I have a small list, it was a lot longer until Mother Nature did enough "thinning" in the orchard. I am in USDA zone 9b, Sunset zone 15/16. I have a long growing season but not enough heat units due to the proximity to an ocean whose coastal waters remains stubbornly below 60F. The ocean moderates temps so that most of the time we are freeze free but we get the occasional freeze. We are mild yet chilly, with anywhere from 600 hours of chill on an unusually warm year to as much as 1200 hours on those unusually cold years. I push the hardiness envelope with cherimoya, ice cream bean, tree tomatoes, lucumas, passion fruit and mountain papayas. These are all so called "Lost Crops of the Incas", they do well here except when we get temperatures that dip below freezing. Most of these trees are growing next to the house under the eaves or under big evergreen coastal oaks that provide overhead protection. I push both the hardiness and the lack of heat envelope with bananas and tropical guavas. I've only managed to get bananas to fruit here once, but the tropical guavas produce every year, they seem a bit more reliable. Most things that require chill seem happy here, including pretty much all cherries. Out of the 450 or so varieties of apples I grow, I have three varieties that aren't happy due to lack of chiil, they are French cider apples: "Bedans des pars", "Noel des Champs" and "Reinette D'armorique". I'm pretty stubborn, so I will re-graft these onto trees that are fully shaded for the Winter months, which significantly increases the chill accumulation. The bottom line is that there are lots of things one can do to push the envelope. The right spot on the south side of the house can give a full zone addition. THe right spot on the north side of the house can do the opposite and simulate a colder zone. In our transition climate, such things make a really big difference. My southwest facing patio can often reach the 70's on a sunny Winter day when the rest of the garden is barely peaking above 55F. Areas in full sun might top around 600 hours of chill when the fully shaded areas get up to 1200 hours. Lack of Summer heat can be overcome with an inexpensive impermanent plastic tunnel. In Northern zones that could make the difference in ripening figs for example. Things that have failed here and that I won't be attempting anymore include a plethora of tropical fruits like mangos, starfruit, longans and lychees, all of which don't even put on growth in our cool Summers even though they don't freeze here in the Winter. (I have a jackfruit in the ground that has suived 10 years without ever freezing but it put on a total of three leaves in that time.) A number of table grapes don't get enough heat to ripen well here, such as "Muscat of Alexandria". The bottom line is that it's possible to push the envelope with the right location in the garden, but it's also helpful to know one's limitations, because some things aren't worth the frustration and trouble required to get fruit. Of course, one can always get a heated greenhouse.

This is what you see when you come in our front door: But since hardly anyone comes into our house through the front door, this is what you actually see. The patio door entrance is to the left of the refrigerator, which is the way most people arrive: And this is what that view used to look like: Obviously the open concept doesn't work for everyone, and doesn't always fit the architecture of the house. i grew up in PA where very old houses were the norm, and mostly small and closed off were how a lot of the rooms were. When I first moved west I thought that was what I wanted, but moving to the bay area in CA - for a young couple-we were just happy to find a house we could afford, and this was a long time ago. When we moved into this house, almost 34 years ago, I really liked the open concept, such that it was. And there was a formal dining room, which I wanted. But that room really cut things up, and contributed to the choppiness of the space, and the less than ideal function of the kitchen. Removing 2 walls, the refrigerator wall in the first "before" pic above, and the hutch/desk wall in the 2nd, made our kitchen visible from a lot of our living area. But to us the openness enhances not only the form, but most especially the function. I know this thread was about seeing the kitchen from your front door-sorry to go OT.

Sounds like you have some good guys on the job...always thinking and keeping their cool! Maybe your good karma will rub off on others. It will be fun to see your finished kitchen! Congrats on the resolution of your floor problems.

My 10 cents worth: -it must clean clothes (stating the obvious) -absolutely can't leak (we value our house) -must stay in one place when run (again - we value our house) -reliable (you press go - it goes) -durable (they are expensive, you don't want to have to buy one every 3-4 years) -must be a reasonable cost for the projected life expectancy (I require 12-20 yrs) -cycles must be quick (laundry at my house never ends) -must deal with out of balance loads (I wash lots of rugs, shoes, etc) -must offer at least a normal and delicate cycle (wife relates to concept of delicate) -must be energy efficient (money doesn't grow on trees last I checked) -should spin out at least to 300G (I pay for the drying) -has to be simple to operate (no rocket scientists in our house) -must be easy to load and unload (I'm not getting any younger) -must be reasonably quiet (mine is on the first floor, but I can shut a door) -must be offered in materials and colors that are timeless (1970s orange, green,...nasty) -exterior must be easy to keep clean (detergent compartment in particular) -exterior appearance should withstand 20 years of use (and interior for that matter) -should be easy to install and later remove (I do my own appliance installs) -parts must be available when needed (again laundry at my house never ends) -qualified service personnel must be available (doesn't do wash when it won't run) -must come from a company on firm financial ground (see parts and service notes above) -must come from a customer focused company (decisions based on customer needs, not company needs) Things that may have some value to the right person (based on quite a few posters here): -adjustable end-of-cycle signal, at least one loud enough to hear 30 feet away -electric heater - for the times the $&@# hits the fan and you need to nuke the germs -nice styling (ours is in a back room that nobody sees when visiting) -pretty colors (although I would rate stainless steel more timeless) -steam functionality (not sure how this works - see electric heater) -built in detergent/softener/bleach storage and dispensing Always a tough decision since you need to live with it for years unlike the purchase of a vacation. Like picture-in-pictures hocked as a gotta have on TVs 10-15 years ago, do you really need all the bells and whistles touted by the sales guys on the floor? It's just laundry at the end of the day, and we would all prefer to be doing something different if given the choice. laundryvet