I've heard that this could be partially due to the nitrification of the air due to lightning strikes; resulting airborne nutrients are then supposedly carried to the ground via rainwater. Sounds good, anyway. Mostly, it's probably just a response by the plants, which have been receiving increased light and warmth, and whose growth is triggered by the sudden abundance of rain. Plants like Hosta tend to make most of their growth for the season in one push, anyway, so there's a mechanism that lets them take advantage of the opportune time to do it. However it happens, it is one of life's little miracles.

Thanks for your posts. While you were posting I was looking into cork flooring. I currently have tile and while I like the look, it is hard on my feet after a few hours. Lavastone will probably be out of reach. The cabinets are already spendy and I will probably have to settle for something less expensive on the countertops. Cork flooring worries me in a humid environment. We have no heat, no AC, just fans and tradewinds. It's certainly not as humid as the east coast and the south. I read that it naturally repels insects. And oh, it sounds so comfy on my feet. There is another product which is a combination of cork and recycled rubber. I also liked the Marmoleum with its great array of colors. The salt spray (we're about a quarter mile from the ocean) shouldn't be a problem if you wipe the cabinets down now and then. It's the same with our painted garage door, a spray now and then to keep debris off keeps it looking good. Inside the house, the upkeep will be even less. I'm leaning towards darker lower cabinets (either chocolate, graphite gray or iridescent blue, and lighter uppers I like sea glass or or biscuit. I saw a kitchen with the iridescent blue and loved it....but will I in a few years? I have an actual paint chip brochure and the colors on the website are a little off on my computer. Seaglass is the palest aqua...really just like seaglass. You can also order any Viking appliance in any of the colors. The only appliance I need to buy is a range hood so I might go with Viking. Still struggling with countertops. Kind of like a solid white or stainless.

I also disagree with moving the fridge to where your ovens are drawn. While it would centralize food storage, a nice idea for the cook, it would come at the expense of having everyone else drawn into and across all your work areas. That's actually about the worst place I can imaging having a fridge with a family and kids. It wouldn't have worked for my family with kids (I'm down to one at home for just another year and he's at school, meetings and rehearsals most of the days and into the evenings). I would probably prefer your first layout as a balance between the cook's needs and the family's. If you get everything to the table before a meal and don't need drink refills for everyone during a meal, I think the fridge placement will work. If you tend to have to get up and get things from the fridge half a dozen times a meal (we did) then the second layout might work better (you need to be more organized as a cook), but I agree that the prep sink will probably not be used much then. If it is next to a mudroom pantry cabinet, it might wind up being hand washers in your way rather than your prep sink. KWIM? I couldn't move my fridge off the back wall of my kitchen without making everything worse. We put fridge drawers in the breakfast room to draw much of the beverage, breakfast, making lunches and snacking traffic out of the kitchen. It worked well for us, but it was an added expense. Neither of your fridge locations are as blocked as our was, so I think you can make either work. I would pick the one that works best for your traffic -- in other words, do you go back and forth more when baking and cooking or do family members get up from the table to get forgotten items, drink refills, etc more during meals? The first layout is further for putting away after a meal, but that is easy enough to consolidate. Have you worked in the existing kitchen layout? Does that oven location work for you? It is a bit restrictive and would bother some people. It could also be an issue if kids are in the pantry while you are cooking or baking. I could be okay with an oven there, but I do not like micro placement there. It is across the kitchen from the fridge and across from the breakfast room and family room. The only thing it seems well placed for there would be taking micro popcorn (which we don't use) out of the pantry and then taking it into what I think is the dining room. Everything else is in the way. I would try to fit a micro into the end near the breakfast table or near the cooktop and fridge -- on the family room side. We got a micro drawer to make the placement work for us. They are more money, but it was still our least expensive appliance and solved a lot of issues. Well worth it for us.

Black Walnut heart wood with no stain and Waterlox varnish will look exactly like that. I think the sample picture is natural Walnut without stain/dye because you can see the darkness of the knot and contrast with some lighter colored grain around it. I make lots of things out of Walnut, and never use stain, making sure to carefully select all the heartwood where it will show the best color. The final result is identical to the picture.