"In my mind, you'll need at least 100A service to this subpanel. The reason is that it sounds fairly likely that the AC, the lift and the compressor will need to run at the same time. It might be possible to get away with 75A, but you're probably heading for a lot of nuisance trips. Not only will that require a visit to the main panel in the house, but you'll be left in the dark while removing that coil spring." That was my exact thought. It would be approximately 20' of cable to run out of the house, down the conduit, under the concrete breezeway, and back up inside of the cinderblock wall, where it will exit below the sub panel. Another issue I have, is where and how to put the grounding rods. Everything is concrete. The closest non-concrete area is 20' across the garage on the far side of the building. I guess I have to drill holes in the sidewalk/breezeway concrete and drop the spikes down. Not sure how to sink them though. Maybe a sledge on a ladder, or a picket pounder if I can find one. I'm trying to get a copy of the NEC from the library. Is there an easy "how-to" on doing a load calculation for the main box. Someone on another site suggested it. I did a google search and found an automated one. Also, my gang boxes have 1/2" punchouts. All my conduit is 3/4". I tried to get the gangable boxes with 3/4" punch outs and the depot doesn't carry them. Can I grind out one of the 1/2" punchouts to 3/4" or is there some code restriction on this. Last question is kind of stupid, but again, I appreciate the help.

So I read this about the 10-20% suggestion -- "The suggested numbers will be skewed at both the low end and the high end. It's really hard to do anything less than a 15K kitchen in a 50K house, as even rental grade components still cost a certain amount. It's the same with the upper end homes in areas where the market hasn't crashed too badly. When you live in a 1950's 1400 square foot box close inside the beltway in DC, you're not likely to spend 100K on a kitchen, even if your home is valued at that 1M. Most of the value is in the land, not the home." I was thinking "holy moly" until I read the qualifier -- five bedroom house in Arlington way inside the beltway (closer to 4k feet than 1.5) and we never ever pondered 100-200k when we were updating our kitchen. With respect to cabinets, we went the other way when updating (not remodeling -- and not gutting and rebuilding) our kitchen. When we bought the house a little over 13 years ago, it had a newly updated kitchen. White Shrock cabinets -- no solid wood was harmed in their construction. We never loved them, but we never hated them either. They're still fine. Heavy use from a family of five (well, 5 for the past 9 years) and they're still fine. Some little issues here and there, but they are not falling apart or listing or coming off the walls. When updating the kitchen early this year we started with the cooking facilities -- a 36" range and proper hood, with adequate ventilation. Added a new floor, because it really was time, a new matching pantry (which does have some solid wood inside), and small things, such as pot racks. We elected not to replace the cabinets because the old ones basically still work for us and the basic white looks fine to us -- not beautiful or lovely or awesome, but fine. Lovely cabinets are lovely, but it's a big kitchen, and the extra 30k or more we might have spent on substantially nicer cabinets was money we chose to keep. Similarly, we kept our granite counters -- not our favorite pattern, but a decent neutral tone, decent counter space, and they've held up just dandy to everything -- hot pans, you name it. I've nothing at all against the up-market cabinet suggestions. Paying for quality materials and workmanship absolutely makes sense if it's in-budget and appreciated. I'm just adding the perspective of somebody who has found a more budget oriented option to hold up fine. For me, the kitchen is about cooking. Storage is necessary, but I start with the cooking equipment -- range or top plus oven(s), ventilation, and prep space. For me -- just my perspective -- the boxes come somewhere down towards last. For free, I'd swap them in a heartbeat, but it's not free.

Our Minka Aire Concept II 44" fan was installed this week, just in time for our first serious heat wave of the summer. It was 100 degrees yesterday and 83 upstairs at bedtime, a perfect night to sleep in the guest room and try out that baby. I put it on high for about half an hour while I read. It cooled me down instantly, but I didn't want to sleep with it on high because it makes a little wind noise, but less than a table fan. I switched it to whisper-quiet medium for the night. I never felt hot once. Thanks to all the great help on this thread, I got a great fan and a comfortable guest room for summer visitors!

Hi wantoretire_did! Thank you so much for the suggestions! I've been meaning to get to HD and my local ACE for a walk-about. I'm going to go when I have a couple of hours and don't have to rush around. Just walk around with my trusty legal pad and take notes. Lighting is a big part of what I want to look at. I really appreciate your suggestion because that didn't even cross my mind! I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the fixtures in my house are original, and at 37, they need to retire, lol! I just can't see paying some guy from CL for the rest of my life to come replace bulbs and wash the fixtures! I have electric burners, but I can see how that could easily happen with gas. I'm pretty much leaning against the ceiling fans now; cathyyg made very good points, and these seven ft. ceilings feel so low already, even at my height, that I fear the fans would just draw attention to them. We've got a good system with the fans now, and I don't think ceiling fans are as necessary as I thought they were when I first posted this. Yes! Taking lots of pictures! :-) I hope all is well with you and yours!