My vote is covered. We are wrap around on 3 sides, and I think we get plenty of light. I think we are only 8 ft wide though but it is plenty big for how we use it. The lower walk out level is 10 ft patio all the way across and I figure if we need more room for entertaining, they can spill out onto the yard down there. I love my covered porch. It fits the house and it fits us. We have had so much rain and yet the kids can still go outside and play on the porch. We STILL arent finished with the porch yet... sigh... still have to wrap some columns, still have to make the stone columns and steps out front, still have build some stairs from the main level down to the lower level, still have to put up some railing ..... geesh....just seems like it will never be finished... but anyways, this might give you an idea of what we did. One of my favorite features is the see thru railing system across the back and then repeated again on the upper deck on the back. The pond isnt finished yet either... arghhh but some day it will be but even now, it is still nice to see the horses or the deer out back without looking through spindles. (Yes I am posting too many pics. I take any opportunity to share my pics. I am so very happy with this house and every thing about it) :-) Upper Deck Looks like I need to get a newer picturer of the back :-) Here is a link that might be useful: Our Home Page

I'll have to say it truly baffles me that so many people are happy with their under the counter mw's. We had a "low" mw for 15 years before our remodel and DH and I absolutely hated it. And that was on a low table, not as low as under-the-counter. It was difficult to see the keypad, especially as we aged from our 30's to 40's, so we had to stoop down eveytime we wanted to use it. We had to stoop down to get anything out and then I had to get down and sit on the floor in order to reach to the back and ceiling to clean it out (it got pretty bad since we couldn't see the splatter most of the time.) We now have it on the bottom shelf of an upper cabinet (we made it deeper than the others to accomodate the mw.) It's so much easier to keep track of the progress of food and to see when it needs to be cleaned out and to push lots of buttons, i.e., I tend to use the different power levels a lot. The mw drawers sound great but the shallowness would be too limiting for me. I also like the idea of staying flexible--the shelf our mw sits on will accomodate anything that comes along that is in the shape of a small oven. I guess if you don't use the mw a lot, any place would be fine. If you use it a lot, I would definitely try putting your current one on a low table or chair for a while and see if it's something you can live with.

Oh, I see. You were talking about depth, and I was talking about width. No, if I were to do something against that wall I would want it to be no more than 24" wide. I guess that's called a "chair." It may make sense, though, to pull the table out from the wall enough to be able to seat another person back there (with a chair) should the occasion arise, and to center the pendant (which I prefer the look of) over the table that way. I'll have to play around some more to see how far I need to pull it away, or if I'd rather just forgo the possibility of seating someone back there - since I've seated four people at my kitchen table about 4 times in the 15 years I've lived here.

Well that’s a pretty open ended question. On the deck? (Which looks really big.) In the grass? As far away as possible so you can’t hear the kids play? Right outside the kitchen window so you can keep an eye on the kids? Wait - is it FOR the kids? Maybe it’s for adults instead? On a level spot? Near the neighbors so their kids feel free to partake? In the shade? In the sun? Lots of variables.