I wanted the shelf because during the holidays I keep my KA mixer on the bottom shelf. . .if you get a shelf, make sure that there is enough room to store what you what to put there. I didn't have the option of towel bars, but have 4 heavy duty magnetic hooks that I put close to the corners on each side to hang dish and hand towels. Mostly I love that it is stainless and doesn't have to be "babied"!!

Thanks fot the ideas and pics. Now that I know about remote control extenders (thanks, Natal) I may have more options. I plan to hit a couple of antique shops this weekend to see what I see. The real issue is the width of the space (meaning how wide the console/whatever can be). Ideally it would be around 48" so while I like the idea of a sideboard type of piece, most will be too big. OTOH, I did find a regular ol' console at Room & Board that I like a lot, so I could always go that route. Still holding out for a while to see if I find something cool, though!

I appreciate your comment, Lukki. I guess the difference for me is that the nature of Hot Topics is going to draw spice, feisty, opinionated people who can sometimes go a bit far and become mean spirited, and I think that is why GW keeps HT pretty separate from all of the other threads, i.e.: it doesn't show recent comments made to that thread on the front page, that sort of thing. It's really hidden, so I don't think anyone really has much of a right to complain or be critical because it's not in anyone's face at all. One has to deliberately go there. If it's not one's cup of tea, they don't have to even know it exists. But again, it IS "Hot Topics", after all. I think it's the one place where people can and should be allowed to express a little more "heat", so to speak. GW has very professional moderators, as well, and I think gets that about HT. But HD Conversations, for example, is out front and it is not inherently meant to be heated, and I've seen some shocking and vicious attacks on people, serious ganging up, much worse than anything I've seen on HT, where, again, it's to be expected to a certain degree. I can keep my wits there, and elsewhere (thank you for that, btw), because I try to keep my eye on the ball and not get or make things personal, which is a big mistake a lot of people make (and don't get me going on passive/aggressive behavior. Ugh. I loathe it). If I really have a personal animus for someone here or there, I simply ignore them and don't engage because my personal feelings about another are completely irrelevant and certainly of no interest to anyone else. So no, it's not for the thin skinned, but I think that is okay to say about a forum called "Hot Topics". I don't think, though, that such a thing should have to be said about a forum called "Home Decorating Conversations"!

While I will admit that some do seem have difficulties navigating or posting (I think most of that is due to a less than ideally compatible device or browser) I do not find the new format any more difficult to work with or use or navigate than it was before. Different, yes.........but no less user friendly (in many ways it is more user-friendly). And I think some are just a lot more resistant to change than others :-) As an old time GW user (here since almost from the start in the late 90s with Spike), the site has gone through a lot of changes over the years and with different ownership, much good and some not so good. It took me just a couple of days to become comfy with the new format and I have no issues with it now. My primary complaint is with cross posting. While it is NOT a requirement, many seem to think it is so you get threads posted to 3 completely unrelated forums. And those new folks entering directly from the Houzz side of the platform with gardening questions do not realize there are several dozens of gardening forums and just post in the Gardens or Landscape Design forum (the only GW forum that shows up in the Houzz topics listing as well as GW) and I find that very irritating. The LD forum is frequently innundated with completely inappropriate questions!! And I don't find it to be any less of a "community" than it was before. Depending on what forums one frequents, all the same old regular posters are present for the most part with the same friendly interchange and bantering. 11otis, if you scroll up to the start of this thread, you will find that it is posted to the Soils, Compost and Mulch forum in addition to a couple of others. Click on that forum title and it will take you directly to ALL the threads on that forum. Really couldn't be much easier............. :-)