I'll be back in Sarasota every three weeks or so to visit my mother. In Massachusetts I had to break out the flannel shirts and socks and turn on the heat! But to come back and see the trees and plants distressed, if not dead, by the drought is really sad. I think I'm most sorry to see my neighbor's old healthy citrus trees all shriveled up and stressed. I'm watering, and watering, and watering. I have hoses slow dripping on her trees, if I put a lot of water on it just slipped right over. I'm jealous of those of you who live here all year long, not that I love the heat, but you can keep an eye on things. And I hear a bit of rain on the sun room roof! Good luck, Guys. I'll be thinking about you, Carol B. in Sarasota

Thanks everyone for your input!! The final decisions were: 1st Door--I prefer the middle door-very simple with elegant understated lines, but DH likes the added privacy the iron lends to the door, so privacy trumps simple & elegant. Living 1000 ft off the road and around a corner on 45 acres isn't private enough, I guess. DH says if we don't like it once we move in, we'll change it out--time will tell. Kitchen Window--I ended up with a small reprieve here as questions came up on other windows when they went to place the order today, so any changes have to be made tomorrow. Our decision was to go with the standard window (no arch). There will be no window treatments on this window. My thought was that if I didn't like the way it looked, I could add an arched cornice board that would extend to the ceiling that matches the cabinetry to give a visual arched look like this: Then I got to thinking about athensmomof3 & chisue's responses about the 3 casements. I have an inspiration picture (posted below), but not sure on the sizes shown or even if the side units are a different size than the middle unit. I did call the cabinet guy & verified my cabinet specs. I would be able to do the 3 casements to form an arch, but it will be tight. Technically, I've got 58.5" of space available for the window (3.25" trim already taken into consideration). My options on window widths would be: A) 12" - 24" - 12" (proportionally, this one might be a little too tall for the specced width) B) 16" - 24" - 16" C) 18" - 18" - 18" Any thoughts? Ash6181-The doors are made by DSA Mastercraft Doors out of Raleigh, NC. Here is a link that might be useful: DSA Mastercraft Site

Great minds...after I submitted the layouts, I realized I could enlarge the area left of the cooktop to 21" by reducing the cooktop/rangetop size to 30". We have a 30" cooktop now and were hoping to enlarge to accommodate multi pot cooking. However, I realized the cooking space on my current top is only 22" because of side controls and a range or rangetop with controls in front would give at least 5 -6 more so should be fine. I do think as we boomers age, more of us will ponder how to maintain our independence. As for the microwave--I do not use one. I had one but found it to be more of a nuisance than a help. I have been told I will never be able to sell my house without one but using your idea, the next owners could modify that area. Thanks for the encouragement.

No, if the unit is not perfectly plumb, level and square it must come out. Those adjustments are for very minor discrepancies over time from settling, humidity, etc, not improper installation. Remember a tilt & turn operates in more ways than every other window and it is imperative that they be installed plumb level and square. And just a note, you cannot check this using the trim this must be done on the frame itself.