quickrick - Hope you're still out there and can give me a tip. I too have the same mower you have, but I bought it in 1990/1991 from a lawnmower shop that catered to professional landscaping and mowing crews. So the model I bought came with a 5 (or 6?) HP Wisconsin Robin engine. I never even heard of that engine company before but the salesperson told me it was a "commercial grade" engine and I would be happy with it. Fast-forward 25 years now and I have still have the mower, virtually original condition (although much dirtier than your beautiful re-build). Here's my question: I disassembled the horizontal circular drive plate (since it had been ground down and gouged by the vertical metal drive wheel when the rubber donut ring wore down one time and I didn't notice it). Since I have the circular drive plate out, I figured I might as well replace the drive belt from the engine shaft. I have personally never replaced that belt, but I'm guessing that a tech must have when the mower was in at least twice for "beginning-of-season" maintenance over the last 25 years. Here's where I'm stuck - I've gotten the blade off and removed the 3 nuts on the blade clutch cover but I can't seem to get the cover off because of the blade clutch lever that sticks through the side of the cover. Does the blade clutch lever just pull out so that the cover can be pulled off? What's the disassembly trick? Thanks, PF

I had a similar dilemma with my kitchen. Most advised that I go with a large island, I wanted a peninsula with no island or with a small island. While I incorporated much of the advice I received, I opted to go with the peninsula for a couple of key reasons. Given the points your laid out in your intro, these reasons might be helpful to you in your deliberations: - it defined the space between my DR and kitchen. This was difficult for me to explain to people online, but I wanted that definition and I felt the lay out of my house cried out for it. It was difficult to appreciate without actually being in the space. - with a large island in my kitchen my messy clean up run would be visible from the LR. Although my kitchen/DR/LR are semi-open concept, I wanted the best of both worlds by concealing at least part of my kitchen from both the DR table and the LR. Peninsulas have fallen somewhat out of favour I think because many peninsulas in mid century and '80s homes block access to the kitchen, forcing people into a narrow passage to enter the kitchen. I allowed for a wide passage into my kitchen past the peninsula, and the lay out of my house is such that people would have rarely entered the kitchen from the area where the peninsula is regardless. You might want to consider this issue as well. How wide is the aisle at the end of your peninsula in layout 2? I agree that large islands are "in" right now and that may be why many people default to the island option. As for the usefulness of a small island, my temporary island is 48" x 38", it is just about perfect as an unloading zone for my pantry and fridge and for prep across from my hob. My permanent island will probably be about 50" x 36". It is small enough not to be a barrier. Good luck.

OK - I may have gotten a little carried away...but here's a layout with what appear to be all your wants. I don't see a pantry, so I added cabinets behind the island as well as b/w the DR and TV room for extra storage. You actually have plenty of storage in this kitchen! The base cabinets on the top wall are 27"D (but could be as deep as 28.5"), the upper cabs on the top wall are 15"D. There are two excellent Prep Zones, although I would prefer to prep on the island facing everyone! (Prepping is 70% or more of the work/time in the kitchen; cleaning up is 20% or less.) The Cleanup Zone is out of the way of the Prep and Cooking Zones and there's no crossing through the Cleanup Zone to get to the Refrigerator or MW. With an undercounter MW like a MW drawer, you don't lose counterspace or have anything in the vertical space b/w the counters and cabinets. There's a nice stretch of counter to the left of the ovens,for a snack center or even a tea/coffee center (43" of counterspace). The ovens are in a 31.5" wide cabinet - the reasonable minimum needed for 30" wide ovens (which I assume the wall oven is at least - I don't know how wide your steam oven will be). There's a 42" wide counter-depth refrigerator - hopefully that will allay your DH's concern about a counter-depth model... In the DR, the table can be moved a bit to the left, especially if you don't put an outside door in the DR. Moving the table to the left will give you a few more inches b/w the shallow cabinets and the table. Note that the cabinets b/w the DR and TV Room are 6" taller than standard - that means the counter will be 42" high (bar-height). The cabinets + counters not only give you more storage space, but they also provide you with a separation b/w the DR and the TV Room as well as provide counter space in both places. The cabinets are 12" deep, but the counter is 15" deep. The TV Room has a sofa and chair - the chair can be moved to view the TV or stay where it is for conversation and visiting. (I even added end tables :-)) A note about the doors - I don't understand why you don't like the "line of sight" from the front door to the back door. The problem is, that middle section is the ideal spot for the back door - no obstructions, easy access to the kitchen, and out of the way of all work zones and seating areas. It keeps the traffic out of everyone's way - it's the perfect location! Put up some nice window/door dressings and you'll have a pleasant view for anyone entering your home from the front door. I wouldn't want the door to be in the kitchen (in the 8' span) b/c it would draw everyone through the kitchen to get to the backyard - the last thing you want in a kitchen! The island will help direct people around, but inevitably, some people will choose to go through the kitchen (b/w the island and perimeter) and get in your way - especially if someone is sitting at the island. If you absolutely must have the door there, then I suggest a sliding door with the opening as far away from the kitchen as possible - so that would mean the bottom of the 8' span. The rest can be windows. It's still going to be an issue, though... Here's the layout (select/click on a picture to see a bigger version): I labeled the cabinets and counters with suggestions for storage and usage - but you should tailor it to what would work for you... Here's a zone map:

The forecasts behind the graphics haven't changed so I'm not even going to comment on the accuracy or otherwise. I'll just suggest that the aim of any improvements like this should be to offer more clear and more detailed information. I feel that the new graphics offer this potential but have been made more cluttered instead of more clear so that we can have moving raindrops and 3-D representations. We get ludicrous situations such as peering through a haze of raindrops falling on London to try and see whether the sun is supposed to be shining in Yorkshire. And I suspect there is some subtle distinction between different kinds of raindrops indicating steady rain or passing showers, and if not there should be. What's the point showing an precise blob of raindrops sitting exactly on Manchester if all it means is there is a 10% chance of a shower today? Seems to me like the whole thing is another dumbing down of a type that the BBC is getting better at all the time. Maybe we could have a "real" weather forecast on BBC2 ;)