Great ideas everyone, this is really helping! Palimpsest, Yes the modern maid has been quite the conversation piece over the years. The little old lady we bought the house from saved the original paperwork that came with the "Cook n Clean" and you should see how happy and liberated our Â70 career gal looks while cooking and cleaning. Laxsupermom, No offense taken at all...these are the kind of ideas IÂm looking for. I love the No-mo-oak revamp. Really, really neat and something to look at closer and think about. I had concerns about the layout when I first moved in, but after cooking in it, I thought it was great. And IÂm saying this as a person with food allergies who cooks most every blasted thing I eat from scratch without a microwave (which reminds me I need to make space for a built-in microwave). I frequently have every burner going and I do lots of canning in the summer and have never had a problem with this layout. I donÂt pre-rinse my dishes so I hadnÂt thought about the drippies between the sink and dishwasher (and nobody is allowed to stack dishes in the sink...if theyÂre too lazy or pressed for time to wash them or bend over to put them in the dishwasher, then they are to stack them on the Modern Maid until I have time to do it for them). :-) But, all that said, at one time I had thought about moving the dishwasher over to the right, sliding the fridge in the hole left by the Modern Maid, and then centering the oven and building counter on either side. Does the oven placement or the spaces around the oven in the 3rd picture from the top bother anyone (food falls down there all the time)? It doesn't really have a built-in look and may seem cramped as Laxsupermom pointed out. Whatcha think? Those who suggested flipping doors around or adding trim, IÂm not sure I can explain this and I may just have to take a picture, but the edges are rounded (beveled may be the correct word???) and they look like "B" below, so unfortunately I canÂt do either, though itÂs a great idea. http://www.jdktools.com/images/Diamond-Tools/Router-Bits-Shape.jpg IÂm going to try to put together a rendition or two of what has been suggested with BHG design software and post them. Right now I still have grass growing in the kitchen, so it may be a day or so.

Thanks, musicgal! Tracie, my daughter was told or maybe she read somewhere (here? ikeafans.com?) that the Numerar butcherblock counters sell out very quickly so I should check the website regularly for stock and then go immediately to get them when they had them. So that's what I did. Later I realized I should have ordered another 6' one; i was still within the kitchen sale period so I got a rain check and was able to get the 6' counter at the sale price as soon as they were in stock again. (They don't call it a rain check though---maybe "shopping list"? Something like that.) I don't believe that they're not ever going to get them again, at least not if they're still listed on the website. I've heard so many differing things about this and that at IKEA---FROM Ikea employees! It seems like it's really hard to get consistent answers about stuff. (Just in the past two days I've gotten four very different answers to a question I had about their faucet warranty. Sheesh!) edited to add: it wasn't more than 2-3 weeks that I had to wait for a new delivery of counters. And when I said I went immediately, I did--like within an hour of checking the stock. This post was edited by spanky_md on Wed, Aug 6, 14 at 17:59

Wow, Kevin, your home is beautiful!!! Wondering if your house Is a trinity? Whatever, it's gorgeous. I met you in the bathroom forum. BTW, I live in central Jersey. I've called around to lots of stores and no one seems to have the.models of tubs I'm interested in. I did see the Edenton today however, so no need to post a close-up. But thank you anyone for the thought.. It is a nice tub. I was surprised how slippery the Edenton bottom is even with the texture (and I was looking for no texture at all!). I'm concerned since I need a tub/shower combo - but I really want a comfortable tub as part of that combo. Now I'm wondering if a bath mat will stick to the textured surface of the Edenton when I shower or will the texture prevent it from adhering to the bottom of the tub? Any insights, anyone?. You mentioned somewhere that if you had to do over, you'd choose the Hydrosystems Lacey. Can't seem to find one of those on display. Is the bottom of the Lacey textured like the Edenton or is it a smooth bottom? Where in Philly did you see the Lacey and other tubs you were considering? Thanks so much! Guess I should post 2nd part of this in Bathroom forum- maybe tomorrow.

It is Cambria “Highgate” quartz (part of their newly released collection). The island is a 2 1/2 inch mitered edge and the perimeter is a 1 1/2 inch mitered edge. I really like the countertops. We took a chance because nobody had slabs in stock of this style since it was so new. Cambria sent me a 12x12 piece of slab and we decided based on that. We looked at about 6 different styles.