Hey thanks, Maro, but it was Bill himself out in his garden who was heard to mutter those immortal words as he tried to fix a seepage issue into his basement. Only later did he adapt it for Hamlet. Bill was always having trouble with landscape design. A whole tragedy could have been avoided had he just built a higher wall. Clearly Juliet thought it was fine  JULIET: How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore? The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, And the place death, considering who thou art, If any of my kinsmen find thee here. And what was Bill thinking when he moved that forest in Macbeth? Thanks, Ink, for inquiring after my own perplexities. I found the forum exchange extremely helpful, confirming some directions and clearly steering me away from others. I think I understand my own choices better. As it happens, the on-line conversation unfolded simultaneously with our putting some earnest money into the first stage of the plan. The one modification that the conversation would have helped me with was to restrain my temptation to put a small ornamental tree back into the picture. Once I thought it through, that really made no sense  but the outfit I was working with informed me that I had already contracted to purchase and plant a tree  so there it is. So  the burm is no more, grass has been seeded, and a tree planted. All in all, even with the tree, it looks far better than before. Regrets? The tree, although it will answer my inner shadow gardener who secretly loves "visiting" new plants in the garden. Also, I'm not much of one for growing grass. Positives? I think it was basically a step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to what comes next. Oddly enough, the next steps may need to include the downspout, gutter, drainage issue around that low wall. So  at some point I may post specifics. Wellspring

I think I'd listen to my designer over the guy contracting for the labor ; ) I can't say from the description what I would prefer, but I do love the Med. red tile roofs, and I seem to be remembering the gutters being in the red too. I would look around at pics of Mediterranean homes to see what I like. Real estate, net, library, books, mags. Actually, I'd think your designer should show you some options. Tell her/him you are unsure and would like to see some examples (pics) of different options, showing what it would look like beforehand. Not sure why you say the red doesn't really go with anything, as I thought it was blending with the roof.

Thank you for all of the thoughtful responses! I do hear you on the capacity, and potential splashing on the half-rounds. I touched base with my architect, and he thinks that the K-style will be the simplest solution, and will look fine with the style. Probably best to go with that, being most effective financially and functionally. Good point about gutters over the entrance tibbrix. I'm thinking, though, that on our design, the front porch may not be a major issue...we will use the stairs on the right end of the porch to access the front door (on the rare occasion that we don't use the side door). We will have a gutter over the side door. Also, the front porch will only have the rain landing on the 7ft depth of that roof, because the large gable above should divert everything from the main roof to the ends of the porch. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Can't answer your first question but like you, I wouldn't be happy with what they did with the gutter. Second question yes you're overthinking it. Third question. No idea. LOL