So, I think of everything I have seen, I really like the Bradington Young Barcelo recliner, linked in the post by gooster: It has the coveted swivel feature that DH wants, it comes in a gorgeous variety of leathers, and it doesn't have that typical recliner pillow-back look, which I like! The saga continues, though . . . because I can't find it on the floor in any store. I have found local stores that carry the B-Y brand, however, none have this particular model in stock for DH to try out. DH insists on trying out the chair, and I don't blame him. Especially given the expense of a chair like this, we would hope it could be viewed in person someplace. It doesn't help that we live in rural Wisconsin, I'm sure. So I called the B-Y company, left a message and am awaiting a call back. Hopefully, we can see this chair before purchasing. We are willing to travel, within reason, to see it. So close, and yet so far!

I'm sorry because it sounds like you're almost dreading this visit, which isn't how it should be between friends at all. I wouldn't call in advance; just remember that everyone has different styles, and some people are more gracious about accepting others' differences. Over many years of doing volunteer activities for school and kids' sports teams, I've had my share of unsolicited advice. (Always from people who let someone else do all the work, even tho I work full time and many of them don't work at all.) My standard response is now along the lines of "that's a great idea -- next year you can head up this committee and make that happen!" That shuts them up. (Or, when refereeing a soccer game, I'd just hand them my whistle. That shut them up too.) I'm thinking along the same lines for home "advice." Something like "...That would be great in your house; maybe you should do that. In my house, I love THIS!" Also, you can just laugh and say "It's a good thing we don't live together, because our styles are so different!... Now, who wants another margarita?"

While I LOVE your antique cabinets, if removing them gives you the space for an island with proper aisle widths, do it. The only issue I'm aware of with a DW across the aisle from the sink is dripping on the floor. So the type of flooring you are using may be a consideration. If someone doesn't wipe up any large drips, will it cause spotting on your floor? Or make it slippery so someone would slip? Maybe a nice throw-rug in that area would solve that problem? Just stuff to consider. If there are other problems with that arrangement, hopefully someone pipes in. You may find that with drawers on a all or most of the lowers, you gain enough storage that you don't need all those uppers. Drawers in an island may especially make that difference. We just found that out for ourselves in our slow-going, DIY remodel. We added two 24" drawer units. All the contents for 48" of uppers fit into one of the 24" drawer units. Yes, ALL, with space left over. So we had an entire drawer stack empty until we did some other re-arranging of things (emptied some things from my blind corner, Yay!). Drawers hold so much more stuff. It was rather shocking to me how much more the drawers held. And more convenient to access, too. Because of that, we decided to remove the uppers because they crowded the window and it looks so much better now. We have decided to put narrow 6" shelves there instead of those bulky-looking uppers and go with something like the photo to store some basics like flour, beans, other grains, etc., in jars for easy access, with just a few drinking glasses (as one end of the shelves is near the fridge) and decorative items. Although we will be doing floating shelves to keep the side view uncluttered, because our window is on the long side of the L while the shelves are on the short side of the L so our side view is important. In your kitchen, I think shelves just like pictured would look awesome. To be honest, I'm surprised I'm doing this as I haven't been much of an open shelves fan in kitchens but I think as long as there is uniformity in what you put on them and they are kept relatively uncluttered, it is a good, workable solution. So, yeah, add a real island with drawers and I'm sure you'll find you can eliminate or minimize whatever upper cabinets you really need.

Hi Indigovenice, I would say your plants are grown from seed from what I can see. It is very unlikely that the Kruger National Park Nursery, where you bought your plants would bother with cuttings. Although your plants are young, you can see the making of a caudex/base in my opinion.... Cuttings tend to look more like a stick in a pot until they grow older, where they may develop a thicker stem/base look. Seedlings have a taper from base to top. Here's a photo to help explain better. The pot on the left, has cuttings from some of our plants. Notice what I call the stick in a pot look. The pot on the right with the pink flower is a seed grown plant, notice the taper of the trunk. (These are Adenium Obesums) Also here's a close up photo of our soil mix that we use. It is a cactus/succulent mix. It is a bark style soil mix. This mix drys out well in our heat within two days, giving our plants moisture, but yet not staying wet for too long. (The soil is wet in this photo, from the storm we had last night) We do not use a gritty mix in our heat, as our plants would cook in our heat with a gritty mix. (Our plants are in full sun all day.) You said, that your plants were bought in black plastic bags and that they didn't have many fine feeder roots. It's possible that the black plastic heated up too much and either cooked the fine feeder roots or that the excess heat may have stopped the plant from being able to grow feeder roots. Although these plants love heat, they are still vulnerable to excess heat as seedlings. If you think about it, all plants need a healthy established root system to flourish. This is especially important in seedlings. It is abit of trial and error to learn what your plants need in your environment. Most of us here on the forum have struggled while we were learning, so you are in good company. Many of us have killed a plant or two. :)