For my reno, they replaced a number of the old pipes with copper, and they had to move the sink pipe over a few inches to accomodate a larger sink; that had to be cast iron. They didn't replace the main pipes that run up and down between floors - just my "off-shoots". The sink ran fine for the first month or two - it's just the last couple of weeks that it got slow... It will make me CRAZY if we have to open the wall to do anything with this since the work was just done!!! It is interesting to me that running very hot water seems to clear it up, but then it gets slow again. What would account for that??? Initially I thought it might be some sort of soap clog that the hot water was melting through, but maybe not pushing all the way down... does that make any sense???

1/4-turn ball valve replacements...........What to replace them with and how to replace them will depend on configuration of your existing supply-lines....the size and type of lines and existing connections. There are 1/4-turn ball valves available for literally any configuration. Plumbers have seen them all so it's easy for them to figure it out and replace them. One-timer do-it-yourselfers like me generally have to learn from scratch.....which is why I'm suggesting the plumber.....unless you're really, really interested in learning about it. It's one of those things that's easy and quick if you have experience and kind of a frustrating pain if you don't. For DIY, I would suggest shutting your water off, removing the existing valve and taking it complete to the hardware store to obtain equiv. 1/4-turn ball for your configuration. I suspect every one you have will be the same so upon figuring the first one out, you'll likely be all set to handle all the others as well. I would be surprised to learn things are otherwise at your house -- unless you have an older house that had replacements done already. In that case, you may have to examine them one-at-a-time. That's why I grump about the original contractors using the stupid el-cheapo valves in the first place. For an extra couple of bucks, they could use a decent fitting that would operate flawlessly and last for decades. As it is, many, many people like you and me have the annoyance and frustration of dealing with the inevitable failures of the inferior valves. In any event, if you're faced with a replacement....as you clearly are....my advice would be to replace with 1/4-turn ball-valve whether you choose to do it yourself or have someone else do it for you.

As far as i know, "Stainless Steel" is pure stainless through and through, in the body of the metal. "Vibrant SS" or any other adjective (or fancy name) is a PVD plating. As far as i see, drains get the worst possible conditions. Even worse than sinks. Or, as bad as the sink bottom gets. Nota: There are no chrome plated sinks. There are no brushed nickel sinks. -- As far as i know, most drains bought and sold are not plated. And none of the stainless drains. As far as i know, in terms of matchymatchiness, nobody ever notices that their drain assembly is pure stainless (when they have BN or chrome or something close to stainless) As far as i know, they never ship PVD stainless (fancy adjective in front of the word stainless) drains. Only "stainless" drains. In general, I think drains ought not to be plated, because they get the worst conditions. I'm eager to know what the guarantee is on plated kitchen drains. In bathrooms, plated drains are normal. Chrome. -- This information is provided in the spirit of sharing. I hope everyone takes it that way, permanently. Some people in GW's kitchen forum say at times that it sounds like males talk down to females. I don't think so, not a whit. When someone dumps a lot of information, it is not a bad thing. Be happy. When someone corrects buehl, it is OK too. We don't need to engage in self censorship just because it's buehl (a respected contributor). I seem to be the only one correcting buehl. I've done it before a couple times. Hey, shouldn't it be more normal? Side note over. -- Hth.

Dreamingnh, thanks for the additional website! Amazingly the inset drawers seem to look nice in both the recessed look or the slab look. I am also glad I started this thread since I think it is helping all of us and I love seeing what everyone is doing to make their lives easier. 3mutts. Thank you for letting me know that you have so many drawers and went with the slab drawer for ease of cleaning and the clean flush look. Bmorepanic, that sounds very convenient your layout of the shelves and the recessed wall for the glasses and mugs so are easy to reach for and to put away. circuspeanut, thanks for letting me know that you have your cabinets at 16" and you love it to reach everything. An installer was here for an estimate and I told him I wanted the cabinets lower and he said I could do it but first find out how much extra crown molding I would need and what the cost would be if I still wish for the cabinets to reach the ceiling. I am definitely going to look into this since I would love for the cabinets to be lower. I have a tall blender but I can just place the blender on the open counter that has no cabinets over it since it is open to the family room with a half of a wall in between (so far three cabinet guys want to know if I want to extend the granite counter there to put stools there but it will lessen my walk way so I prefer not to and not to increase my granite costs). Thanks for letting me know there is not code regulation for the height of cabinets over a counter and not over a range.