Who says you need 120k Btu furnace??? IF you are replacing a 25 year old 120k Btu unit, you most likely can install an 80k Btu furnace and get the same amount of heat. Have a manual J done to size the furnace properly. The MVB is a 2-stage furnace with an ECM motor.~ 94% AFUE The MTB is a 2- stage gas valve and a conventional blower ~93% AFUE. The MCB is a single stage furnace with a conventional blower. ~92% AFUE The MVB and MCB will be more tolerant of oversizing due to the 2-stage gas valves. But then you will have an MCB that is sized properly when the other furnaces are running on "Low". Do it right, you will always get what you pay for.

Good point, bbtrix, but relying on the pendants isn't a big deal to us. We're re-using the existing pendants with 75 W halogen bulbs (will likely switch to LED when they burn out). They put out a lot of light. We started out with 100 W halogen to replace 100 W incandescent and they were waaay too bright. Anyhoo, I prefer a mix of lighting from cans, UCL and pendants and the ability to use all or only some of them, depending on what's going on in the kitchen. And dimmers for all, of course. I just talked to my KD. She had designed the cans to be 54" OC (wasn't marked on my plan so I forgot this) so moving those 2 cans to the other side of the joist is only about 3" beyond that, putting their final location closer to her plan than their current placement of 48" OC. We can get away with slightly wider placement between cans because we have 9' ceilings. I'd forgotten about that when I was stressing over this yesterday. = ) I'm happy with this decision. I really didn't like having the 4" and 6" cans so close together in that one spot, plus I know for sure that moving the bottom can out a few inches will definitely provide light to that side cab. It's because of "the wall is open, this is in the way, what do you want to do, we need to know now" situations that I planned and planned and planned all the other details so I'd have to make as few on-the-spot decisions as possible. So far, so good (thank you, thank you, kitchen remodel gods!). ... I've read this sentence several times and can't quite fathom your concern: "At this point though, it looks like the cans by the range are the concern." Is it because it's not centered on the hood? Or for another reason? But to answer your question, I am ok with it, as is hubby. I thought he'd have a problem with it because it's not centered on hood (he can be a little OCD about that kind of stuff) but he's not bothered by it in the least. My new kitchen will be lighted better than my current kitchen, which is lighted better than it was when built 21 yrs ago, simply because we switched from incandescent to halogen bulbs. When I think back to how poorly lit all my childhood kitchens were.... My grandmother's kitchen had a light over the sink, a light over the range and a central ceiling light for a room that was 18'-20' square. How on earth did we never slice off a finger while making a meal?

so it is fungal? Is that Leaf spot or just fungus in general? I have not done anything organic yet. I intend to in the future but the only thing i have done so far is over seed and some starter fertilizer. was just doing some quick reading on the cornmeal and seems like you need presently living microbes to eat the cornmeal? not sure there. I may go chemical to try and stop this then cornmeal in the future along with composting. will the brown grass keep browning back or will it turn around and grow more? Any Chemical in particular that is recommended ? I am worried being this late in fall the local stores have hidden their lawn care chemicals and are already putting out Easter decorations?! jk on that 1 but i hope I can find some?

Thank you Beth (and everyone else who has shared their thought) Much appreciated! So I wanted to have the cabinets painted white but with all our other expenses we can't have them professionally done right now. I really liked the third picture of the sage green backsplash. We are having the whole house painted. In the kitchen we chose Benjamin Moore Winds Breath. The kitchen does open up to the family room. We are painting that room the same BM Winds Breath as I wanted to have more of a cohesive look. I still can't decide between the hardware finishes as well for the cabinets.