Old post but you can use the bathtub effect to your advantage by wicking water upwards. Start with clay on the bottom, followed by thin alternating layers of peat moss and vermiculite then start alternating layers of peat, vermiculite, pinebark, cow/chicken/horse manure etc. What your shooting for is neutral PH, My have to lime and would check with a soil test every other year with the peat/pinebark but that peat will pull the water off of the clay and upwards. The vermiculite will hold the water but also some air and allow the roots of your plants to uptake, and don't burry your wood as it rots away quickly. Another idea would use plastic or steel landscape edging or go with cindar block and cement it in place before people get all crazy with not using cindar blocks being toxic they may have used to be and if you stucco and paint them the leaching would be nominal granted you may want to use pine straw/bark/lime near the edges to decrease the PH and potential leaching. I am growing some hydrangias and making them blue in cinder block so I know the leaching isn't bad covering it with concrete doing it that way "if it was the would be insanely pink". Also thinking about building my cindar block raised beds with white portland, sea shell mix "oyster shell etc" and some other stuff to lower the PH so the leaching would be more beneficial than not. I always say to myself "DON"T FIGHT NATURE"... and try to use nature to fight itself.

Define low end. Get out your tape measure. How thick is the face frame? Sides? What type of internal bracing do the cabinets have? How thick is the back? How is it joined to the sides? Do you have pics you can post? I've seen some cabinets that could support granite short term, but would slowly buckle over time. Add in a cast iron sink full of water and it could be a much quicker disaster. I have to ask, with you essentially remaking the whole kitchen here, why wouldn't you take the opportunity to use materials that would last the long haul? Get better quality cabinets?

Thanks GN Bulders, I going to use the solid core door for the top piece only! The Entertainment Center will be very heavy if I use all MDF! LOL! I will get a two 12" X 2" and place them side by side for the bottom piece with dows to attach them in place and wood glue and clamps. The middle level wil be the 1" wood boards from scrape pieces sectioned off into 20" wide . I looking at maybe using the scrap 4" X 4" for legs. All will be screw together and use framing L braces that are rated at 5,000 lbs. Have not decided if I want to have it a close box or just open yet! I can get components like glass shelves from my two entertaiment systems that I going to junk!

ker-choo! That was a sneeze for a down allergy. I have a duvet, which I fold over to the other side of my king bed so that the underside is on top. It's converted into my poodle's luxury, pouf bed! LOL I sleep under a coverlet, lightweight blanket and a top sheet. When in Paris, my rental apartment has only a comforter. No top sheet or blanket, so I sleep under it and I'm never there in winter. My landlord furnishes the rental this way, as do all other apartments I've been in over there. He uses a down alternative for people like me. It takes getting used to during the warm months. If I were there in cold weather, I'd be happy with it.