Juniork - yes the backsplash goes to the ceiling behind the hood fan. I thought it would look weird if we ended it partway up. ejbrymom - Yes, I absolutely loooove my KA appliances. Now I might not be the best to judge considering that my dishwasher was about 1000 years old. The first time I ran the dishwasher I called my husband and kids into the kitchen and said shhhhh listen. They all said "what, what" and I said "the dishwasher is on". They were all amazed, so compared to what we had before I can hardly hear it! The fridge is quiet too once I got used to the ice maker which scared the c**p out of me on the first night because I wasn't used to it. I love the range too - it's perfect :) rikerk - the island length is 80" the width at the widest part is 49" and the width at the straight part is 30" Love the size for our space. Noellabelle - I absolutely ADORE your granite. I looked at your kitchen pics many times when I was in the process of choosing our granite. Jalsy6 - Yes, the big microwave dilemma. We will be putting the microwave in an additional storage pantry that is located just at the entrance to the kitchen but outside the kitchen itself. We are not big microwave users (in fact we still haven't purchased a new mw and I haven't really missed it), so that made our decision a little easier but I can imagine that it wouldn't be ideal if you used your mw a lot. Thanks again for all of your nice comments :) L

pricklypearcactus-(what a name!)...I have the link to photobucket at the top that has all the photos from renovations...some include close up of the counter and backsplash etc...if you don't find what you need I can take some more-send me an email if you want. Thanks everyone...I am so enjoying the new space we have with the wall gone...and loving everything. Learning to cook with the new gas oven too-it's a dream, I love the wave touch feature. We splurged on the dishwasher and I'm so pleased it is quiet-our old one was 28 years old and very noisy!

Late to the comment game, but WOW! You did an amazing job! I wish I had a your GC here! I am sending your pics to my GC. Had we planned to do a full overlay, I was going to do exactly what you are doing. However, I want to do Ikea in the rest of the house & GC is giving me a hell of a hard time. I am almost to the point where I am going to back those areas out of the contract & have someone else do them. Well done & I hope you really enjoyed your new space over the holidays!

When I came to the crooked corners, I just kind of guessed at it. The rest of it worked well. I decided it was fine and went on down the road. I couldn't change it, so I might as well be happy with it. And I am. For my first quilt, I'm really pleased. Of course, there are several mistakes. On some, I was too far down the road to fix them. On others, I was tired of Mr. Seamripper. I learned a lot about cutting accurately (I also bought an Accuquilt.) and how much a small mistake gets bigger. Same with 1/4" seams. I've tried two different feet, the old thing you screw into the bed of machine (I'm into vintage machines) and painters tape. I bought a laser at Harbor Freight last week, but haven't figured out how to put it on the machine. So, all and all, my sewing and cutting skills are improving. Still lots of room left, though. bkay