Hello Kevin, thank you so much for everything you write here, it has certainly helped me to be a more informed consumer. I actually am pretty sure that the seam won't work over the sink. You're right about the placement, but the large piece on the right of the drawing doesn't fit on a slab with either of the other two pieces and the "L"'s on the other two pieces can't be pushed out to make more room for length on the slab. I sat there with him as we tried to configure it another way. As far as I can tell, the only way to get the seam off the DW is to add another seam somewhere. He is willing to do that, but doesn't think it is our best option. I spent quite a bit of time interviewing other granite fabricators and came away with a great deal of respect for this fabricator. It's possible that I trust him too much, but all I have is zero experience and a forum that says that we shouldn't go that way, he has years of experience telling him which is the right approach.

WHOA, igloo, what progress and what beauty!! So sorry to have missed all of this - haven't been on in ages as it's summer travel time here. When we're home, I'm up early (4:30) and out to the river to row, then it's home for laundry and repacking to head out on some trip again. As always, I'm thrilled to hear that you are doing better and that things in the house are moving along. Keep up the rehab - I spent 6 mos, 3x week last year in PT for my knees and now I'm better than I've ever been :-) I firmly believe that "babysitting" job sites is the ONLY way to go - after all of our builds and remodels, I am certain the best progress happens when they know I'm going to be "visiting" them a few times a day. I'm sure that with a wink and a smile from you, things are just clipping along! As everyone has stated, the rug is fab and the granite is gorgeous - for some reason, I just keep looking at the edges...I love it when the "pattern" of the stone gives such a beautiful edge-face to the counters. You've got me very intrigued w/ the mstr bath and closet - that is what's left in our abode to "update" and I'm holding off until I can do it right. I'm going to be following yours closely! I second the suggestions that you CRATE Killer. Our little boy is now 8 mos and over 80lbs and he LOVES his crate - potty training was a snap (at all costs, they will avoid messing their den) and when he was younger and I needed "me" time, it was the safest place for him to hang out. Even now, he hears my keys jingle and comes barreling in with a "mom, can I come too?"-look and if I shake my head, he just turns and happily heads into his crate. Any updates on the possible moving? Did the DUH-Lute house ever get on the market (at a *realistic* price)? Sending you many good thoughts and continued prayers... - Kristin

I wish I knew how to post photos! I too wanted a desk area in my small kitchen (@ 12 x 18 ft) We designed our small kitchen like a ship - every inch is usable. My desk is an L shape - the short part of the L is @ 42", the long edge is 60". The desk height is 30" and has a normal chair. On the outer side of the small part of the L, we have an 18" wide set of 3 drawers on the lower part - two regular drawers and the bottom drawer is a file drawer. This short L part is a standard 24" deep as it is the wall that continues from the other cabinets (it is next to built in ovens/cabinets to the ceiling though, so the lower desk height is not next to the other counters which are 35.5" high). Over this short L part of the desk, are bookshelves to the ceiling. On the part of the desk over the drawers sits my printer. The rest of the lower area (an L shape @ (42 - 18) = 24 x the 60" long L part is open. I tuck a small recycling bin for paper near the wall, hidden by the drawers, and there are plugs, etc. for the computer. The long L is only 20" deep (this wall continues on to be a 20" deep window seat that have deep drawers that can be opened without disturbing the cushions). We have the necessary cords come up through a grommet. There are additional plugs above the desk level for the phone and to recharge things. The wall above has Italian pottery plates as art. Thus, when sitting at the desk, the drawers and bookshelves are to my left. To my right is a 7' window seat and tall windows. Thus, the entire 12 ft wall at this end of the kitchen consists of the 5' (long L) portion of the desk and a 7' window seat with storage underneath (the window seat is also an L actually - it mirrors the dimensions of the short L of the desk, so it is all symmetrical. Thus at this end of the kitchen I have more than 200 linear feet of bookshelves for my cookbook collection/accessories. A desk surface that has 78 linear feet (42 + (60-24 depth)), and a window seat that includes five - 18" deep x 18" high x 20" wide drawers where I store large shaped things like vases, deep stockpots, baking things (rolling pins, boxes with cookie cutters, waffle irons, etc). No clutter, lots of storage, and with the tall windows to the yard, it makes the whole kitchen feel open and light.

Timing really depends on the yard and/or the fabricator. Some places might not reserve slabs earlier than a certain am't of time, or hold them for longer than X months, I believe. We found/reserved ours in the fall and then had the slabs moved up to our fabricator's over the winter sometime--we'd read here about granite that was "reserved" being lost or sold to others, and didn't want to risk losing our two slabs. Luckily we did that, because our slabs each had a crack when we went to see them after they were delivered to the fabricator's yard (either happened in transit or at the fabricator's). They brought up two more slabs from the same lot (our granite is pretty uniform, we weren't able to pick our exact slabs) and they were fine. I'm pretty sure we either put down a deposit or paid for the slabs in full in order to have the slabs brought to the fabricator to hold for us until we needed them. We didn't have them fabricated/installed until that April-May.