First thing would be to see if the Sears softener is correctly sized and setup for your water conditions. Sears softeners do not do well on well water and they don't have a long life in those installations. You need a comprehensive water test from a certified lab. You should have received that before you moved in if the house is on a well. With that info we can tell if the Sears is up to the job, if the Sears is working properly, or not at all and what you'd need to do the job correctly... especially if you have iron. I would NOT recommend softening only the hot water. I would avoid that water treatment company and look elsewhere. Have you talked to your neighbors about water treatment? They might tell you who is good or who to avoid. A correctly sized industry standard softener (not one from a big box store) setup to correctly and efficiently treat your water is your best option. Installing an RO under the kitchen sink is a convenient additional treatment for drinking, cooking, and ice making duties. A proper RO installation would have the RO water feeding it's own faucet and an ice maker or fridge water outlet with PE tubing so there is NO risk of any leaching. As for the question of what RO water does to the human body... go to your local Walmart and watch the people filling up their water bottles at the water machine. Do they look OK? They are all drinking and cooking with RO water cause that water machine is a big RO.

LOL Heard about this today also on the news thought how cool they could reuse it...instead of wasting...gotta be better then the sand they use here.....Stacy

Pat Sodium Carbonate is in most if not all powdered detergent, it softens water and is the most commonly used Builder in powders. I would think Pat powders will work In hard water however you may need to add a touch more. I'm not really educated in hard water issues, but this is what I've read.

You said you need this for more counter space when you are having parties. So imagine your party, with people sitting at the island. You need to leave enough room so that they can pull out the chairs to get up and sit down. Then imagine other people, at the same time, standing in front of the 18" piece and serving themselves. The space is too tight. But, depending on how you entertain, it would work if you remove the island chairs. The island and the 18" piece would both be for serving only, with nobody sitting at the island. You might consider putting furniture there that can be easily moved, which would let you tailor your serving style to the type and size of gathering. A pair of rolling carts? A sofa table/console table? You could add casters if you want it moveable. Could double as a bar in another room. Add a stone or tile top if the surface is not suitable for serving dishes. table or this one with drawers