I did ask the Lowe's guy what had to be done around the sink to support the weight and he said nothing for a ss, they just glue it on. Not true. Fabrication guidelines are to use mounting brackets with non solid surfaced integrated sinks. There sink is bonded to the sheet stock with silicone but mounting brackets must be used. Sales people should never be taken at their word about installation matters. Some are outright liars, some are well meaning but clueless. I recently had a salesman try to tell me that gas ovens dry out food because electric is moist heat and gas is dry.He walked away when I asked if he'd like to put money on it. He was also the one that told me the Kitchenaid doesn't make a 24" wall oven. I told him to Google it. A very nice but clueless saleswomen did not know how to read dimensions on a hood I inquired about. Had absolutely NO clue what height width and depth were. Sad but true. A heating guy at a trade show told me I would have damp floors if I put in hydronic radiant. LOL Dark solid surface will show scratches as white. Matte surfaces are recommended for kitchen counter tops, never hi gloss. You could go with a semi gloss if the counter is a light patterned one. While I'm at it the substrate should never be solid in a kitchen application. The runner a runner method should be used and all seamed areas should have additional support. Don't think of solid surface as just Corian. There are at least a dozen manufacturers of solid surface out there. Formulas are very similar. Take a look at Avonite,Swanstone,Hi-Macs,LivingStone,Wilsonart's Gibraltor and Formica brand solid surface. The bottom line is not the material but the fabricator.

I see this posting is now 3 years old however it is still coming up quite high on google rankings so I'll throw my two cents in. I own an estate sale company in Long Island, New York. Henry Laurent Estate Sales. I'm happy that you were able to post your concerns and then follow up with the results. As one poster said you usually read the question - which rarely paints us in a good light - and never hear the outcome. If people stumble upon this post in the future there are some things to keep in mind. Companies should provide you an itemized list. Always. My staff will write "Sheet $1". It is the only way to accurately account for every dollar in and every item out. Also we always have questions of " how much did xyz sell for?". It could have only been a $10 item but it was sentimental so they are curious. Secondly, for a normal household mixed with small and furniture the average sale is around $6k - $10k for a 2 day sale. Lower end for higher amount of smalls, high end with several nice pieces of furniture, jewelry (over $500 a piece). 35% is just around the national average right now and is what we charge. About 80% of that spent towards advertising. While one poster said that you should do it yourself because Craigslist is free ... that is true but only one site out of the 12 that we use and I'm sure others do as well. Out of the 12, 3 are free the others are subscription based with additional fees to highlight or bump your sale to the top spot. Local papers also cost around $300 - $1,000 for a proper 7 day run depending on amount of lines, bolding, placement ..etc. Finally, there is always the concern that we will under price things. Believe me we put the price at the high end of estate sale prices because we know that there will be haggling and bundling. We also know what the market will bare. While chairs might be selling on ebay for $300, it doesn't mean they sold for $300. You are seeing them because they are still available. Average dining room and bedroom sets go for around $500. All in all I'm happy that you posted and that you had a good experience. A good review for one estate sale company is always good for the industry.

I have a motor on one set of blinds that's not easiily accessible (I'd have to climb over a chair to get to the cord) and we really like it. The blinds were "Prestige" from islandblinds.com and while the motor cost as much as the blind itself since the blind wasn't terribly expensive it was no big deal. It was no harder to install than any of the other blinds since the motor was self-contained in the header bar: screw brackets into window frame, pop blind into brackets, attach valance. Big whoop. The hardest part was getting the darn valance snapped on, to be honest! The motor is battery-operated and the company said maybe once a year or so at the most often we'll need to take the blind down to pop in new batteries but after 10 months they're showing no sign of running down with being operated at least twice a day. (I think it takes AAs?) Obviously mitchdesj got something FAR more expensive and complex than we did to require hardwiring and an installer there for 4 hours!

You have three major things here that are making you dislike your kitchen - floors, hickory, and paint. Maybe a fourth - lighting. When cabinets are bad, I am usually the first to say, paint them white. But, your cabinets are so nice, and I personally would not paint them. I love wood floors, and want all my wood floors the same species and stain, so I would definitely want hickory floors in my kitchen. I know this is usually a "no-no" but I truly think with some tweeking in other areas you can make it work. See attached pictures from Houzz. Changing the terra cotta paint will make the biggest impact. Check out the green paint in some of these attached pictures or a neutral linen white (this is coming from someone who doesn't like white walls). Someone mentioned under-cabinet lighting - you probably need that, but hard to tell from the pictures. So, if that were my kitchen, I would intall hickory floors to match the rest of my house, I would paint the walls a lighter color (my accessories would help dictate that color), I would use a really nice kitchen rug to add color of my choice, I would use my bright, happy Fiesta dishes to make me happy. I am not understanding about the island - are you going to use one. If so, perhaps paint it a color (of your choice) to break up the flooring. Don't be afraid of mixing the hickory wood if that is what you want. If you google craftsmen room, you will see cabinets, trim, flooring, doors, etc in the same species and stain and it looks great. It is all in how other color is added. Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz-Hickory cabinets[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/hickory-cabinets-phbr0lbl-bl~l_36965)