Claire, that's a great idea! I love the walk of memories. I've seen the idea used for mortared walls or tables, and even stepping stones but not loose among walks. My gram, when she decided to switch colors, used to throw her old fishtank gravel out in the driveway and as a child i thought all the colored pebbles in among the grey brown were so cool! It was amazing treasure to me to find one of the pearly bits she included with her gravel sometimes. A dear friend of mine sprinkles the rounded glass pebbles and shells among her gravel in certain spots and it's enchanting even as an adult. Her garden is an amazing show of art- she's got homemade sculptures and ideas galore. Old bowling pins, and old bedstead, a collection of bowling balls perched on differing heights of rebar, odd little colorful birdhouse, little glass geegads, colorful bowling balls covered in pennies & marbles, bricks set into a patio with marbles in the holes, a wooden giraffe, some of Pete's bugs, and more. Every corner shows a new hidden gem. Her house has so much handpainted leafy trims, cool painted end tables and chairs etc- it's just a fun colorful place to be! Frankly, i stole some of her ideas. :) I don't really want to be thought of as that crazy artsy fartsy couple, but if we see a purpose for something or like it, we'll use it, no matter if what the neighbors think we're weird. For a really wild walk on the weird side, go visit the last unicorn in hillsborough. It's like being in a strange metal garden.

Monica, thank you for all your help. I did find an unopened package in the kitchen (I had a new employee here and I just did not notice the package on my kitchen table that had other papers on it about dishwashers that I was analyzing). They never opened the instructions or they would have seen a separate instruction small pamphlet explaining how to install the moisture strip and this was in a separate plastic sealed package inside the sealed instructions. Amazing, Eric from KitchenAid did not tell me about this pamphlet and had no idea that the moisture strip was with the instructions. Also amazing that the installers do not read instructions when installing a new model. I am feeling so sad tonight. Monica due to your gorgeous granite counters with the coloring that I love so much and the black color of the dishwasher, despite the controls showing, it looks right since they are not half showing so it matches and to me looks intentional and pretty. But mine looks like the dishwasher was not closed all the way and the dishwasher is 2" too long for my counter and I feel I should have realized this from my prior posts in measuring but at Karl's (I did not buy from them but he is the one who told me it would fit and explained why and he was so wrong) I was told it would fit perfectly since the hose is under the dishwasher. So I stopped looking at the Bosch that would have fit perfectly. So I guess I will have to live with the lighter shade of stainless that is lighter than my refrigerator, the pretty thicker handle that does not match my LG Refrigerator's much slimmer handle, and the controls showing due to listening to the guy at Karl's when I was questioning if the KitchenAid may not fit all the way in due to the measurements of my counter only being 1/2" longer than the measurements depth of the dishwasher. But my dishwasher is 2" too deep for the space. Maybe one day I will have money to change out the counters but I know I first have to change the 20 year Linoleum kitchen floor, the 20 year old almond colored range and my 20 year old hot water heater so it may be awhile before the kitchen cabinets or the counters can be changed since I have only my income and a high mortgage. It just cost me so much money to install the Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors downstairs and porcelain tile in the two foyers right after last year having to replace the air conditioner/heat/compressor unit that was amazingly very expensive. One day, I would like to have counters the exact color of Monica's.

I love GW. I agree 100% with GreenDesigns and all of you who suggested that the range should go on the one wall without any openings and the refrigerator should go back on the wall where it was. In fact, the mental picture I had of the kitchen that way was so beautiful that I completely forgot how we ended up with the fridge in the middle of the other wall. So we tested it out and rolled the refrigerator around the room (it's nice to be able to do that since it's the only thing in there) and tried it out everywhere. And then I remembered how we ended up with it in the kitchen design no-no spot. It's a monster. It's a 31 cu. ft french door model that is basically 36"x36". On an unrelated note - it rolls around like a Cadillac - so easy to move! Here it is in it's proposed spot: Anyhow.... the little walls opposite from each other next to the doors to the living room and laundry room stick out not quite 35". The little wall on the other side by the dining room sticks out not quite 31". The doorways are tiny - the one on the south wall is only 30" wide. Putting the refrigerator on either end of the run that you all so wisely suggested just feels cramped both ways. On the dining room side the refrigerator door opens into the dining room opening which is where people always seem to congregate when we entertain. I was constantly having to open the refrigerator door in their face and say "Excuse me". On the other end of that run it makes the entry into the kitchen from the living room seem very cramped and makes for an odd view from the hall/living room. And we'd have the same problem of the refrigerator door swinging into the opening. I guess since that rubbed us the wrong way with the old layout we gravitated towards the polar opposite. I so badly wanted it to work that way you suggested, especially picturing the backsplash I want for the range, but the structure of this house (a very tiny 1950 tract home) is not cooperating. So I think we will have to break with design guidelines and stick that monster frig in the middle of the wall. Hopefully with the wall cabinets it won't look too strange in the middle of the counter run. I haven't given up on your suggestions completely. This is not our forever kitchen but it is our right-now kitchen so we have to go with what feels most comfortable even if it looks a little odd. If we ever have the opportunity to build a larger kitchen I am keeping GreenDesigns suggestion in my notes because I LOVE the idea of a range in the middle of a larger counter run and the refrigerator wall as more of a snack center with a smaller counter run to one side and the toaster oven right there. And I haven't abandoned the idea for this kitchen entirely yet either... Thank you so much! I have learned so much from this discussion. I'll definitely post pictures of whatever we decide to do and I'm sure this won't be my last question. Back I go to rolling the refrigerator around...

Things That Make You Peevey Part Deux... I don't have any sort of fit about this, but it's a bit of a peevey issue...Here, when describing home, or any really, "stuff" that has been accomplished, the author will often say "We did this"...And I take that literally, which makes me all sorts of excited because I'm an avid diy-er. But further reading reveals that they didn't do it. They HAD IT DONE. If someone else came in and tiled your bathroom, then you didn't "do" it, did you? You simply paid for it. Anyhoo. Is it too early for a cocktail? I will make it myself :)