Strawberries will root pretty well within a month, with some water. The Ferns, I recommend, at least for Z5, will have strawberries on the way by the end of 2 months. Other varieties either do not produce enough berries, or are small, etc. I got my Ferns from Sakuma (sp?) Brothers, others may have them. Your call. Good luck. Always an...Angel

Some older folks I know had their tile floor replaced with wood as they felt that the tile floor was too hard and cold.

Hi kntryhuman, How fun it must be to start from scratch :-). We have been working on a minor kitchen remodel the past month and have some ideas for you (sorry for the long post). A couple of ideas to consider instead of an island: 1) Create an "L" peninsula, extending out from the window on the short wall towards the dining room area. Place the stove in the peninsula (you would be looking into the family room while cooking). This shape creates a bit of separation between the kitchen and family room and makes it easier to move between the dining room table and the sink and stove. 2) Create a "U" peninsula with the window on the short wall at the center of the "U" and the stove on the right (you would be looking at the dining room table while cooking). This shape separates the kitchen from the dining room a bit and makes the countertop space behind the stove usable while cooking. With our new cabinets, We will be "connecting" our island to the countertop space nearby, effectively creating a "U." We find this gives us more usable countertop and lower cabinet space. In either scenario above, you could create an overhang on the peninsula (more countertop space) and place some stools on the other side. A peninsula also provides more walkway space to get through the kitchen to the laundry room. We think 30" is too narrow. We did some space tests recently between our currently movable island (this will be our new peninsula) and our refrigerator which we moved across from the end of the island. We found that 48" is comfortable to get through with a laundry basket, or for one person to be in the refrigerator and another to walk by. Even 42" was too narrow. (Maybe take a laundry basket out and do a walk through!) For the refrigerator, you could move it to the spot currently marked as "appliance pantry." The door would face towards the family room and swing to the left, opening towards the sink. You would build a 36" wall behind the refrigerator and put the freezer and appliance pantry behind this wall. This would make the refrigerator closer to the work space and dining room table. It would also provide 3" or so of extra space in the area behind the refrigerator wall. This is because refrigerators are not as deep as they are wide (and inches count!). In addition, if the "U" peninsula is used, items from the refrigerator can be placed on the peninsula countertop which would be across from it. How about a corner sink in the corner where the window is on the short wall? In addition to being closer to the stove, it would be an efficient use of space, providing more countertop and bottom cabinet space to the left of the corner sink. Perhaps then you wouldn't need the appliance pantry :-). One more quick thought - if going with the "L" shape, you could place some storage cabinets for the family room on the other side of the peninsula, for games or other stuff. Have fun and good luck!

What idiot cabinet seller put the sink so close to the range rather than in the island? Or, the range so close to the sink? You need to stop, and post an actual measured floor plan to the Kitchen Forum. Nothing is in the right spot. I see a lot of money being spent on too many expensive decorative details, and a virtual appliance showroom, and not nearly enough attention paid to how this space will actually work. It's dysfunctional.