Hi Lilly! Did you know your email is blocked for responses? I was clearing out my inbox today and relized that you probably never got my response. I suppose these can be kept as houseplants but the freeze we got during the second week of November knocked them down. Anything I had up for grabs was still in the ground, so if it cant survive a freeze....it's gone! **Macca**

I always hesitate to comment on kitchens that have clearly already been carefully considered because surely my concerns have already been vetted. But just on the off-chance this has not come up yet: 1) I prefer having the microwave in the same area with the everyday dishes (bowls, spoons, forks, etc.) and the fridge. It means you can get something from the fridge, dump in a bowl, and microwave it. I also prefer that conglomeration of items (fridge, microwave, everyday dishes) to be entirely outside of the cookzone so snack-seekers don't get in my space when I am cooking. Your microwave is currently in your cook zone. That makes sense if you primarily use it for cooking (melting chocolate, etc.), but if your micrwoave is primarily used in non-cooking situations as mine is, I would suggest putting it by the fridge and dishes. 2) The upper cabinet above the dishwasher is not a good place for dishes. You will not be able to reach it when the dishwasher is open, so unloading dishes into that cabinet will be a pain in the neck. You will have to stack everything on the counter and then shut the dishwasher and then put them in the cabinet. 3) Have you measured and made sure that all your daily dishes will fit in the cabinets you intend for them? Especially considering that the upper cabinet above the dishwasher is more or less not going to work, to me it seems as if you could use a bit more everyday dish storage. 4) I would prefer the mirror image of your island like this: I tend to pull out all my ingredients at once and then prep them. So, for me, I would prefer to have the long stretch of island counter closer to the fridge/pantry, so where I naturally drop the ingredients is also where I prep them. I'd never have have to move them again. Just grab from fridge, drop on island and get going. As you have it now, where I'd want the ingredients to end up (the longer stretch of island counter) is too far to be the fridge drop zone. I'd either have to grab what I could hold, walk it to the longer stretch of island counter to drop it, and then rinse and repeat till everything I needed was over there. Or I'd have to pile everything I needed from the fridge on the 18" section of counter (which isn't a ton of room for all the ingredients in a recipe), then walk to the island and transfer everything from the 18" section to the longer stretch of island counter. In addition to that, mirroring your island puts your two sinks a little farther apart. It's not a big deal, but it is a nice bonus. When the sinks are evenly spaced around the kitchen, a sink is always near you no matter where you in the kitchen. When the sinks are more clustered, they aren't always quite so handy to wherever you are. And if ever one of the sinks is getting major activity, it is nice to have the other one totally separate from the hubbub so it isn't a big deal for someone not involved in the major activity to use a sink. Again, not a big deal, but it is nicer to have the sinks farther apart. 5) With the island mirrored, it also gives you some options for drawers that pull out towards the fridge. You could add some everyday dish storage (if you agree with my suggestion above that you could use more) or move the microwave drawer (if you agree with my suggestion above that the microwave would be better in the fridge/everyday dish zone and out of the cook zone). 6) I would also be tempted to swap the location of the fridge and the dish storage cabinets next to it like this: I know that means the island is a barrier between the fridge and the cookzone. So this would definitely be a compromise. HOWEVER: a) As I said, I usually pull out all my ingredients at once. And if the fridge and dish storage cabs were swapped, the island prep counter would still be my go-to fridge drop zone, and I'd still have a straight walk between the fridge and that drop zone. So I'd pull out my ingredients, drop them directly on the island and then walk around the island into the cook zone and never go back. Yes, it'd be better if it that were a straight walk to the cook zone, but a single non-straight walk like that would not be a big deal to me at all. b) What would be a big deal to me is that, with the fridge and dish cabs swapped, the primary every day dish storage cabinets (U1 and L1) are now directly next to dishwasher. So unloading would be a breeze! You never have to move. In your current plan, there'd be a lot of walking back and forth in front of the fridge to unload. Not a big deal, but I'd definitely rather ease of dishwasher unloading vs. a straight walk between fridge and cook zone. c) Also, in your current plan, the fridge door swings into a person washing dishes, the open dishwasher door, and the pantry doorway. That's a lot of activity for a little space, and I am not sure I'd want the fridge door to be adding to the chaos. With the fridge and dish cabs flipped, the swinging fridge door is in the way of almost nothing. If you are the type to go back and forth a million times to the fridge while cooking, this swap wouldn't work for you. But if you are like me or you wouldn't mine becoming like me, there are certainly some real upsides to the swap without much downside.

sleevendog, I checked out fresh corn today too, on sale 5 ears for $1. They were HUGE, I can't imagine them being tender or tasting good. I passed. :-( On the upside, I'm planting the garden this weekend, it's going to be in the 80s all weekend with intermittent rain. Perfect gardening weather, if I can get seeds in the ground they'll get wet and warm, simultaneously. Sweet corn will be a couple of months after that, LOL. Cindy, that recipe looks like something Elery would like very much, I'm saving it too. Seagrass, thanks to this thread, I want corn chowder, and the temps hit 90 here today! Annie

Looks like a Devon Rex or some such sort. I know some are bred for those huge ears. I had a friend who had one of those, it shed like mad although it had so little coat and was more like a dog than a cat. All over you too. Sphinx and their off shoots are the same personality. My friends cat was sweet but creepy to handle. Very warm.