this point. The shelf to the right of the sink is to balance the visual impact of having different sized cabinets on the same wall across from each other over the sink. The desk area is a byproduct of placing what we had where we could, and I think I'm loving the idea of it. Might put my computer there, mount a monitor on the wall, hide the mouse and keyboard in the drawer. Its really growing on me. I also figure great place for working on recipes, or kids to do homework while I wash veggies. The sliding doors will be on the pantry side so there shouldn't be any loss of counter space on the kitchen side. That space will be about 44" but with the ability to turn around to the island for more space. Thanks for the input!!

Thanks so much Kevin! You're post pulled me off the ledge this morning. The granite guy came and stripped the sealer with an electric buffing tool (it had a round sponge at the end). Some spots he had to go over 2 - 3 times. And he's coming back tomorrow. There's a spot that I still think looks like a dark streak but he says that where the quartzite is showing (?). Then he tried to convince me it was a shadow. I kept asking him to go over spots and he'd say, "You're seeing something dark, where? I don't see it" and his helper would put his hand on the exact spot I was questioning. This happened like 3 times. Kind of frustrating though I'm glad he came back--I know others on this site have gotten stood up. There are two slabs. The smaller had no issues and looked great. Like I said they both got a color enhancer and 3 coats of sealer. He's due to come tomorrow and I was going to just have him put the color enhancer on the stripped counter and I'll handle the rest with Method but he told my husband that the color enhancer is what caused the problem not the sealer which is a load of ... to me. I'm going to have to bring up the dark bands again in the morning to have him rebuff those. I hate to be a broken record about it but it's nuts to me to have a problem with the counters from day 1 that I didn't even cause but paid full price for. Unfortunately, DH is too tired with the process so I'm fighting this fight alone. Many, MANY thanks for answering the call this morning!

How annoying. I also find the IPhone app useless as all it offers are pics of kitchens and bathrooms. Can't figure out how to get to GW. If they were smart, they would link GW to the bathrooms, kitchens and stone walkways leading back to GW. I think people doing remodeling have lots of questions and the Home Decorating, Kitchens, Bathrooms Forums on GW, would enable people the ability to post questions to regular folks for advice. Their APP makes it impossible to read any posts on my phone. It pops up and blocks the screen. I fear GW is on its way out. Jane