Chibimimi and Southern Canuck: The house will keep the timber frame, wall strip sheathing, flooring, rafters, strip sheathing on the roof above the rafters, the ceiling joists, and strip sheathing on the joists. The siding is ALL going to be donated (at least what doesn't need abatement (50%) - it is coated in many layers of lead paint that is cracking) and needs to be removed to place the exterior insulation. The gingerbread will stay. The returns will go. The trim will be similar. The porch trim will be similar. The windows will be as close to their current layout as possible, but the windows currently upstairs do not meet current egress requirements, so that is why I am enlarging the gable window. The plan that shows the door entering directly into the kitchen is the current house (as it sits now/before renovation). Not what it will be after - see the other layouts for clarification - hope you can actually read them now (I am new to this forum, and am trying to get you the info the best I can....) Yes foundation walls and floors, crawl spaces, and dirt basements really do or can account for up to 30-40% of heat loss. They are the largest window in your home. Especially if they are uninsulated, and air infiltration is not managed. Just because you highly insulate you ceilings doesn't mean you don't have heat loss through the ground. Yes heat rises, we ALL know that, but what many don't understand is how heat follows a cold gradient also. For instance when you lay directly on the ground you must insulate yourself from the earth nearly all year round or you will have either moisture problems or hypothermia problems. The earth absorbs your body heat, just like it absorbs the heat from your house. - check out Green Building Advisor or the Building Science Corporation for further documentation and in depth analysis of this phenomenon. If you get your hands on a thorough whole house wall/energy (BTU) calculator, you will see just how much energy is really lost through the foundation walls and floor. OR you will see just how much you will save, by insulating your basement walls and floors............you need to manage moisture, vapor and air though too or can create a massive petri dish inside your home. Those aren't architect drawings - they are mine..... Earthen or bermed homes use the earth as a consistant energy mass, that regulates temperature - the ground is an insulator, but also a heating or cooling mass - which is why geothermal heat/cooling works. It is true documented science that many are confused by. My hope is to keep the essence of the original home, maintain it's look, but tweak it just a bit to fit the needs of my family, while striking a fine balance between making equitable, sustainable, healthy design upgrades. I will have a Venmar ERV to do my air exchange (ERV because the geothermal provides cooling too, and the ERV can help with moisture too). The fireplace will also have outside air exchange.

Can you post them here directly?

Jaynesb *100% agreement on the size of the hood. I am looking for a 27" deep and 42" wide. The cooktop is 36" wide. I also am looking into how much cfm I really need. The manufacture recommends 900 cfm based on all 6 burners going at full. I am not sure how practical that is and really want something as quit as possible. I do like "power " though.. In any case, I need to look into make up air requirements if we go 900-1200 cfm With regard to cabinet size neighboring the corner, we have a 30" wall cabinet will glass mullins at the top and an 18" base between the refrigerator and corner cabinet. I think we are ok there. Under counter lighting is still an open issue. We have halogen lights not and I do not like the fact they get so hot. I will be looking into LED. I am not sure what a light rail is but will check. I specÂd false bottoms on my last kitchen and installed the halogens in it. The triangular cabinets bother me as well. I believe optimization is possible but applaud the designer for what she came up with. My ideas were crummy compared to what she came up with. I will take this concept to a custom cabinet builder to see about further optimizing the design. I do want more of a furniture look and know the right person who can do it. Sunnyd The cooktop is on an outside wall and can vent either up or out. We have ~37" from the 18" cab on the right of the cooktop to the island. Smaller than the recommended 42" but our thoughts were this will not be a well traveled area or have more than 1 person at a time there. Do you think its too small? Good question on the corner cabinet size. Fortunately the answer is yes. We have a 8 French door at the end of the kitchen. Right now IÂm stressing on how I am going to get the refrigerator in. ItÂs HEAVY and I am going to have to take it in through that door. There is a deck outside with stairs Great ideas on the toe kick. We want a furniture look for the island and will incorporate your idea. We are open to other ideas on the island. The designer came up with this concept. My ideas were frankly crummy by comparison. IÂm not sure what you mean by 2 different materials but the plan is to have cream colored cabinets along the wall and a "wood" finish island  possibly walnut. We would have liked cherry but we have so much wood in the house now we are concerned what it would look like. The entire downstairs is amendoim and we have redwood ceilings. (They are sloped ceilings  the short end is where the cooktop is.) Chinchette LOL, I have been watching this website for months before setting pen to paper. You may have been the inspiration if you posted pictures of your kitchen. We have looked at so many books and pictures I have lost track. I am confused as to what a dish drawer is though. Is that a dishwasher that looks like drawers. If so, the plan is to get one but I was going to wait until my Bosch got a bit older. Its only 1-2 years old and in perfect condition. We do not currently live in this house. We bought it several years ago with the intent on fixing it up and retiring there. Its currently used as a weekend retreat and gets rented out for vacation rentals. After the remodel, no more rentals planned. I would be really ticked if something happened and DW would not let me hear the end of it. Holligator (still trying to figure that name out) The boss (DW) will be happy to read your comments on the glass base cabinets. We debated a beverage center there and she won. It does have a good size landing area there. We did move two a two-level island with the idea of eating there. The kithen originally had a peninsula and a kitchen table on the other side. It resulted in a small kitchen and a small eating area. IÂm not sure what to do about the 52". Some say too small, some too big. The boss thinks I can do more in the kitchen to help though. We are still going back and forth on the island. I like the added height for bar stools as mentioned earlier and the raised level was a consideration for hiding the dished from the main view in. We want the range hood to be the strong focal point. This is what the kitchen currently looks like. We will be taking out the window along the wall (we have plenty of light) Steve

Looking for some suggestions for our pantry wall hardware. The drawing below is a rough cabinet layout from our cabinet maker. The two outside doors on the left and the two outside doors on the right measure 60 inches in height. The two center doors measure 53 inches in height. I am planning on using pulls for all of the doors. Knobs will be placed on the upper cabinets and the opening in the center is for a TV. What size pulls would you suggest for the doors? The line of hardware I am looking at has 6 & 8 inch pulls - as well as 12 & 18 inch appliance pulls - available. Should all of the pulls be the same size or should they bump down a size for the center doors? The kitchen prep area and island will have a combination of cup pulls and knobs. The dishwasher and beverage fridge will have 12'' pulls and the french door fridge will have 18'' pulls. All of the hardware will be antique english on BM Silver Satin cabinets. I like symmetry and can't quite visualize what would look best in this run of cabinets. Thanks in advance for any and all input!