>>It's interesting that there's crown molding on the columns and a lot of detail on the wall, but no crown in the kitchen. Is there crown molding elsewhere in the house?Oh my, have you hit on a sore subject. Crown molding was only included in the formal areas and master bedroom. They also crowned no sloped ceilings. Adding crown to other areas was $250 per "room". $250 now, not so much. 20yrs ago when we're building a house and running out out money, it was. Crowning just that hallway and the adjoining family room cost $500 because it counted as 2 "rooms" even though it was only as much crown as a bedroom; the exterior wall is sloped so the family room is really only 1/2 crowned (one wall not crowned and open on one side). I didn't crown the kitchen because the only wall that would have received crown is that single wall (because again, the outside wall is sloped), and it would have cost me $250. Don't think so. I did the crown in my office myself (come on -- a box) along with the sloped ceilings in the formal living room. If *I* can do it, why in the heck couldn't a carpenter? New cabinets will go up to the ceiling in the kitchen. They put tile crown where I cared in the master bath when it was remodeled. What I should have done was made them crown the hallway to the bedrooms just to punish them. It has so many compound angles it would make any carpenter cry.

Look for a different location for your range or do an overhead hood. Overhead hoods aren't as intrusive as cabinetry there. There are even ones with glass that will help keep your vision open. More importantly, they WORK. Post your layout on the Kitchen Forum and you will get better suggestions for tweakin it. Having your center of sociability be behind a steam and greasse spitting range isn't ideal. Prep is 70% of the time you spend in your kitchen, and if you can use that now open peninsula for it, you'll actually be interacting with the people in the family room rather than having your side or back turned to them 90% of the time. Opening up a space to another room isn't always the correct design choice for the desired result. It won't change how you work in your kitchen at all, unless you change some of the locations of the major players.

Here I go again, I went and looked at the Blue star, the GE Cafe, Dacor, Thermador, Viking and Capital, and even an AGA. One thing I liked about the Dacor was the lighted knobs to let you know if you've left a burner on, which I tend to do! I thought for sure I'd want the Capital, but it just did not ring my bell, I liked the look of the Dacor more then the Capital. I can't believe it but I'm leaning towards the Blue Star. I really wanted a self clean oven, but I can just imagine searing steaks on those beautiful open burners. Blue star kept calling me. I have a Zephry Hurricane under cabinet mount range hood, and it works really, really great with my current GE 12,000 btu burners, it has 650 CFM. Will it work with the 22,000 btu Blue star burners? I'd rather not replace it if it will be OK and still suck the smoke out. I really like it, very easy to clean. Thanks for all your help! I know it takes time to answer all these silly questions. Susan

If you absolutely prefer your cook top along your perimeter and not on your island, no matter how large the island or how well a plan with an island cook top meets all the rest of your needs and wants, then definitely tell her that. For me, losing my walk-in pantry was an absolute no-go, no matter what else I might gain. Unless you have a very tiny space and extreme restrictions limiting lay-out possibilities, your KD should be able to present you with more than one possible plan for your kitchen. From what you wrote, it sounds like she will do that. I certainly hope so! There will be an additional cost for her time to draw up more than one plan but I think you'd want to know that you've chosen the best plan out of all contenders before spending a dime on your remodel. I know I would! A KD I worked with a couple years ago presented me with 5 plans for me to consider (major appliances positioned, aisle clearances marked, cab widths noted but not more than that). The plan that worked best was just like the one I had already come up with. It was beneficial for me to see that even a pro could not come up with a better plan that fit all my family's needs and wants. Is your KD a kitchen designer or just a designer? There is a difference in degree of knowledge and expertise. For instance, a designer I worked with several years ago tried to talk me into swapping out my 30" cook top for a 36" cook top, leaving me with about 13" on either side of my island cook top, which is less than NKBA recs (12" on one side, 15" on the other minimum). She had great design advice regarding paint colors, fabrics and furniture arrangement but I knew more than she did about kitchen design. If I just wanted a pretty kitchen, she would have been great to work with but I wanted a functional kitchen, too.