Welcome to the world of ponding! About the lilies, I've kept lilies in 18 - 19 inches of water and they do just fine. In fact, my hardies thrived at that depth. I've also seen tropicals kept at that depth, and they did fine too. They must be pretty adaptable. That's way too shallow and too small for koi, but I think you can keep a few goldfish or mosquito fish if you help shade the water for them in the deeper end to keep it cooler. The lily pads will do a good job of that. A pot with something tall that has broad leaves like taro or lotus placed on the south or west end of the pond would also be a good idea. I was going to say that water hyacinth will do well there, but I'm thinking that they may be illegal in Arizona. They do an excellent job of shading the water if they're legal there. Parrots feather is another option. Pretty much any sun-loving marginal should do well in your pond. Do you have a filter or aeration? Oxygen levels are lower in extremely warm water, so don't overstock your fish. You might also need to add an airstone when temps start getting close to 100.

Ok. Let me try this again. I have color-coded the drawing to help explain what I am asking. What I am trying to accomplish is to have the benefit of extra space without totally removing the load-bearing wall. With the island I would like to put in, I won't have a wide enough walkway if I line the load-bearing wall with cabinets. However, I was thinking that I might be able to keep the support from the load-bearing wall, place a pantry, closets or cabinets around the supports for that wall, and create a non-load bearing wall behind it. Sort of bumping the wall back without losing the structural integrity it provides and without the cost of removing it, especially because I would need to put up another wall between the dining room and kitchen, even if it is not as long. Otherwise, there is nowhere to put the fridge. This means I would lose some space in the dining room, but we don't use it more than 1-2/times per year. I am attaching some photos of my very ugly current kitchen to give you a better idea of the current layout. At this point, I am wondering if this idea has any merit before I move into other floor plans for the space. I really, really want the big island but am not sure if it is feasible. 1. View from dining room into kitchen: view from front hallway near stairway 3.kitchen from family room 4. view of load-bearing wall from kitchen toward the dining room 5. another view of load-bearing wall 6. from garage entrance into kitchen 8.from bay window area toward load-bearing wall If there are other views you would like to see, please let me know.

Thank you for all the suggestions. Do not be sorry for saying your opinion, I have understood that everyone has different choice and likes. So I will not mind. We do not have any book collections. So I am not sure what I will be storing in them. The first photo was taken when the house was staged. To make it look that I need to but those huge books that we do not read. :). Jokes apart we will using the space as secondary TV room\entertainment area for big gathering. We already have another primary family room. I like low maintenance, with so many shelves I need to do regular dusting which I am not up for. We are painting all the windows and trims and base boars white in the room. I do not like the wood color. It make the room dark. Here are the additional photos of that room. These photos are from listing so the room looks brighter, but believe it does look this bright in reality. To explain my choice, I know adding a window seat that current height would be too high. So I wanted to reduce the height and get it to 20 inches. We may have to change the window in the future as these are really old. When we do that we can get bigger window that will match the window seat height. I hope that makes sense.

can't picture current kitchen or eventual space from glimpses through doorways. also, not sure what you are asking -- how to design the whole kitchen, or how to deal with cabinets on a wall with a sloped ceiling? 1) ignore the slope, and let it just be far above the cabinets 2) fill the extra space with shelves 3) Stagger cabinets but don't fill space to vault 4) pick a height and soffit down to it 5) fill the vault to ceiling with custom cabinets So, the right answer depends a bit on the size of the vault, the style of your kitchen, budget, and personal preference. Hope this helps!