mae919 - so sorry to hear about this problem and you should NOT feel bad about asking for the original paln to be completed. You should have signed off on any changes or adjustments. It is YOUR kitchen, the one you will be cooking in and using long after a KD or contractor is gone - don't let someone else's mistake be your compromise. Good luck and hang in there.

Traceee--The porcelain does not really read so gray in person; it has a lot of brown, green, and blue in it as well as some gray, and a lot of variation from tile to tile. On the sample board I took a pic of, I would call one tile brownish-green, one bluish tan, one greenish brown, one brownish gray, and one a mix of everything! It does have a slate look, which we like. Your ideas for a pattern are great! I do have some concerns about the room reading dark as we have a lot of trees and don't get a lot of bright sun in the room. The off-white, green, and blue samples are all of my cabinet colors. We are having soapstone with a lot of veining; a burnt copper backsplash (just over the cooktop); and BM Powell Buff walls. We are going somewhat vintage in that it is an 1873 home and the cabinets will have more of an unfitted furniture look. My plans and color scheme are all on the blog as well if you'd like to check them out. ebean--I could still get hex; the issue is that I wanted a matte glaze cream/almond color, and it turns out the supplier I am working with can only get true white, which I don't want. I also don't want unglazed, or to spend $20+ sq ft, and I am in a bit of a time crunch now. So even though I probably could still order exactly what I want from the one place I found it on the internet, I think I am kind of over it now. (Plus the labor charges for laying it with the pattern--astronomical!) As far as cost: both are way cheaper than the hex. The tile will end up more expensive than the cork as it will have a higher labor cost and also grout, etc. Really appreciate all of your thoughts--what a terrific group here! :-)

Hola, I should have known better than to try to pull the above layout off. Thank you very much for your gentle disagreement to wake me up to the reality that sticking a large heavy portable island in front of doorways will not work. Question about REMODELFLA: "move the door down that goes into the bar/desk area": do you mean this? Does this layout work better? This modified layout is moving the current doorway down toward the porch, allowing more space for the island. This then allows me more wall space for a full bar/desk. As always, I really appreciate your help in reviewing my layouts. Thank you very much, Amanda Moved doorway down layout: Overhead view: Another view of walkway between island/fireplace: Recall, the island is 5ft wide by 2ft wide with a 1ft overhang for the 2 stools. The glasses drawers would pull out toward the fireplace (instead of toward cooktop) since it will be used more often than the Tupperware drawers. Familroom mudroom, and porch 'foyer'/desk/bar: I thought about doing a wide shallow U-shape kitchen, where the cooktop would be on the wall of the doorway (facing opposite of the wall oven/fridge). But the way I function, I like having a little barrier from people when I prep/cook. W/ the U-shape, people could stand near me and actually be in my way. Also, I need seating for my 2 kids (7.5 and 6yrs old) for snacks. (Meals will be in the diningroom, which is in the opposite corner of the house � labeled Livingroom. Need the space for my 12feet long diningroom table). 1929Spanish: The distance between the island and fireplace = 4ft. I think that is very spacious, since my current aisle is 28inches!!! The toaster oven area will be flushed w/ the wall oven. It�ll be the appliance garage mainly for the kitchenaid mixer that will slide out (so I never have to lift the darn heavy thing again). RHOME410: I wish I knew how to better utilize the good-size room (~17ftx13.5ft - currently the familyroom). But with the 4 doorways, there is no good way to set up the room as a famiyroom. This design feels very wasteful of a perfectly good room, but I desperately need a mudroom, which cuts into the room (instead of building out). That leaves a 'foyer' for the porch entrance. 2DWs: I ALWAYS have something in the drying rack. I cannot stand looking at it anymore. So I need the 2nd DW to hold all the drying stuff: plastics, knives, pots, etc. Also we host a few big parties each year, so having a 2nd DW would be great! AOKAT15: I kinda gave the condensed reason for needing to shrink the budget. We actually have the money for the renovation, but my husband got a wake-up call when we got our home appraisal back. In the comps, he noted that homes with Central air conditioning were valued more than our home (which currently does not have CAC). So he suggested that we do not renovate the kitchen, but instead install CAC. That is part of my plan, but my order of priority is to do the kitchen first, then CAC in a few years (I can live with window AC for now). DH does not see the value of spending so much money for a kitchen renovation, when CAC actually adds value, but renovated kitchen does not. So in our compromise, instead of the full-blown renovation (see link to full-blown layout thread), we would not go hog-wild, but renovate just to meet our top needs. There is always something else that needs our time/money. Waiting a few years does not help. Waiting will just eat the time/money of the future projects (masterbath, patio, finishing familyroom above the garage, outdoor ice-rink, new roof, cobblestone driveway, etc etc etc). We have a great diningroom that we use daily. I do not need a breakfast table/area. (In my previous house, I had a small diningroom right near the kitchen/breakfast table that is right next to the island with seating. A bunch of useless space.) Now we either eat in the diningroom or a quick snack at the island. Thank you very much, Amanda/huango Here is a link that might be useful: hog-wild layout thread

Don't tremble (or worse, get angry) when your phone rings with an unknown caller ID or let all such calls go to voicemail. Doing that is allowing yourself to be emotionally victimized. don't let that happen. For me, more often than not, such calls are real. Elmer, all I can say to the last sentence of that is "Lucky you." I mostly stopped answering the phone when 19 calls out of 20 were obvious fraud. Like "Microsoft" or "Social Security" calling because they "detected fraud on your account." My phone service has gotten better about flagging things as spam, or valid number. I will pick up when it is a valid number, if I'm expecting the call, or it's from someone in my contacts. Otherwise, no. It's not that I'm living in fear; it's that I'm avoiding annoyance. But my workplace encourages paranoia. We've had more training on phishing and other targeted attacks than you can shake a stick at.