cate1337, first I want to say it's so nice to see your name here! Many months ago (I think it was last summer, actually), not long after I joined GW, you v. kindly answered a question of mine (which some others labeled as "stupid"), and I've always appreciated you and your kindness. You have a special spot with me! About your floor -- first, let me agree with everyone who thinks you are amazing the way you are handling this. Me, let those curse words fly! I love cork -- it's a beautiful, comfy surface, and I totally get why you'd want it in your kitchen. What color were you thinking of having the cork (since you can get in so many shades)? Would it be similar to your existing floors? If yes, and I'm just picturing this in my mind's eye, I honestly don't think it would be a visual problem having the island straddle two different materials. If they're different heights then clearly that's a different matter altogether, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. If you're going to add new oak floors, then I think you should have them laced into the existing. They can do that without having to refinish everything -- they'll just sand a small area of the old floors and do that along with the new (so it'll all blend in). We, too, have oak floors throughout the first floor of our house and next week, maybe?, oak will be put in our barren kitchen. (previously it had vinyl) For me, wood works in our kitchen. BUT, I have children the exact same ages as yours, and we just had the main level floors put in February 2007 (so we moved into this house in March with these floors brand-new). Holy cow you are not kidding about the scratches! One pass of a firetruck with a piece of grit stuck to a wheel and it is curtains. My mother was particularly ugly about why we didn't get a glossy finish on the floors (I begged the flooring guy for as matte as possible, foreseeing this v. thing), but boy am I grateful I didn't (get any sort of sheen). As it is, all the floors are going to be refinished (the flooring guy and I had a "miscommunication" on the color I wanted [I was in another state so didn't oversee the process]) when the whole remodel is done, and you can bet I'll be doing the most matte finish again! I'm okay with the scratches but I'm infinitely more laid-back than my mother ... different story. (I swear lots more than she does as well!) My point being, I think you are smart to think about the littles' impact on the floor. I'm really looking forward to seeing your space progress! GOOD LUCK with the flooring, cate.

Thanks for the suggestions all! I've already got a hall closet down the hall that holds just basically my portable ac unit since I haven't room for that elsewhere and don't really need a 'coat closet'. But, thats one thing I had not thought of and will keep it in mind if I don't do anything else with it. I don't know that I necessarily want to keep media there. I am slowly converting to everything being on a media server, including all these cds. Although I haven't played them in years, I can't bring myself to part with them either. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but there is just something about having a physical copy of music. They may end up going in the garage once I get my shelf project completed there. Thats why I'm kind of stuck with what to do with it ...and the closet idea is growing on me.

I would try just sitting a micro there, on its cardboard box and see what you think. It reads open and airy now, but I'm pretty sure it will become "micro in your face", particularly when the door opens. Lots of those pests are 15" deep plus the plug. Retrofitting a cabinet is ok but the micro will still need at least an extended shelf. The problem with the Ikea brackets (using valter as an example and I do have them) is that it's tricky to calculate what will happen when you put a deeper shelf on. And it's tricky to estimate how much to allow for people using it because its elevated. As an example, if my popcorn is burning, I'm going to be smacking that door open button with a fair amount of force and may tug the door downwards a little from panic. 5-20 pounds of force? 35 pounds? I have no idea! Back to the Valter, it's current limit per shelf is 33 lbs. Altho they DON'T EXPLAIN, it's likely they were thinking 2 foot spacing of brackets and an 11 1/4" shelf for ikea. You'll need to use a deeper shelf between 15" and 20". This means that the front edge is a cantilever for 5-10" past the edge of the bracket. The brackets are taller than the space you seem to have to the outlet from the tile, so you'd need to mount them through the tile to actual studs. That means extra long screws that can't have a wider diameter to compensate for the fact that the screws themselves are more brittle with length as well as harder to install. I don't know what to think about using those in that situation. Because the valter brackets themselves are junk white wood, my guess is they would fall apart about 3 months later. You'd know when the micro crashed onto the counter and then the floor. I think what I would choose to to is cut out some drywall below the outlet face plate and strongly screw a nice board (like a 1x3) to the exposed studs - adjusting to make it even to the face of the tile. Then I could install brackets anywhere I wanted plus possibly a french cleat for the shelf. By adding something like 1x2" strips on edge to the front and the back, I would get some weight re-inforcement and add to the stiffness of the shelf. So sorta-kinda like the drawing showing the edge of the arrangement. I'd also ask casey (user name ci_lantro I believe) and/or other competent woodworkers (which I am surely not).

Been there. I never knew picking tile could take up so much of my time. I finally decided not to decide and went with the one sample that my husband and sons liked the best. Must be good if all three liked it more than the others! It was a different look that I had envisioned, but I am very happy with the results. We ordered samples from tilebar.com and had a great experience with them. They have lots of subway tile options - stone, glass, ceramic, etc. and lots of different sizes. 5 samples for $5, free shipping and they showed up fast. We ordered our tile and my husband installed it. We ended up with a glass tile backsplash for under $300. I never would have believed it. We lucked out and got the sheets for a really good price that we would never had found in the stores around here, even big box stores, and we got tile that was like nothing we had seen in the stores. No tax, free shipping and we bought enough sheets to give us plenty for repairs, if we should ever need them.