I'm wondering why your concern about a modem. Your friend can use a modem to send and receive faxes and she can use it to connect to the internet for dialup access (and there other purposes). However, she doesn't need a modem if she plans to have highspeed internet connection like cable or DSL. She'll use the network card for those.

Now, I can't seem to download "1st Transfer" from www.evrsoft.com/1stpage/modules whats up with this, anyone know?? maybe I should un-install both of these programs & pay for a REAL one. Any advise?, again..., Billy Mummy:-lost-in-space.(warning-warning,Joanne, you are being too cheap!) Joanne

Re: an adobe MCM, I've seen some modern homes with the large expanses of glass that an MCM would have. But I'm sure the cooling bills are astronomical. The thick adobe with smaller windows makes much more sense for passive heating and cooling. And then in good weather, live outside. Heck, I just want a home to have character. MCM, adobe, storybook: it's all good. But I find a lot of the newer construction in NM -- other than upper-bracket architect-designed homes -- is really just the same tract home from Kansas or Alabama with a few southwestern-y touches cobbled on. I do NOT want one of those. I think that's why this older adobe speaks to me.

Rosie, I think you have graduated from KD 101; now it's time to take it to the next level by being willing to abandon the strictly balanced symmetry of your layout in order to max the out the functional benefits of your space. (Don't worry about the visual "cost" of losing the balance, getting that right in the end is the final step and it can be done in other ways than a book-matched design.) Anyhoo, the idea of having different-sized counter runs (and cabs) on either side of the sink and range is the next stage. Off the top of my head I usually would say give more space between the fridge and range (for the main Prep Zone in a plan like yours)than between the range and wall, except that if you do a lot of grain milling then you may need to give more space to the baking side to accomodate the grain mill and other major baking appliances. However, you did say you grow vegetables so perhaps you also can. That would mean that the "prep" side would get an enormous work out assembling and filling the jars before moving them on to the canner. (Cold pack stuff would come from the sink/island prep zone; hot pack stuff would come from range to can-filling area and then back to the range for processing.) Then you need to think of where to put the hot jars after processing and that cannot be on a stone counter, only wood or formica works there because of the risk of thermal shock. I don't know about you but I rarely do just one processing at a time so I accumulate a lot of filled and cooling jars before I'm done canning for the day. And I want to have them wind up in place where they can sit and cool down without being in my way during the clean up and rest of the day's kitchen work. But maybe you freeze instead, which would move the packing more to the island after prepping in the Prep Zone/blanching/shocking/spinning dry to the packaging steps, which might happen on the island? Do you use a FoodSaver - where would it live? Just think through how you do this..... The excellent suggestions of other posters should lead you to play around with the layout along the counters to find the most useful spacing for your personal counter top usage. Right now you have 54" on the left of the range and 60" on the right. Is that the best config? I'd try a lot of variations for regular meal prep, dedicated baking and food preservation pprojects. Don't worry, for now, about the cab sizes, just think about the work surface patterns. Since you do more home food preservation than many typical kitchen users, you have to think those additional processes through with the space needed kept in mind. For instance, I sometimes use a DW as a holding area for clean and hot jars if I am doing a hot pack, so I would want to think about its placement not only for day to day convenience, but also for how efficient it woud be for snagging jars amidst the hustle of getting a whole batch of jars filled and into the canner. This is just an example of the extra considerations needed in a preservation kitch. One suggestion I would make is to consider having an extra-deep counter, 30" would be great, but even 27" is an improvement over the standard one. This would allow your fridge to assume an even more "built-in" appearance, but most importantly, those extra inches allow appliances to stay on counters and not compromise the functionality as much. If you any extra inches to spare in your design I'd "spend" them on a deeper range wall countertop rather than in extra aisle width or island space. I hope you won't feel bummed, or discouraged, by our additional suggestions. Extra time spent now working out the variations will pay off in the long run. I made drawing after drawing and then drew lines to track how I move through my most common meal preps and preservation projects. I took pics and even made drawings of my counters during canning, freezing, dehydrating and baking projects so I could see what I actually had out, and how I had it arranged, while actually doing the tasks. This was enormously helpful to me. You have obviously put considerable thought into your current plan and drawing. And you're more than ready to take on the next level of analysis. Welcome to grad school! HTH, L