Looking on Texas A&M, it says it is "Physiological Leaf Roll", caused by drought or other environmental stress. I will have to really watch my watering practices and calculate how much water I am really giving them. Maybe I thought I was doing a good job and really wasn't. -the seedlings were at about 65ish degrees. -I forgot to mention the small fan that was blowing on them... -the peat pots were small, 2-3 inches. The roots were not coming out of the bottoms. They were so tiny! I will not use these again. They dry out to quickly. I had to water them a lot to keep them evenly watered. I will use clean plastic pots next time. -I just realized I did a silly thing. I thought I had bought a bag of Fox Farm's soil less mix, but I just looked at the bag, and it is their Ocean Forest POTTING soil. It has sphagnum moss, perlite/vermiculite (there's a difference?), humus, and a little sand, plus the ridiculous proprietary things (guano, earthworm castings, blurb-blurb-blurb) that I paid too much for. pH of 6.5. -the planter boxes are massive. Made of 4x4s four high, rebar pinning them to the earth, lined with food safe plastic, weed mat underneath (which was stupid in hindsight, what weed in their right mind is getting through 2 1/2 feet of soil?) They are 4ft by 6 ft, and one is 4 ft by 12 ft. They are probably going to be there until I'm 86 years old. My husband does things very thoroughly. :) Our yard's soil is mostly rock and granite. I'm fairly certain there is a concrete and landscape rock cemetery back there; I'm constantly hitting something. -The Pioneer mix was delivered in a big truck. It grows grass wonderfully. - The seeds I got from Jung sprouted, but never really took off. They lost their first set of leaves, got 4-5 branches with nice leaves, but they were just not as robust as I've seen them. I was afraid to set them out too early, so I think I remember setting them out the 2nd week of May sometime to harden. I let them harden till the last week of May, letting them stay out for a few hours and then setting them inside at night. I was getting married the first week in June, so they had to be out one way or another by then. The store bought plants I planted when we got back, around the 3rd week in June. Too late? - The rooting hormone I used was a liquid mix that you dilute. Now that I think about it, I don't think it was a hormone per say, "Root Stimulator" was what it was called. I used it on my transplanted annual beds, just a quick water, or with my new dormant strawberry plants, soaked in a mixture and planted. I think it was just a 4-10-3 fertilizer to give a little boost. Does it work? I honestly couldn't say yay or nay. Maybe I was so stressed out with the upcoming wedding and planning that I didn't pay enough attention to the little things. I never saw any wilting, but that doesn't mean that the seedlings weren't stressed at some point and I didn't notice. This year I will be like a mama hawk! (I feel like I'm in a Sherlock Holmes chapter with all these questions! This is awesome!)

Thanks marcolo. I think I'll go over there w/ a big mirror and make DF stand where the appliance cabinet will go and I'll stand in the breakfast nook and see what is reflected because that is where most time will be spent, I think. mtnrdredux- I originally wanted a range and I agree with you completely that it would look much better! I looked at the fratelli onofri in blue and was very, very close to buying it, but I didn't like the brass. And I think a lacanche (or even its cheaper friends) might be a bit of a waste in a kitchen where no one cooks. In general, though, I didn't love the whole idea of the range w/ the low ovens either. Like I said, we do use the ovens to reheat b/c DF won't use the microwave or eat microwaved food. I don't want to bend down to get stuff in and out, and I really do not like the idea of a low-to-the-ground range with a really sniffy little doggy who sticks his snout everywhere. I'm afraid he'd get hurt when the range opened and I won't take any chances on that. And I know I'd have snouts pressed against oven glass and possibly paws scratching the door if he smelled something cooking (and being a beagle, of course, he'd always smell anything cooking!) So, it is ovens for me. Plus, we already bought 'em (a 42 inch miele cooktop only b/c it was a floor model and we got it cheaper than most of the "low end" cooktops) and the floor model jenn-air ovens.

We're a family of four (and often 5, 6, 7, or more, depending on how many friends & family are visiting!) My children are just-turned 15 and 16. Our evenings go like this: Someone is emptying the DW and clearing out breakfast and after-school snack dishes (and lunch dishes if there's no school that day). Two or three others are prepping and/or cooking. Yet another person is setting the table (going from dish storage to DR). Meanwhile we have a dog underfoot (just waiting for someone to drop something!) We do not have an island as our kitchen isn't wide enough for one (started out 11'1" deep, now 10'6" deep or so b/c we had to "build-in" a wall to accommodate venting in a wall that didn't have enough room b/w the studs to fit the ductwork and to hide most of the waste pipe from an upstairs bathroom). Instead, we have a wide "U" with two short peninsula legs and a row across from the "U" with a corner pantry off to the side. Not only does it work wonderfully well for us, but it also worked great when I had sixteen 12- and 13-years old girls working on their Girl Scout Cooking badge in my kitchen (twice)! We no longer have seating in the kitchen-proper, but we do have 2 stools at one peninsula. We opened up the wall b/w the DR and kitchen and now use our DR for all our meals. Not only is the DR now being used year-round (instead of just at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), but it also has given us a bit of "formality" to our meals and my children's manners improved quite a bit! (Plus there's more room around the table and it's nice to eat away from the dinner meal prep mess.) The combination of taking down the wall and converting the entire kitchen to a "kitchen" has made the DR/Kitchen area look & feel much more spacious and both are much, much more functional! I'm not saying eliminate the island, what I'm saying is think about alternatives. As to the cooktop in the plan I did for you, it's on a wall segment approx 12" wider than the hood on each side with the rest of the area open to the Great Room. I show the counter going into the Great Room to the depth of the wall (it could be deeper if you wanted seating there). Is it difficult to vent from there? It depends on the direction your studs run. As to the comments about the "raised counter" in your plan, I agree wholeheartedly with them. Plus, a raised counter reduces the functionality of the peninsula area a bit b/c of the counter overhang into the kitchen (usually 1.5" to 2") and over the workspace that's counter-height. Having the peninsula all one height would give you another deep workspace for large projects such as baking, homework, science fair, gift wrapping, etc. with the added advantage of being able to sit at that counter while working (your current plan does not appear to have seating at the island). [Your most recent pic is much too small to see and I cannot access the pic to see if I can see an enlarged version. I recommend putting your pictures on a true photohosting site such as Photobucket, Picasa, Webshots, Flickr, etc. and putting them in a public folder so you can upload a bigger version and others can navigate to it w/o putting a huge picture inline here.]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, here are the responses to questions & the changes we've made (waiting for updated drawings from KD): I would flip the line up on the island, with the prep sink on the right, and a shared trash pull-out on the left Flipped the island line-up, so the prep sink is now in the middle of the island and the prep & cleanup areas won't bump into each other Moved the trash pullout to be under the main sink, will have storage on the left side of the prep sink it would be more efficient to completely separate the prep/cooking and clean-up zones We've not swapped the range & the sink for a few reasons - the range wall will be the "cooking" zone with both ovens, appliances in the appliance garage etc. Plus it will look better to have the range & hood directly across from the living & dining rooms :) While we do value function over form, in this case I'm thinking our kitchen is small enough where it won't be inconvenient to go from fridge/ pantry (supplies) to island (prep) to range wall (cook) Do you know in which cabinet the broom and step stool (and pet supplies if you have a pet) will be kept? Broom, step stool & pet supplies - still trying to figure out where these would go. One option is to add a 6-12" tall pullout closet (Rev-a-shelf or similar) next to the pantry. Another option is @jzlcantu's suggestion to remove the wine rack/ bookshelf and replace it with a 15" pullout utility closet. We like the open shelves because it breaks up the "closed/ large cupboard" feel of the pantry cabinets but a pullout closet might be more functional. why is the door opening at 48" wide We wanted to have a wide doorway leading into the hallway to make it feel a little more open & for convenience (people who want to come in for a snack from the bedrooms), there will be no actual door here just a straight opening in the wall (no trim). We would like this to be atleast 42" which could give us another 6" on the pantry wall. you have zero clearance from the door opening to the drawer cabinet There will be a 2" filler next to the wall oven (it's not currently shown, working with KD on including it in the diagram)