Ohmygoodness, I haven't looked at this post in awhile -it just came up when I was searching for another, and so I saw these new posts. So sorry! starpooh -thank you so much for asking! I'm flattered! I am just leaving to go to a swim meet, but will take care of this next week if that's okay. Rosie -you're so sweet! The pulls are from IKEA and Lowe's -they are an exact match to each other! The longest are from IKEA. On the coffee bar counter: the long drawers are 34 inches across. Top one is 6" deep and bottom is 10.5" deep (measured inside). The narrower drawers are 16 inches across. Bottom one is 10.5" deep and one above it is 6" deep. The bottom one holds all my pitchers upright, which I love! All of these drawers replaced cabinet doors. The bank of drawers beneath the cooktop: the top drawers replaced fake drawer-fronts, and are each 16" across the drawer face, 13" inside crosswise measurement, and 6" deep. I use them for pot and pan lids. Ideally they would have been another inch wider. The middle drawer is 34" across the drawer face, 31.5" inside crosswise measurement, and 6" deep. The bottom drawer is the same crosswise measurements, but is 10.5" tall and was sized specifically to store my tallest stockpot. Hope this is helpful -thank you again for your sweet comments! If I missed anything, or it is confusing, just bring on the questions... Lynn

Danielle, Horrible of me to stick my nose in and not have anything constructive to offer but natural stone just isn't my thing (my dream kitchen would probably have richlite, bamboo or even an acrylic solid surface) I just wanted to stick up for the slate because I think it is really lovely and a little bit more off the beaten track (particularly combined with the QS oak). You picked the slate milk paint and the QS oak so I doubt I could come with anything better. I just tend to think as another poster pointed out that the chance of finding another great slab that will work with your initial choices isn't so remote.

Did people tell you not to lock into a color because it would be harder for you to decorate around it, or because it would hurt resale value? If the latter, are you planning to sell soon? I intended to use neutral granite, but ended up with green (not CA, but a greyish-green) to go with my cherry cabinets. It passed my Sweeby Test. There are lots of pictures of TB and CA around, so I think you should apply your own Sweeby Test to the slabs you like. Usually you see TB with wood cabs, but there are lots of different TB's. Here's a true story about choosing colors that you like. In the mid-80's, I redecorated my townhouse. I put rosy pink carpet in the LR and DR (it was the 80's, and I was single). People said I should only use beige for resale, but my decorator said the pink was much better. About 3 years later, I sold the townhouse within the first week, and the woman who bought it said it was because she loved the color of the carpet.

I have costa esmeralda counters too, with natural cherry cabinets. The soft green looks gorgeous with the reddish tone of the cabinets, so I think it would also look great with saltillo tiles. Ours was sealed like granite when we redid our kitchen six years ago. I haven't resealed it since but will this year. When I was looking at slabs there were fairly big differences between slabs. I wound up with slabs that had a bit more white then I had originally thought I wanted - but I love love love them now. We have a lot of trees outside and I also feel they bring the outdoors in.