Welcome, and congratulations! Listen, not EVERY rose requires dis budding to mature. Some are perfectly vigorous enough to flower and still grow. However, some definitely are NOT. Many own root Teas, Climbing Teas and particularly yellow Tea-Noisettes and some Chinas can take forever to develop and mature into the plants you expect them to be. Permitting them to flower only slows their development. Weak, stingy growers such as Austin's Dove; many of the earlier gray, brown and green roses; many of the Tea-like earlier HTs can also drag their feet, producing begrudging inches of growth. Permitting them to flower will slow them down greatly, too. Then, you have some more modern climbers, such as Kordes' Rosarium Uetersen, Renae and my Annie Laurie McDowell which will sit and flower like a blooming weed while refusing to climb. If you want to push these to climb, you pinch off the buds, forcing that energy into pushing elongated canes from the plants in their efforts to bloom again. Budding these particular types will speed up their development quite a bit, but they still benefit from dis budding to push growth. Own root versions of them are significantly slower to develop. It's with these that dis budding provides the greatest benefit. It is quite possible your roses won't require dis budding to develop into the plants you desire, in the time frame you have in mind. Whether they will or not, they very likely will mature into what you hope for faster if you don't let them flower. Whether you permit flowering as they desire; permit only some of the flowers to mature and open or simply continue dis budding them until they are the size you want them to be is up to you. Enjoy whatever flowers you want to, but keep in mind that if they are taking longer than you hoped to develop into the plants you expected or desired, removing the flowers to force growth should help you get what you want, closer to when you want it. Kim

What a beauty......there's no stopping you now :-) Edna (who's waiting for more pictures)

Oh, that's wonderful Summerfield! I wish I could just build that almost as you have drawn it! Unfortunately, I've got some restrictions I have to work within due to the lot I have and city setbacks. I've been reading "The Not So Big House" book (loving it, thanks for the recommendation minneapolisite) and was looking at some new ideas from my original layout. **This is pretty rough** and there's a bunch I really don't like on it just yet, but I wanted to give an update. What I like most about my latest update is more windows in the main living area on the south side of the house and all three living areas having direct windows instead of the dining room being sandwiched into the middle of the house. I also like the shared entry so that the 'nice' entry doesn't end up being for guests only. I hate the way I have the pantry laid out, but I do like the idea of a good sized pantry with room for the chest freezer (currently in the basement in our house today). Also, this opens up the living room for a bit more space. My favorite things about the plan you've drawn, Summerfield, are both of the bathrooms, laundry and master closet. Those are the areas I'm struggling the most with. (as well as the whole bedrooms side of the house...) We may have a small television in the kitchen, and temporarily in the living room, but once the basement is finished we would only have the kitchen tv. So no need to build a dedicated spot for it on the first floor. Site Plan:

I'm not against cook tops or ranges in islands, provided the island is large enough to allow for ample work space on either side of the cook top or range. Your first plan allowed for 24", about 7" more than I currently have on each side of my island cook top. I hate it with a passion because there is so little room to prep and work next to the cook top. It's one of the driving reasons for completely reworking our kitchen (remodel to start soon, yay!). And the pop-up downdraft is a joke. That said, new pop-up downdrafts are much more effective but, as has been pointed out, island venting is more expensive than perimeter venting. So I'm glad to see that your later versions moved the range out of the island and eliminated that odd sink wall jog by bumping the whole wall out. Of the 2 latest plans you posted, I prefer Option 2. There is no zone crossing between clean-up and prep/cooking functions, unlike what will occur in your Option 3. I think Option 2 could be made even better. I moved the sink out of the corner. I'm not sure what you gain by going with a corner sink, other than mirroring the other angled corner. (I have a corner sink under corner windows; I've always been happy with this set-up. The main downside is that it's very difficult to clean behind the sink.) Eliminating these 2 angled corners gains you longer stretches of counter, which is always a plus, IMO. Here are images of sinks against walls, not under windows, so you can see design options for this type of set-up. [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchens-by-julie-williams-design-traditional-kitchen-san-francisco-phvw-vp~114198) [Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Novato Kitchen & Bath Designers Julie Williams Design [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchens-traditional-kitchen-san-francisco-phvw-vp~1994291) [Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Los Gatos Kitchen & Bath Designers Kitchens of Los Gatos [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-contemporary-kitchen-dallas-phvw-vp~574875) [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Dallas Interior Designers & Decorators Denise McGaha Interiors [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/island-view-traditional-kitchen-boston-phvw-vp~696524) [Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Boston Kitchen & Bath Designers Dalia Kitchen Design btw, I made an assumption about the size of your double pantry doors, basing its width on the integrated fridge (also assumed this was 42" not 36"). If it's larger or smaller, you'll need to adjust the sink wall accordingly. Putting a range in a corner is a tricky thing to do. You have to design it very carefully to make sure it works, plus it eats up a lot of space on each wall. A 36" cook top will require 51"-54" of space from each wall. Because a range sticks out beyond the counter edge, you'll need wider spacers next to it in order to be able to open cab doors and drawers without bumping into the range. That's not saying it can't be done but you should know the pros and cons of such a set-up. Read the following articles written by Kelly Morisseau, CMKBD, for more information. A reader asks: A cooktop or range in the corner? A Design Reader Asks: Help with range in the corner? btw, the same cautions apply to placing a fridge or an oven in a corner, too. Plus, there's the awkward placement of a tall thing breaking up stretches of counter. I wouldn't do it.