samantha: I saw a tip recently somewhere for getting paint off hinges. Use a crock pot (either an old one that you'll never use for food, or you can buy tiny ones at Ace for about $10). Fill halfway with water, let hinges 'cook' all day, then lift them out with a pair of tongs or something like that. Supposedly the paint falls right off of them! I've used CC over prior latex with no issues. I used a foam roller (about 4" long) on large surfaces (doors), them immediately followed up with a flat brush to take any little bubbles out from the roller. The flat brush needs to be 'moist' with paint. If it's dry it will pull the CC off that you just rolled on. If it's too wet, it will cause major runs and drips. So dip it like you were going to paint with it, then wipe almost all of the paint off the brush. Can't emphasize enough, that brush stroke follow up has to be done immediately behind the roller, because once CC starts to set up and level, it gets the consistency of tacky elmer's glue, and brushing over it will pull it. Oh, and I used an angle brush for trim areas and tight nooks. (Use good quality brushes, it makes all the difference. I like Purdy, I see Michael recommend Corona a lot, and there is another brand he recommended that I saved and can't locate at the moment.)

Hi Angie -- that's right! I'd forgotten about that underside runnel ... and I haven't seen it (though I might not have noticed) in a residential setting. Funny... It's a great idea though. I'd do it if I were you. I'm not sure there is a "Standard" overhang -- I think it depends where you live and whom you talk with. I think it must have been here that I read 1.5" was "Standard" and when it came time for me to discuss this with fabricators and the like, they all acted like I'd crawled in from Mars. And they charged me extra for the "extra" overhang. I do believe, though, it is nevertheless "standard" for some, despite the protestations I happened to receive. But I wouldn't assume anything! This was totally confusing to me so I'll try to spell it out. Please ignore if it's patently obvious to you: I'll call it a mini-treatise on overhang. (i) There is no standard overhang (ii) over hang is measured from the cabinet box ... or at least it can be. And hence the possibility for confusion. (iii) If you choose drawer fronts that do not "inset" right inside the cabinet box, then they will set on top of the front of that box, and add extra thickness. This comes out of the "overhang" measurement. Thus, if you have, say, frameless cabinets with 5/8" drawer fronts, and your fabricator says "Sure, sure, 1.5", standard overhang..." what that translates to, functionally, is (1.5" - 5/8" = 7/8") overhang. That's less than an inch. Thus it is possible for everyone to do as you specified, sort of, and still wind up with less overhang than you'd anticipated. I had them cut "2" overhangs", from which the 5/8" was subtracted resulting in a little less than 1.5" overhangs. It's enough. But it was a fight! And one that I'm glad I put up. And also, remember that your drawer fronts usually have a little cushion they will sit on on top of the cabinet box, a pad or something -- that takes away a teensy bit more depth too. However, it was never clear to me during the skirmish why there was all this miscommunication. But I understand now; it depends where you're measuring from. As a homeowner/user, I don't care about the box at all; I don't pay attention to it. It's the drawer's front panel that matters to me, where it ends. But the contractors sometimes don't even *see* those drawer fronts so they completely ignore the issue. A real miscommunication. My experience at least. One more thing. I've whined about this a bunch but I just spent several moments ruing my ogee edges all over again. A day never goes by when I don't at least once, usually several times. I hate em. Lots of folks on here love em; I don't. This time it was bits of eggshell -- can't sweep it into the compost bucket. They get stuck, hide, on the little swoopy edge. Someone mentioned that also not-standard may be the angle of the ogee. Another had probably tighter curves and loved theirs very much; it could be that mine are very "lazy" and better catch stuff. It is the one thing I regret the most about my kitchen (which means I'm overall as happy as a clam; I admit this is not exactly calamitous). But I do want to mention, that I felt this, dunno, "glamour-pressure" to sex up the counter edges and yet, function is the most important thing to me and for some reason I just glazed over that consideration. If you're a stickler for function, you might want to consider skipping the whole countertop edge thing. Wish I had! Oh -- except I would, given the ability to choose again, ask for mitred edges, as opposed to standard. Both wind up straight but the mitred blends the swirls of the stone's pattern and the sandwich has a random-looking join - with very happening stone it can make quite the lightening streaks. Not sure whether this was depicted in the posted options.

Hi! Thank you for your replies. I will definitely stay with the diagonal now. ngng: Your kitchen looks so lovely! I want wood cabinets in the next house. Mine were an ugly, grainy, weird oak so I painted them some years ago and don't have it in me to redo them again since we plan to move in a couple of years. remodelfla: My floor plan is not an open one. The kitchen/breakfast area is separate from the family room. However, I like way the bronze Fleur de lis picks up the bronze looking flecks in the granite. I thought about smaller squares of the granite used as an accent but wanted something a little different. It's so hard to only do a bit of updating! I start to get carried away as so much needs to be done, but I really don't want to invest anything (time or money) since we aren't staying here. But it's so outdated and yucky!! We rented this house before we bought it 15 years ago and only bought because I was having a baby when the owners put it up for sale and didn't want to face a move after only just moving in a year prior! I never really liked the layout of the kitchen or the floor plan of the house! And here I am 15 years later! Time flies! Thanks for your suggestions! It has helped me!

I've been researching this for way too long now. There are a bazillion options, so it's overwhelming. WAC seems to be the easiest to configure & install, but also very expensive. It does, however, come with a silicone "coating" that protects it. I don't think other brands have this option...at least not that I can tell. I also like Diode LED brand as they have the Switchex Driver & Dimmer switch, so you don't have to hide the driver/transformer somewhere. I'm thinking you may be able to use Switchex with the tape lights of different brands...not sure though. Another plus for Diode LED is that you can purchase custom lengths. WAC is only sold in 2", 12" and 5' lengths, but they connect very easy with no soldering. Diode LED needs to be soldered (if cut). Reviews I've found also recommend: environmentallights.com, hafele.com, and armacostlighting.com (homedepot & lowes). Things to consider: CRI rating (90+, the higher the rating the more natural and truer are the colors, ie a red will look like it's true red in a higher CRI where a lower CRI might make it look a bit off, darker, etc) , color temperature in Kelvins (ie 2700K gives off a very warm yellow, 3000K light yellow, 3500K white, 4500K whitish blue, etc. options), input voltage (12V or 24V - I'm leaning toward 24V for a longer run), lumens per/ft (how dim or bright it is), cuttable increments, if you want it dimmable, max run, etc. Most, if not all, companies will walk you through it & help with the design/layout it if you give them a call. You can also go to a local lighting store for help. Oh also if getting a dimmable tape lighting system, make sure to get a LED Dimmable switch. The typical/traditional dimmable switch will not be compatible and you'll either burn out a lot sooner or it will flicker/make sound.