Hmm, I'll throw in a dissenting vote. A few thoughts based on our experiences. We have a huge (about 110 sf) marble countertop in our home kitchen, and a butcher block island in our lake house, so I have intimate experience with both: @21LittleFishies: wood is lower maintenance than marble? Not in my experience! Wood, IMHO, is a PITA. Now that depends on how you finish it, but as I see it, your options are: Some type of oil or wax finish--i.e. mineral oil, butcher block oil, beeswax, etc. This requires constant reoiling, and constant worry about staining. We started with this finish on our BB counters and eventually had them sanded down after the umpteenth strawberry stain despite my diligent re-oiling. Polyurethane: terrible idea. It is a film finish and it gets cut and nicked up rapidly, starts to peel, then you have to sand it down and repoly. Waterlox: best solution. What we ended up doing. But first attempt was messed up due to residual mineral oil in wood preventing WL from polymerizing, had to get it sanded down again and then reapplied. Marble: one application of sealer a year after we installed it. Am now three years in, a year overdue to reseal, and no stains. Don't think that's more work than wood! As to the OP's questions: I think your question is moot if you place the marble in the pantry. It's a separate room and will have very little visual impact on your kitchen. Sure, marble is nice to roll pastry out on, but it seems a shame (to a marble lover) to put a nice surface like that in "the back room." But personally I don't see how marble works well with blue ceramic tile on the perimeter. To me, that blue, especially with the visual complexity introduced by the grout lines, is a very "in your face" surface. To me almost the opposite of the calm, serene, subtle appearance of nice marble. I just can't see in my (often limited) mind's eye how the two surfaces would work together. I'd go wood on the island for that reason. Though if it were my choice, I'd do marble on the perimeter, and wood on the island (or, my favoriate) marble everywhere :-)

This is very similar to the situation that I had last summer. Same era and type of houses. My neighbors (whose garage was only 1 foot from the shared property line, and only 12 feet from my house) wanted to build a 2nd story onto the garage, and extend the structure both in front and in back (which would have brought the rear corner to within just a few inches of the line since their house did not sit square on the property). I had also had some difficulty with them because of trash issues but tried not to let that influence my feelings about the addition. So, I also was concerned about the loss of light and having a view of only the side of their house rom the dining, living and 2 bedrooms (they are close now, but with the garage placement I do get light and see sky and trees). I wasn't sure it would be putting that side of the house in constant shade, but it seemed like it would and I was concerned. This neighbor told me that I shouldn't care because in another, newer suburb, the houses were all constructed like that (which could be why I don't live in that suburb). . I wrote a letter to the board in charge of the zoning variance permit and simply told them why I was concerned. I did not come out and say that I was opposed but had these concerns. The board did take that as an objection and had quite a discussion at the meeting (I read the minutes later). One board member pointed out that although they may think that they will be there a long time, they possibly won't but the changes would affect my house forever and perhaps my home's marketability. They did not approve the variance, the neighbor blamed me, but he chose to sell in order to get the bigger house that they needed. Turns out though, that the addition would have violated state fire code (too close to the property line) and could not have been approved anyway. I have very nice neighbors now, very glad that I didn't have to find out if my fears were founded or not. You have more room between your houses; I wonder if there is a way to figure out if the proposed addition would block much light?

Thanks, Marinagal! I think our decisions at this point is to consult an architect, not with this specific idea per se, but for his suggestions on adding light/air/views to the MBR. Thanks, Cam. That is pretty! CL Blakeley, I won't! Mabel, good idea. Snowfalls can be highly localized. LOL, Annie. We are about 10 miles inland, and it just seems to us the weatherguys always say. "it will turn to rain on the coast, with higher accumulations North and West of the area". We often get snow here, just 10 miles from friends in Westport who say "what snow". I guess since the ocean never freezes it can reduce snowfall? IDK Thank you, Krycek. Oldbat, I actually drink tea in the am, usually iced in the summer! And DH makes a ritual of going out for coffee and the paper, come to think of it. Sonic, excellent point! Aww, Eandhl, thank you. LOL, Rafor! To be fair, the other one was a tear down! But all in all we are happier with this choice. Eclectic cottage, your community sound so wonderful. And I agree about the vibe. We don't want a proper and formal house, in fact this house is more formal then what we planned to build or envisioned in our heads. At the end of the day, it is about relaxing and enjoying where you are, and in an odd way I think quirks and imperfections make a place homier ... Thank you, Rosie! JoaniePoanie, I am just terrible and wait and see, I confess. It is even worse here because I have been waiting almost a year trying to clear up that other property! KSWL, Thanks for the tip on water drainage! As for your idea of expanding the porch, goodness, what are you trying to do to my budget!? I better not tell DH your idea, he is a sucker for verandah space. As a side note, your point about the tradition of elevated areas from which to view the water was such lovely writing. : )

And what happened is DLM saw my name and said to herself what are the odds? Then she looked at my FB page and saw my lemons drawing and she knew it was me. Linelle asked: But help me understand how Atlanta comes into the equation. :) My daughter was flying from SW FL and it was actually cheaper for her to fly into Atlanta than into Charlotte, so he agreed to pick her up in Atlanta. So they met up at the Atlanta airport. Carrie, DLM is one of the GW members. Soon as I read it I skipped to the bottom as I was sure who it was !! So cool !! Life has a way of giving us gifts that we need Well said trailrunner. And DLM and I are now Facebook friends which I'm sure makes the kids "thrilled"...NOT. LOL. Honestly, I don't think we could have scripted a better story.