Somewhat sorry that I did such a poor job of letting my ex- (several years deceased) know how important she was to me ... how much I loved her. My dad's family were somewhat undemonstrative, and he was an only child ... who said once, some years after Mom got sick and his mother came to live with us, that her ideas about raising kids were 20 years out of date when she raised him. Mom became hospitalized with mental illness when I was past six, and died when I was 13, 2 brothers younger. Her family are more demonstrative ("the kissin' XXXs") ... and I think that our family life would have been different has she been with us dthrough our growing up years. Another regret - that son says that there is no god - that all religions are merely superstitions and is rather militant about it. I have to understand that his choice of lifestyle is his to choose, and accept that. A third is that I didn't get to operate as a clergyperson through all the years of one's career, and Sue's and my parting ove 40 years ago, when clergy just didn't DO that, was not the whole of it. That should be about enough for one day, dontcha think? ole joyful

My black lab and border collie mix have taken to checking out what's on the counter lately. Might have something to do with 17+ and 19 year old cats who don't belong to the clean your plate club. They coordinate with the marble and black granite very well, but it makes me chuckle to think how silly (and uncomfortable) they would look if I ever put them up on the counter. The Great Pyreneese? Better be a BIG island! LOL I meant to say earlier that I would not want a movable island. I would have no place to move it to where it wouldn't be a bigger problem. Now, I suppose that you could custom build something that had an island that fit under a counter height table(would still allow some storage but would have to preserve leg room for the table) you might be able to address that issue -- even use it as a table extension at holidays, but one of the things I love about my island now that I moved the cooktop out is having a sink there. I also really want power there. We use the waffle maker and blender mostly st the island. Again, if you really engineered the thing, I suppose you could have a power strip on the side of that island, a cord running down the leg and an outlet inset into your floor to plug it in when it's in place and be covered and smooth when it's not. But all of that seems like a hassle. In my mind, you probably either have room for an island or don't and you will wind up using it one way or the other. You might as well figure it our and make it the best you can in the right configuration rather than trade off. For example, if you don't do an island, you can extend your counters to 30" depth and have more workspace there, but you can't do that if you try to squeeze in an island. My kitchen is less than 14 feet wide -- pretty minimal for a 3 ft wide island (cabinets are 34", so it is 36" overall). Had we made the perimeter cabinets 30" deep, I'd have had 8 feet to trek across from stove to sink and half the work space. No question I'd rather have the island.

The size of the range is fairly irrelevant. The question is how does everything fit in your kitchen and does that set up work for you. In a smaller kitchen, a range is often what is required, for lack of wall space for ovens. In a larger kitchen you have more choices and then it's up to how you like functioning. I have two kitchens. In one, which I did not design, I have a large range. I was able to add a CSO under the counter of my skinny island. That was super important to me. I have no trouble bending, so the lower over are not a minus. But that kitchen is on the small side and I don't know if I would have made the same decisions the PO did, though looks wise that kitchen is awesome. In my other kitchen I have a cooktop and wall ovens. I like that situation far better, but that kitchen is roomier- by a lot. The MUA situation is not a luxury. It is infrastructure. In the olden days you didn't have this issue because houses were constructed differently. Now, our houses are more energy efficient- which translates to more air tight. If you don't have adequate MUA then when you run the exhaust for the range you don't actually change out the air, you just depressurize the house and you don't create air flow. The exhaust fan will not be able to pull air out of the house because it will be fighting the pressure instead of pushing air.

Nope. My life hasn't changed much. I value my personal space anyway so I try to keep my distance from people naturally. And we dont go many places in normal life. We like being home with each other. I do need my roots done and my ends cut, but I keep my hair long anyway so having it longer than normal isnt an annoyance to me. I am looking forward to people being less on edge and less rude in general when the restrictions are lifted. And I am looking forward to being able to buy stuff I need when I need it,not when the hoarders run out of money.