First thanks every one for their advice it is very helpful to hear the naysayers as well as the yay sayers. If I can't come up with a solution to the problem you present, then I have a problem. vhehn- time will be somewhat short but as long as we get a loan money shouldn't be too short. I do know it will take us a long time to build and we are prepared for that and OK with it. A lot of people express concerns with SB I am OK with that too. Please don't feel like I am dismissing your comments out of hand. Some of them I have heard many times before and some of them I am keeping in mind as I go along. We are working on deciding how we will deal with the long build time. The whole financing situation is something we are just starting to address and well aware that financing for a SB house is difficult to get. So if we can't get it, then we can't and we will decide on a different building envelope. frog - I personally have not investigated logging however we are building next door to the ILs who are timber farmers with 60 years of experience and a mill. The lumber would be stored where they can keep an eye on it so I am not too worried. It is a lovely area and property prices or sky high so 20 acres for the cost of power/water/septic is a steal. ajpl - thanks for you thoughts, I sent you an message via flickr. We are doing a timber frame rather than structural SB so there will be a roof up before the bales ever arrive on site so there isn't the usual worries about getting them up super quick and finished off before it rains. You posted your house plan on another thread I started and I really liked them except that there wasn't a bedroom on the ground floor for when we get old :). Otherwise it was just what we were looking for. flgargoyle - I will look into the grading of lumber requirements. We plan on being careful about permitting and such as well. The ILs weren't and haven't had a problem but we don't want to take the risk. We do have concerns about living in an RV with two small children. Our first choice would be a habitable workshop but we are not sure what the zoning permitting situation would be for that. Terry_t - We will only have two kids when we are building, one that is 2-3 and another that is 5-6. But two small children isn't really much better than 3, we are banking on babysitting help from the ILs. Thanks for your suggestions on advance prep work we have been wondering what we can do before we get the ball really rolling. Luckily our site is flat and pretty clear for a large area. A log home is actually something we would consider if a SB became impossible. FIL has already built two log houses so we have some one with experience handy to help. We are aware of the YDKWYDK principle and have plans to get consultants when possible. We have one recommendation already from some one who has already built a TF SB house in the area. We also have close family members with various construction experience (electric installation, plumbing, framing, roofing, finish carpentry). We are also working on making the most of the years leading up the build, learning all we can. This will all take a lot more planning and thought so if you think of hurdles please post them so I can figure out how to jump over them :).

kimmieb - What an extremely thoughtful, resourceful and inspiring "refresh" - I am sure you will like it more than you would the 100K kitchen (I do :) because you did it yourself, worked with what you had and made it your own. Not to mention that you used an incredibly fabulous and relaxing color in the kitchen. I say... gray-blue, blue-gray, gray-blue, a little green-gray and maybe something slightly purple-blue-gray - that is where my brain lives these days. My old place was more yellow/beige and fresh greens/blue-greens. I had to fight myself to not make our current place blue-gray inside and out but needed other colors - if only to complement/accent more blue-gray :) It is amazing how color preferences can shift. Believe it or not my horizon's actually expended after many hours on the kitchen and home decorating forum. I even painted a bathroom tomato red! I hope your kitchen inspires more beautiful colorful painted kitchens.

This forum has been brought to my attention and I think I can add something useful. I'm Milton, and my wife Amalia and I are architects and interior designers with our own firm archspaces (archspaces.com) We have worked with moda cucina, as well as water and fire, as well as Weston kitchens, metropolitan, and others. We did two water and fire kitchens, and also three moda cucina kitchens. The water and fire kitchens ended up being beautiful, but were long agonizing ordeals to complete. The parts kept coming damaged, incorrect, wrong size/finish, from Canada and Italy. It was one excuse after another from water and fire and their suppliers who I ended up calling directly. Paul got a group of investors and partners together to buy into his moda cucina concept of locally made premium kitchens that can do not only traditional, but true european finishes. My wife and I loved the idea, if you look at our website you will see we are modernists. Each moda cucina went off almost flawlessly, with two minor exceptions, 1 kitchen which was somehow incorrectly measured. An entire 17 foot run of cabinets was re-built within 2 weeks and delivered before we even had to break the news to the clients. And one kitchen which had custom backpainted glass, the glass imparted a green tint to the paint and the client rejected the glass. The glass doors are being remade with starfire (crystal clear) glass. The response time has been fantastic, better than we've experienced anywhere, and the freedom as designers is tremendous, we've been able to think much more creatively with their custom work. I don't want to take away from the validity of what the disgruntled water and fire customer had said, it sounds inline with what happened there. The first few years we heard nothing but good things about them, then as they grew, and their suppliers got busier and moved away from small specialty producers, things fell apart. I gave Paul another chance, and we've been very pleased thus far. I've been to the shop and it is very impressive, it takes a lot of guts to put it all on the line and say enough is enough, and make your own factory. If anyone has any questions please feel free to email or call us through the contact information listed on our website.

I've been using my copper sinks for a couple of years now. I love them! My main sink is a 36" farm and the prep is an 18" square. They are really easy to clean. Just like Dino's website says, just a sponge and soap and water. The zero radius corners have never been an issue for cleaning. You asked if they scratch. Yes, they do scratch when I throw my heavier pots and pans around in them, but no big deal. The scratches will heal over and you'll never see them again. Just like any other mark or reaction that occurs in the sink. The sink changes constantly. The photos you've seen here and on Dino's site are a great representation of the real thing. Are there any specific questions or concerns that you have? Deedles, so glad to hear you're loving your new sink. I know you had some qualms about it after you bought it but always knew you'd love it. :)