Pretty house. I would add trees and your yard looks big enough to support one or two large shade trees and some understory trees like Appalachian Spring dogwoods (they are disease resistant and the dogwood IS our VA state tree!) or some other flowering trees-can you tell I love trees? I just planted a Vitex (Chaste tree) which flowers in the summer and is oh-so-pretty. I agree that the columns could use some beefing up. You can do this easily by nailing up boards around the existing posts to form a larger box and then paint. To soften that huge expanse of white, maybe leave the edges white (you may want to add a wide trim piece across the bottom) and paint the center of the triangle a softer hue such a taupe or sage that is not a sharp contrast. I would also paint the door. Pick your favorite color! Then, after you live with that for a bit, choose your shutter color. I agree that window boxes are pretty, but they are difficult to maintain and I'm not sure they would really add to your house. One of the best things you can do is take your time. A lot of creative staring can help you decide what you would really like. It can also help you avoid impulsive mistakes and, believe me, I've made my share of those!!! Always remember, it's an adventure and you can go back and change anything. Have fun and enjoy your new place.

Soils around Chicagoland vary from Lake Michigan Beach Sand to a very dense (heavy) clay and everything in between. Top soil is the top 4 to 6 inches of soil. That is where the soil bacteria, the Soil Food Web, will be most active provided adequate levels of organic matter, sufficent air, and good moisture levels are present. While aerobic bacteria can be active in lower levels they are not as active or well populated so working to get large amounts of organic matter to lower levels is not very productive although over time the soil bacteria will move excess amounts down. Compost, decomposing leaves, straw, hay, even animal manures are all forms of organic matter, something most all soils need up to 5 to 8 percent. Much more and that soil will start to hold an excess of water and can become boggy. However, other things can contribute to a soil retaining an excess of water, high water table, hardpan, or being lower than the normal water level which is why the Netherlands must pump water back to the North Sea. That high levels of organic matter can hold an excess of water is also why those low land farmers in the Netherlands are restricted to how much organic matter they can add to their soils.

A few more ideas: I think if you continue the banding along the top it would do loads to help unify the addition with the brick house. Don't use the same fancy molding, just a plain band to go with the simpler style of the addition. Yes to a pediment/eave over the window. It would "cap" it and give it presence. Use beefier trim on the sides of the window so it looks like the trim is supporting the pediment and to make the window/trim/pediment look like a whole. More substantial trim around the garage and on the corner of the addition. Splurge for a pretty garage door and pretty lamps. I didn't care for the window box. It didn't look like a graceful length to my eye, and the black was distracting. If you still want a window box, paint it white to make it part of the window/trim/pediment element. I also found something odd about the way the siding goes all the way to the concrete (or maybe it just looks that way in the picture). If you had a little foundation showing like over in the brick section, that would also make the addition look connected to the main house. I've drawn in a "foundation." Others had wonderful landscaping ideas, especially about balancing the plants and putting a planter or trellis under the octagonal window.

The deal where you order a cabinet w/o glass is called "glass ready." It's more economical to buy the glass you want locally and it's easy to install. I have to ask: who does the cooking/clean-up at your house? You have some really strong opinions on stuff like pull-outs, so I hope you're the one who has to cope with crawling around on the floor to reach the thing at the back of the cabinet as well as the person who has to find the step ladder to remove heavy appliances from over the fridge. I get your frustration, but pull-outs and drawers are engineered to carry heavy loads and perform just as intended, which might be called "ergonomically smart." Personally, I love having my dishes in a drawer just opposite the dishwasher vs where they used to be over the dishwasher pretty much over my head. When I can open the drawer by the stove and locate the right pot at the back of the drawer vs having to crouch down and unload everything in front of that pot and then re-load afterwards, it makes me a much happier and more efficient cook. God knows I spend enough time in the kitchen without increasing that time with mindless make-work. As for construction, you need to check out the terms "particle board," "furniture board" and "plywood." You really aren't going to want all-wood cabinets for structural reasons. "Furniture board" (a variation on particle board) has a sort of standard quality, which is "good to excellent." Both plywood and particle board come in various grades ranging from crap to excellent and one should not be mistaken for the other. FYI: This many kitchen cabinets, in a roughly 11-odd feet x whatever kitchen plus these china cabinets (glass ready) cost us $14,000 3 years ago. They came from Home Depot. We did the install ourselves. Note that we have a pantry with pull-out shelves on the bottom half, a lower corner unit with a super-susan (the best!!), and an "easy reach" upper corner cab. Under the peninsula is all drawers. Because we have such a small space to work with, as do you, we chose frameless cabinets which gives you just that little extra space when every inch counts. Amish cabinet makers are awesome, but they don't do frameless as far as I know.