I had an experience with a fast food chain. The owner lives 5 states away, but controls the heat/air conditioning from his location. The employees had no power. The district leadership had no power. I believe in the power of communication and every company has some kind of email. I have emailed this corporation several times to say I like their food, the location, but if they won't keep the building at a comfortable level to save a few dollars I'm not coming and I'm taking my extended family with me. We meet and enjoy it there. Each time I've complained corporate has contacted the owner and suddenly the climate is adjusted. For stores like Wal-Mart I take out my phone and take pictures. I send those with my complaint or my 'concern'. I'm rather blunt about it. I went to a store and they only had 1 person working at this chain dime store. I said, "If your store loses a lot of product to shoplifters or if people don't return because customers wait 20 minutes to get checked out I don't want to hear it and know I'm taking my business elsewhere if you can't fix this." If we ALL spent 10 minutes to contact Corporate they'd listen. We have power in communication and numbers. We want responsible businesses and good products. Heidi

Ello, ello, friendly neighborhood Resource Plus vendor here. Long story short, we're the people in charge of marking down plants at Lowes, and so here's how it works. (Located at the Orem, Utah location by the way.) It used to be that we could mark the 'distressed' plants down to whatever we wanted. Now, however, we have to follow the 1,3,5 rule. If $0-$4.99, it goes to $1. $5-$9.99 goes to $3, and $10-$14.99 goes to $5. Anything 15+ goes down by 50%. Now, if these don't sell fast enough, THEN we get to mark them down more, usually by about 50% off the current price each week. As for choosing which plants to mark down, it varies. I personally usually wait until the plants actually need some TLC to look good. My manager wants them marked if dying. If dead, diseased, or bugged, we are required by law and company policy to dispose of them in the trash compactor. Stupid, I know, as I have seen many savable trees, bushes, and flowers (not to mention benches, cabinets, toilets, ect...) crushed. But we CANNOT give them away. Don't ask. That bit about Home Depot getting credit back? It's true. They expect their plants to die, and are little better than Walmart about watering. This is not just me supporting Lowe's (as being seasonal does not bring loyalty), but from actual experience as a gardener. I don't like HD plants, never will. The success rate has just been too low. Walmart is fine if you catch them before they die of drought. (And yes, we will make deals on mass buys of clearance. We want them gone.) If you have any other questions about the program, let me know. I'll gladly help. And if you are near the Orem, Utah Lowes, pop in and say hi to the vendor. This post was edited by CinderSparx on Wed, Sep 17, 14 at 18:52

I live in an county in northern CA that is still struggling with the recovery from the recession. There are very few homes that have been built over the past 3 years; consequently, nurseries are having a hard time. I found a nursery that had a huge selection of choice roses growing in 5 gallon fiber pots. These were marked down from $29.95 to $10.00. I had just moved into a home on 1 acre that was not landscaped. Some of the roses that we piled into the pick up included: Munstead Wood, The Squire, Claire Austin, Brother Cadfael, A Shropshire Lad, Bishop's Castle, Graham Thomas, Heather Austin, Lady Emma Hamilton, Tea Clipper, Lichtfield Angel, Sir John Betjemen, St. Swithun, Strawberry Hill, The Generous Gardiner, Windemere, Gina Lollabrigida, Jean Giorno, Centennial Star, Abbaye de Cluney, Eden, Red Eden, Black Baccara, and White Eden. Other good buys: 5 gallon citrus trees marked down from $30 to $10: Sanguinella Blood Orange, Moro Blood Orange,Tarocco Blood Orange, Oro Blanco Grapefruit/Pumello hybrid, Eustis Limquat. Vincent Female Kiwiplant and Male Pollentator Kiwiplant, marked down from $15 to $5 each. Pomegranates in 5 gallon containers, marked down from $30 to $10: Sharp Velvet, Ambrosia, and Desertni. Pear trees in 5 gallon pots marked down from $30 to $10: Bartlet, Warren, Seckel, and California (Red Bartlett x Comice); also Apple, "Belle de Boskoop". I have never seen bargains like this before in all my years of gardening!

Wow! Not to hijack this thread but the suggestions in this post have been helpful to confirm that my new kitchen plan will work! My new kitchen plan is almost identical to your current layout. (I'm replacing a peninsula layout.) Our holidays include about 20-25 guests and we will be able to seat 10-12 in the kitchen. My plan has the same sink/appliance/table locations and an aisle that has traffic that moves from one end to the other (in my case from a garage entry hall to a FR) but my kitchen is only 138" wide. The Fridge will be where your double pantry is, then 12" wall cabs for the rest of that wall (total length of about 64" then there is a Foyer entrance). The island will be 25" wide and will begin at about where the DW is so it leaves a very open work triangle and no worries of narrow aisles for the cooking area. There is about an 18" section where the island overlaps with the 12" wall cabs. In this space, the aisle is 39 1/2" but there is no seating here. I had asked about recessing the bottom 12" cabs to give me a scootch more room where they overlap with the island. First 2 GCs didn't like that idea because that is a stairway wall. Does the stairway wall carry more of a load? Or maybe the cost doesn't justify the 3" gained? There are 2 stools beyond where that overlap ends and then a stool at the end of the aisle. MW will hopefully be a pullout drawer and fit at the end of the island with no seating. The full length glass and wood pantry cab photo and the narrow farmhouse table island were some of the inspiration photos for the plan. We have just a large window behind our table. Our access to the deck is from the FR. We are thinking of bumping out that window 2' for a window seat with a rectangular table running parallel to the wall or a walk out bay with the table placed perpendicular to the wall. Either scenario will move the table further away from the island. The walk out bay will give more seating options. If you could or were willing to have your deck access from your FR, you could probably fit a longer rectangular table perpendicular to the wall and not intrude into your traffic zone into the FR ( realize you can't do a bump out with your deck off the back.) You may not need to even close off that access if you had a slider. My kitchen is longer (26' 6") and the wall at the end (your PR wall) is a half wall. I plan to put a 15" to 18" length of cabs to accommodate a bar and apps when entertaining. I won't have a sink but maybe I'll consider a small fridge. Although once we set up the bar we only need to replenish ice occasionally. Would a rectangular table (with leaves for special occasions) and a narrower island solve your seating and narrow aisles? Can you fit a beverage and snack center behind the table? I did not figure all your dimensions but since your current layout looks so much like my new layout thought I would share! I'll post a pic in another thread