I can recommend this store and the owner - no affiliation other than its a place I've done business and know to be reputable. She deals in rare and collectible books and if she is not interested in purchasing anything of your friend's collection, she would likely know who might be or know if it's not worth pursuing. Titles Inc 1831 St Johns Ave highland Park, Il 60035 847-432-3690

The Miele Little Giants are designed as commercial machines. Miele assumes a minimum of five loads per day in these machines, but they can be run 24/7. Other than Bosch, I think these units from Miele are really the only ones left that will do a true sanitize cycle. Bosch's new units call their 141F cycle a "Sanitize" cycle. That temp will NOT kill most bacteria and Virus'. Not the ones that most people really worry about anyway. The older Bosch WAS24460UC, that is still being sold, reaches temps of 161F. That is a 20F drop in wash temp. This is almost 100% due to Bosch wanting to appear more of a "green" company. By lowering their top end wash temp they lower the MEF (Modified Energy Factor) and qualify for more of a tax rebate. So if you take that into account you are left with Asko and Miele selling laundry that actually disinfect clothing. When you figure that Asko is even more of a niche product in the US than Miele, that leaves Miele as the only company selling laundry to the consumer that is capable of disinfecting laundry without a lot of chemicals. If you purchase the little giants, then you can get hospital grade disinfection. This comes in VERY handy when you have the flu going around your home, etc. We wash diapers in our laundry and it would be seriously gross if our top wash temp was 141F. Yuck. We would need to use bleach all of the time or hang the clothes in the sun. The latter is not real practical in the winter when temps are sub 20F. All diapers are washed above 155F. I wish I had a boilwash, but our top end is 161F, which is probably closer to 150F in reality. We use cotton prefolds so the "clothing" can handle the higher wash temps.

Yes, follow your intuituion. Check the wallet, the phone bill, maybe. Totally surveilling another human being - no way. What this guy did is sick, I don't care if his wife was swinging from the chandelier with someone else. There are no more divorce by adultry statutes left in any state in the US. There is no reason to copy 700 emails. He knew by the 100th one that she was up to no good. OP took spying to a whole new level. Actually, I think he got off on it. Now he wants retribution by getting her fired. What about the children of the marriage? It sounds as if at least one is grown from a previous post regarding the wife dying her hair for an upcoming wedding of the daughter. Even grown childen are affected by this kind of stuff. This person gives me the creeps. Also, I have already heard too much from the "marriagebygrace" folks. I don't care what anyone's religious thoughts are, they're private and shouldn't be forced on others. If you read the instructions to this forum, religion is not to be discussed or posted. I'll now fold up my soap box as I am done with this particular thread.

First...it's so nice to see someone, in a similar position to mine! We don't have kids (or dogs) but we do have horses, barn kitties, indoor kitties (that don't go outside) and we live on a farm, have lots of mud...and need many of the same features you either have or want to incorporate! :) Rather than worry about the kitchen layout right now, I'd think about reworking that bathroom door (which it says you hate) and making some other changes to the other 'clean up' spaces...then addressing the kitchen. Could you change the bathroom around and put (from left to right) sink, toilet, shower? The window is a bit of a problem, but it could be made smaller (high window) over the shower, if you want to keep some light. This would allow you to access the bathroom, through what is now, the laundry area. What if you moved the laundry to the 'west wall' and put a laundry sink, under the window...with some counterspace? It would only be 24" deep (instead of closer to 30" with the washer/dryer) and would give you more room for the door to the bathroom. The laundry on the 'west wall' would be a better fit (without wasted space in between) and would give you some room for upper cabinets, too. Now, if you could make these changes, I don't think you'd need the door, from the kitchen to the outside, or mud room. Just keep the doorway as is (into the furnace area, but maybe screen the furnace/water heater a bit) and I'd take off the door and have a doorway. This would bring in light from the laundry room (and you'd just see the side of the washer) and provide easy access to the bathroom. Then...I'd keep the exact kitchen layout you have now, but maybe get rid of the table (if it's in the way) and use the peninsula with stools, from Option 1. This would keep people from walking through your work area (a negative I see in both options) and you and your husband would have plenty of space to cook, bake, clean up, etc. The stools would be handy for tea and a chat...and what else do you need, with the dining room so close? If you really want a dutch door, I'd open up the doorway by the stairs (as mentioned earlier) and put the dutch door, between the furnace area and the mud room. They're more practical, IMHO, as an interior door, rather than an exterior door. Hope this gives you some ideas :)