To see if a Ticor undermount stainless sink would fit, I just called the sink manufacturer and he said to add about 2 1/2" to the sink width to allow for mounting clips while the sink is being set into the granite. So a 15" sink requires 17 1/2" of clearance inside the cabinet - or an 18" cabinet. We are ordering a 30" sink for our 33" base cabinet. I would think a 33" sink would require a 36" base. Good luck - I can sympathise from your tko stress - so many details to work through!

Hmmm. I've read about this problem before and people made it work. Where is the sink sticking? Just in one area that could trimmed out on the cab or is it just too big all the way around? If that was it, I'd probably go with the plywood...that would seem the easiest. Sorry you're having this glitch but hang in there!

Sophie, who is a kitchen designer, and practigal both explained why you would not want to put a 26" sink in a 27" cabinet. I have seen that advice many times on GW in my four years here, but practigal's is the most thorough explanation I've seen. I hurriedly went and measured my sink just to be sure I didn't do such a thing and am breathing a sigh of relief that I have a 23" sink in my 27" cabinet. You'll have to decide for yourself if it's worth the risk to your cabinets and counters. I wouldn't take the advice of Navy Momma's GC, who you've never met. But then, I wouldn't take the advice of your KD either after seeing some of her layout ideas!

Hi Alex, " ...as a couple of friends of mine were walking through my garden, the question was put to me - "will these come true from seed?" I had to say No, not unless I had the time and resources to grow a large number of plants to allow for backcrosses. Would this be correct? " Not strictly. Your original Whirligig cross that produced your F1 Lotus hybrid (what a lucky beginner's luck thing!) could very well have been between two Whirligig specimens that themselves would not come true from their selfed seeds. Because commercial zinnias are primarily bee-pollinated, a significant percentage of them came from an F1 hybrid bee cross with neighboring zinnias in that particular field. A commercial packet of Whirligig zinnias came from a whole field of different Whirligig zinnias. There will have been a tremendous variety of Whirligig zinnias in that field. The picture on the packet may show only five or six or seven different "typical" specimens, but the reality is that every seed in the packet could be an entirely different Whirligig specimen. So we don't know if the cross you were making was between two selfed Whirligigs, or between an F1 bee hybrid and a selfed Whirligig, or possibly even between two F1 bee hybrid Whirligigs. In any case, your two Whirligigs, like commercial open pollinated zinnias in general, had actual fairly complex family trees. So, it is a given that your Lotus hybrid was an "F1 zinnia hybrid". The process of making an F1 hybrid come true from seed is called "dehybridization". Joseph discusses dehybridized varieties on page 91 of his book. If the original cross was between two inbred varieties, and one of those had a trait that you wished to retain, then backcrossing to retain that trait could be useful. But backcrossing to a heterozygous parent could actually set you back. And since zinnias tend to be heterozygous, back-crossing is probably not a good dehybridizing strategy, even if you do have a good seed supply of the original parents. For zinnias, just grow as many F2s as you can and select the truest examples and possibly intercross between some of the better examples, and repeat that process. Successful zinnia dehybridization can take five or more generations, depending on your standards for "purity". An odd serendipitous thing in zinnia dehybridization is that you may find specimens in your higher generations that actually please you more than your original F1 hybrid goal. You may experience multiple goal drift and wind up with several different dehybridized cultivars. I know that asking me a question can be a bit like trying to take a drink from a firehose, and I apologize for my wordiness. Joseph can probably give you a shorter clearer description of dehybridization. He has had the experience of working with a book editor. But the short answer to your original question is that you don't need to do back-crossing to dehybridize a zinnia hybrid. A dehybridized zinnia does come true from seed. Joseph can give us a valid second opinion on this, and further explain the meaning of heterozygous. If an individual does not breed true for a trait, it is probably heterozygous. Zinnias are usually heterozygous. The definition of heterozygous is having different alleles of a single gene or from gametes with different arrangements of genes. But that is just digging me in deeper. Perhaps Joseph can dig me out of this hole. ZM