I've been going back and forth on your post for awhile now just looking and thinking. I have oak cabinets too and we changed out the hardware to ORB. I love it. I hear your pain on painting the cabinets! DH is the same way but has always been fine w/ me painting our cabinets. We've just never gotten around to it though. Leaving the cabinets as is until you cajole your DH into painting I think that white is a good decision for table and chairs. But Let me toss this idea out to you: Should you eventually paint your cabinets would you consider painting your table base in a pale shade of grey/ blue? I suggest this just because I think that those curtains need something a little 'weighty' in the kitchen w/ the addition of the brown sectional being in the other room. Or maybe not. I forgot that you were painting the wals green and I don't feel like erasing everything that I just typed!

I have finally found the right manual for the cooktop. I was going by the specs before. For some reason, the installation manual had only the instructions for the mechanical part (cut-out, etc.) but not electrical. Here is what the "right" manual says: "Cooktop electrical characteristics are: Operating voltage240 V~ 60 Hz Maximum power output 3600 W , 15 A Connect to 240 V, 60 Hz, 20 A minimum supply, (3 conductors #12 AWG) This unit comes equipped with three connection wires in a metal 180 cm flexible conduit. The conduit must be routed and properly connected to an approved, owner-supplied, electrical, wall junction-box. An approved connector must be used for connecting the conduit to the junction box. A three wire, 2 poles, 240 V, 60 Hz service with minimum 20 A circuit protector must be provided. The red and the black wire from the unit are to be connected to the service ("hot") wires, and the green wire is to be connected to the ground conductor. The circuit protector for the unit should be properly marked inside electric panel and anybody using the unit, or technician servicing the unit, should be advised of circuit protector�s location, so that the power to the unit can be disconnected when necessary." So, it is not a 15 amp but a 20 amp appliance then. If the oven truly requires 20 amp, they can both be run from the 50 amp outlet, using tap conductors, right? What if the oven requires a 30 amp breaker, even though it has maximum output XXXX W 20 amp?

Since you don't mind the drive, I would humbly suggest that you visit Jungle Music in Encinitas. The variety of palms offered is overwhelming and they seem to have a good selections of sizes (liners up to boxes). If you go to their web site (www.junglemusic.net) I suggest you go to the "Check out the blog". It's a great intro to many palms that do well in CA with lots of pictures showing various stages. I've learned a lot. For the record, I live in Atlanta, GA so most of what I've purchased from Jungle Music has been shipped as 5 gallon or smaller. More cycads than palms. Always great stuff. Hope this helps. Good luck. Paul

I used a variety of sizes of Amerock Highland Ridge... Naturally I made a spreadsheet to detail everything. For my big drawers (30"+), I used the 160mm size. For my drawers that weren't quite as big, plus the trash pullout & dishwasher, I went with the 128mm. My top drawers over the big drawers were split into two, so I went with the smaller 96mm. Then I have 2 flip up narrow cabinets over the fridge/pantry, so I used the small 3" pull on those. And I also have appliance pulls for my fridge/freezer/pantry. For my knobs on the cabinets, I used the larger size (1-1/4") of and Emtek knob. I first got the smaller (1") size and they were too small. This picture actually shows all 5 different sizes and the knobs. :p