I'd be interested to see what the counters looked like. I do love the look of glass counters -- sorry to hear that you had such a terrible time with it! :(

Actually, the quintessential steampunk piece is a modern computer decked out to look like a 19th century device. I met a guy profiled in the Boston Globe who has a steampunk house, and whose kitchen was featured here once. He was selling a cast iron Victorian stove that had been outfitted with a barely-discernable electric cooktop. It's not so much working Rube Goldberg contraptions as it is window dressing on modern technology. I think of it as a stage set in search of a story. Let's say Steampunk is a definite one month from now, as the project that follows the next one. For the very next one to start this weekend, I'm thinking Hollywood Regency, based on an unscientific review of the preference lists people have posted so far. I would sort of like to do the setup for Steampunk, so if you'd rather I not do two in a row, I can happily defer to pal on the HR project. Thoughts?

We originally designed our kitchen around an Icestone countertop. We had it all planned out, were ready to splurge on it, as well as driving over 2 hours each way to pick the slab up (the dealer was on the way to my parents' house). We decided we really should get a real life sample, and I am so glad we did! It was just boring. If I moved into the house and was here, I would have been fine with it, but it was not something to design a kitchen around. On top of that, it failed every test we tried- everything stained it, it etched, it chipped when tapped (I know DH, he will stand next to the counter and drum a fork on it without thinking). I wanted so badly to love the stuff, and every "well, maybe it will be ok with this" just ended badly. I didn't try cutting on it, because I just don't cut on the counters. I should add I think the quote we got last summer was $31sf, and we had to buy the whole slab, without fabrication. We did get a sample of Shetkastone, and we loved it. It did scratch once, but I was trying to scratch it with a fork. It did not scratch when I skipped it across the really old concrete driveway (I was trying to hurt it at that point!). It has not scratched since, and the cat knocks it across and off the coffee table about once a week. I will definitely use it in my next house, but we're remodeling for resale here, and we went cheap with really pretty marble tile.

LOL Plllog :) I'd love to meet your knob and puller heh heh Do you only knock when the red light is on? :oP I actually am greeted by name at Vintage Hardware heh heh The owner came out to meet me (they want to reproduce my ceiling medallions) last time I was in. He purchased another home we were looking at last year. They're not green :) But they're local and it's important to me to support the communities we live in whenever we can. I'm going to have him over as soon as I finish unpacking so he can go through the house. He has never been here and is dying to get a peek at the brass and the medallions and he's a wealth of period information which I really need. Are you local? And who's your tile person? I'm not sure what we're doing about tile...we have several original fireplaces that need replacement pieces or have had some made but they're badly done. Someday we'll get around to fixing them as well (mind you the kitchen comes first because I'm tired of cooking on the back porch LOL). Carbon footprints...those are always buzz words Dh gets a giggle out of. We were up on the slope in ANWAR and this dude was bragging about his carbon footprint being so much smaller than ours because he does not own a car. DH did some calculations for the dork overnight and came back to show him his real carbon footprint in comparison to someone who commutes 30 miles a day. His was way larger...see he wasn't counting the carbon footprint his FLIGHT TO WORK weekly cost :) DOH again...sometimes it's all about perception and being cool, not being green at all. Avoiding exotic woods and not driving a Hummer to work are two easy and real green steps :) Ride sharing in your Hummer...not so much :P