When I quit I learned one thing: You will NOT quit until YOU WANT to quit. That's the number one thing. What works for one won't work for another. Money was a big motivator for me. At the time I decided to quit I knew I was going to be quitting my job soon and the discounts I got on cigarettes would end. And at one point I was around 5 packs a day and just went, nope, won't be paying that much. I liked the taste of a cigarette (and do to this day) but it simply was not worth it. Smoking is more habit than anything else. Break your routine. I quit smoking at home first, then quit at work, then quit in the vehicle. That was the toughest part. Get in and reach for a smoke. But when I did a simple adjustment like moving the cigarettes to a different pocket and started noticing my hand in an empty pocket, I realized just how much it's habit. Working in the garage really gave an urge. But when I realized it was the habit it became much easier to deal with. Like with a diet or many other things, what works for one isn't for everyone. You need to find your motivator and use it to your advantage. Once I truly decided I WANTED to quit, the quitting part wasn't very difficult. The tough part is convincing oneself that you want to quit. Good luck finding what works for you. Once you do, you're almost home.

Jenswrens, I hope you know that the meanness heaped on your previous plan was from us wanting you to have a really really great kitchen, not just a pretty one!! First impression, this is a much, much better plan, and should fine as is, though, as with most plans, some tweaking can probably improve it. I have been noodling around with your design and came up with nothing that worked. You've done a great job, and it's worth all your iterations and efforts. I love the way you've conserved your windows and gotten the wall space you needed for your tall units by reorienting. And I love your complex island. It's a little quirky, which makes the elegance of your design interesting. If you don't think you need two dishwashers, I don't think you do. The aisle size is fine for baby goats. I once did an analysis and decided that 40" bare minimum to not feel cramped and claustorphobic, and 54" the maximum not to be too wide. You're a couple of inches past that, but you have the "goats". It won't be bad. The biggest issue in that is landing space for the fridge, but that's something that can be worked with. Maybe a folding tea cart for the odd thing that's just too heavy to carry to the counter. Maybe just group effort. I think the hearth seating is going to be cozier than it looks in the drawing. Over and over I am reminded how seating doesn't look on paper like it takes up the amount of real room that it does in life. Plus, when you were drawing you left a nice, open passage between the hall and the porch. IRL, there will be a dog lying across that, at the very least. I really think by the time you're done decorating there will be plenty of cozy in the room, and you need the space that's currently empty. (Says the one with the big rooms--maybe it's just the big roomness that's making it feel uncozy. You want a big room. The agoraphobia will pass.) Why is mudroom junk visible? Can't you put in a door? Doors are really useful barriers to unwanted sights. The other thing you could do is just put a small partition wall inside of the doorway to block the sight through. Or if you're trying to let in light, make a textured glass partition there. That is, something sticking out of the South wall, about 3-4' wide, that people have to go around to get to the mudroom proper and blocks people seeing in. A partial vestibule, if you will. Or even a decorative, freestanding screen. I see the value of making the porch bigger though. Do you need a powder room there? Do you want people not crossing the hearthroom to to other powder room? Or do you want to move that (I forget). But, if you make the porch bigger, how do you enter the mudroom? I think you could design something like a potting bench on top and a pet station under counter height that would serve both purposes and make maximum use of your extra mudroom space. I don't imagine that one would usually want to be doing gardening tasks and feeding both at the same time, so sharing the space seems natural. Okay, my big question is about the wine room. A window? Really? The North wall helps, but I wouldn't even want the wine on an outside wall. You're going to need plenty of extra insulation there. AHA!!! If the powder room is in the mudroom, would that be okay for company to use? If so, you could remove the powder room as shown, move the wine room to the interior, and make part of the current wine room into your pantry. Pantries aren't fond on windows either, but most pantry foods don't mind small changes in temperature, whereas you should keep wines at even, nonfluctuating, temperatures. Light isn't great for either, but you can do a temporary solution for that, like blackout film, if you don't want to take out or board over the window altogether. The dishes don't go in those pretty glass fronts? and the drawers below them? The problem with dishes on the island shelves is enthusiastic tails and cat hair. You could add doors. As to the rest of the kitchen proper? Is that the two microwaves between the glass fronts? They're pretty there, but I usually use the microwave on stuff right out of the fridge or freezer. If you do too, that distance could be a bother. I don't think there's room for them on the other side though, and splitting up the MWs and the coolers, and putting one of each on each wall breaks up the pretty. When I first looked at the plan, I thought the appliances between the glass fronts were double ovens. If so, those are okay there. Most things that go in ovens start out as pots or trays on counters, and you have the single near the stove for moving between those. If the double are really the microwaves, I might trade the single oven with one of the microwaves. But that depends on how you cook and live. What's more important? An oven by the stove, or a microwave by the fridge? Maybe a little MW near the fridge for defrosting a bagel and melting butter, with a big one on the other side? I stand by the first thing I said, though. No matter what might not be perfect in this plan, I could live with it as is. Everything but the window in the wine room.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. To clarify a couple of points raised. The wall behind the right third of the range is even and level with everything to the right of the range. I believe it's because it's one piece of sheetrock that comes to the frame behind that part of the range. The left 2/3 of the range is slightly skewed or recessed. Again, I think it's because there's a new piece of sheetrock and slightly recessed framing behind that part of the range and wall (apparently the framing wasn't touched by the new contractors and it was an unevenness that existed with the house). In any case, the range can never be flush because there are 2 "different walls" behind it. I like the thought of covering the gap with SS to make it look like a filler piece that likely won't get noticed and will cover the gap, as well as cost much less. The contractors actually suggested that as well as a possibility. By the way, our contractors did everything except floors and granite. The granite and floor guys were great - they actually noticed other areas of unevenness but because there was no continuous granite, I think the granite guy didn't notice it and simply squared each piece of granite to each respective piece of wall. We've discussed the "should" of the contractor having to cover it. We'll see now if they do what they should because they should have caught this earlier. Depressing, sad, etc... The thing is, the contractors are actually really good, creative, etc. -- they are just CARELESS and HASTY. It's the craftsmanship that seems to be lacking these days. BUT, we're just about done and will post pictures of the final product soon. Thanks again.

Davidro1.... You are correct in that the LR/DR black granite tiles are set on the diagonal. The foyer terrazzo tiles are set 'square' to the front door. The kitchen entryway from the foyer is flanked by louvered double doors which I plan to remove along with the door trim. I plan to open up the entryway to the ceiling. The current transition is awful as I think it sits up too high and when I hit it with my foot (which I tend to do a lot), it is reminder that I don't like it. I plan to make the transition flush with both floors. As I mentioned in my original post, I was going to use a strip (two+ inches wide) of AB granite to serve as a visual transition in the Foyer/Kitchen entryway. Since I am now going to use a terrazzo tile, I don't think I need to repeat this transition in the other entryway. The Breakfast space (which is contiguous to the task area) is closed off by a swinging door (that is never used). I plan to remove this also and open up to the ceiling. The sliding glass doors (as shown in my mockups) open up to a balcony which is no longer a functioning space. We moved the doors outward bringing the space indoors gaining almost five feet. The remaining balcony 'space' is about 18 inches deep....just enough space for a few small pots of herbs. I went to three granite/tile places today looking at terrazzo tile. My one positive accomplishment....I think I am going with an 18" square, rectified tile. I had thought to use a 12" size but after adjusting my thinking and visual perspective, I think the larger tile will work - unless someone is willing to tell me otherwise and explain the supporting design principle. The color will be a lighter, less busy pattern similar to ArizonaTiles 'Torreon Stone' My design vision doesn't see to be too far off from yours. I have tentatively selected maple with stain/wash/glaze/whatever to create this sort of look. I realize I might have to change my wood species to achieve it.: The granite selection seems to be a moving target right now. I had originally selected Imperial White which is a very tight, fine grained 'granite' (and I use that term with much chagrin). It was the closest granite that I could find that had a somewhat even look of engineered quartz. I wanted a stone that was not very busy and fairly even in color which EQ provided - but I didn't like the looks of after five years of use. After thinking that this stone 'was the one', I learned via the world-wide-web that this material is actually an Orthogneiss which means it needs lots and lots (did I say lots?) of pampering. After finding this out I've done two things....1) lots of reading about sealers and 2) started looking at Bianco Romano...which I'm not really keen on the garnet accents but at least they are fairly small on the slabs that I'm considering. Imperial White not-granite slab (picture color is not accurate, only posting to show the look): Backsplash, I don't know if you saw my comment on another posting, but I credit your Clippings of reminding me that I had a solid glass backsplash in my Inspiration folder. My only conundrum is whether to paint the back ala Palimpsest or frost it and place it over a painted wall. The drawback with the frosted-over-the-painted-wall version, is if I ever want to change the kitchen paint, then this one portion will present a challenge...which I have a whole other thought tangent regarding paint colors. *sigh* There are other small design elements that I plan to add which I won't bother you with in this post unless you express an interest. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for taking the time to reply to my post! Pepper