Internal Motor Range Hoods have blowers mounted inside the hood. The range hood cover, the blower motor, baffle filters, fan controls and lighting all come in one unit. Pros It is easier to install and access the internal motor. Cons Large CFM internal blowers tend to be noisier than the other types. Remote Blower Motor is located outside of the range hood. You can either mount the blower outside of the house,on an outside wall /on the roof, or you can place it inside the house, in the attic. Pros They usually has high-efficiency output,ranging from 800 to 1200 CFM rating. You can also benefit from its quiet operation since the blower is located outside of the hood,and not inside the kitchen. Cons Installing a remote blower is a new trending and it might takes more time and effort for labor to install the blower.

Hi, the one thing you didn't mention for the mud room is tile, and it's classic for the area - very easy to clean up, but not inappropriately over the top (or expensive) as travertine or something else might be. And while I personally think vinyl is fine in certain areas (mudroom too) I wouldn't have it in the bedrooms, where I think that would be inappropriate.

Hi Mike, yes, the cabinet would have to have some kind of grill on the front or I'd be heating the inside of cabinets only. I also am concerned about the cabinet finishes getting affected by the heat. So, I'm not too keen on this idea. There is a basement under the kitchen and the plumber said radiant floor heat with steam is " very expensive" and since we are doing oak flooring ( to match the rest of the house) we would have to be careful about the temp since the steam could warp the wood flooring... My husband already nixed this because it would blow our budget out of the water. Are there any other cons to doing the electric toe kick heaters besides the cost to run them? Thanks again, Mike:)

Hi, Lucas Tx. That looks like a nice space you have to work with. My own kitchen needs are pretty much like yours. If it were mine my top priority, as always, would be simply to create a very good main place to work, a place I liked to be, with everything else placed to serve that spot efficiently. Your statement that "prep space between the sink and cooktop is small, I end up prepping on the other side of the sink" says something very important to me. Your prep space was never meant to be that little scrap between those two, it's that BIG area between the stove and fridge that you don't mention at all and don't like to work at. No matter what you do to the rest, if you don't move the sink you will always have a dysfunctional kitchen and be carrying stuff back and forth across the sink to where you want to work, as you do now. Therefore, if it were mine :), I'd open up the diagonal wall, decide where I really wanted to do my prep and cooking and then place everything else where it needed to be. Without much musing, I'm imagining the DW next to a widened doorway in (we could stroll right past with the DW door open), and the sink next to it looking out to the back yard; the DW side would be the cleaning side (where mess is gathered for cleanup) and the left the prep side (where freshly rinsed veggies were set for chopping, etc.) The stove would need to be slid somewhat farther left on the wall it's currently on, incidentally adding some more nice work space, but especially to avoid a competing-bottoms problem between the diagonal prep counter and the sink. This would create a pleasant and spacious main prep counter optimally between stove and water. The other cook could prep between stove and refrigerator. The rest is details. I'd do almost all drawers, though. I have them and love them. If I bought another old house, much as I love old kitchens, I'd eat beans and rice until I could afford to upgrade to drawers. Everything is so easy to put away and find, and there's so much more effective storage area (you don't have to leave search room for the questing arm and moving stuff around to get at the rest). Summary--plan on moving the sink. :)