Sorry, colorfast, I have been remiss in checking my email so haven't responded promptly! I only glanced at the vanities which looked ok but I didn't open them or anything to check on their quality, unfortunately, so I'm sorry that I can't help you more with those. We used our own faucet, a Kohler Fairfax 4'' on center, and it fit fine including the drain and popup. Maybe the reviews you read meant that the plumbing connections weren't standard on their faucets? so that maybe you have get a hose with standard on one end and whatever the connection on the faucet is on the other?? The sink is smaller than our existing 80s' cultured marble integrated bath sinks but works fine and looks fine. The sink/its hole in the granite 14'' side to side, 11'' front to back, and 6'' to the *bottom* of the granite. The sink itself is an inch or so bigger than these dimensions so it can be undermounted. I don't know if they have sink templates, since we needed both granite and sink and of course the granite had the right size hole, but you'll need one (or a granite fabricator ok with doing one) for your own granite cutting. HTH

Ahhh, that's your problem, James! You cannot reliably get a direct link to Yahoo, just clickable links (it shows up on your screen for a few days because you have it cached). Set up a freebie account at Picturetrail.com or Photobucket.com for posting pictures, they are good direct-link hosts. I didn't see the recommendation for Amtico upthread - it's a good one. It's shockingly realistic, both the stone/tile and wood styles. Unfortunately it's also expensive. Karndean is another very very nice brand of solid vinyl tile/plank that is about half the price of Amtico, and I think it looks just as good. One of the nicer things they have is decorative parts like borders and inlays. We were seriously considering this product and my local dealer said it was not difficult to install if you're DIYing. You have got to go through all the photo galleries, not just the bathrooms one, because the pictures are just stunning. There's even an interactive floor designer to download on the site, and they have free samples, too! Here is a link that might be useful: Karndean Flooring

Hi Zen and Renee~ yes,we are going with white (off-white) lower and upper cabs. I like the dark pebble as well but it does have little shiny flecks in it that I'm not too crazy about. I do like the tone and warmth it gives and if we do use the cream BS tiles, it all goes very, very nicely. As for darker floor throughout the house....hmmm. Most of our furniture is dark (cherry, walnut, dark stained mahogany)...and our downstairs is essentially one large room. We have fairly dark carpet in there now and if I kept my walls light, it would work. As for the golden retriever hair (Australian Shep, Pomeranian and springer span. hair in reality)...sigh....are dark floor *that* hard to keep clean? I suppose I'd be sweeping and swiffering alot? I probably need to figure out where I could make a transition on my floor to go from dark to lighter...or do the perimeter in the dark and maybe a carpet inset?? I looked at the darker travertines but they were not very pretty and still carried that yellow tint when I wetted them to see how they'd seal. Janine

desert, I plan to get out to some showrooms this week to see what's there and I'm really hoping that will help move me forward a lot more. When we built this house, we hooked up a trailer and drove to Dalton GA and came back with all the flooring needed to do the entire house. It was easier to make choices when we were looking at the entire roll and not just small samples. We got terrific deals and then just paid the labor to have everything installed by a friend of DH. For the majority of other items we spent hours at Lowes. lanval, I plan to give the island a new top along with whatever we choose for the countertops and I know that will help spruce it up more. Originally we were told there was no room for an island at all, but our cabinet guy designed the funky shape to fit one in. I wish we had space to redesign it to allow more of a rectangle shape with an overhang to fit a couple of stools, but there is just not enough space around the u-design of my current layout. Anne, DH is assigned the reno to his brother. He doesn't have time to get involved in the work itself. That's probably a good thing since we end up disagreeing on details most of the time. I've learned we just see things from different perspectives because I'm considering details he thinks are not important. And since the kitchen is not really his domain, I don't want to get into a power struggle over the choices I make. I tried to discuss the timing with him yesterday and he sees no problem moving ahead with the April schedule. I pointed out the events coming up that will coincide with the time the kitchen is torn apart, and his basic outlook/comment is "it's no big deal"...he's just a 'get'r done' kinda guy. I tried to remind him this is not one of his empty houses that is unoccupied and the fact there is more involved than just slapping on a countertop and being done. Maybe I'm just thinking too hard, but I can see the entire kitchen torn apart and me being stressed enough over that while trying to juggle our spring busy season and my DD's precious time left living at home knowing the activities associated with that. Plus the responsibilities of finishing up our eoy business details is difficult enough alone, and now I'm sposed to be doing research/legwork to plan a kitchen reno. I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but when I say 'overwhelmed' I'm not exaggerating. If I could just put everything else in my life on hold right now, it might be no problem, but everything else is not going to just stop. I'm glad you see what I'm feeling about the timing of my DD last days at home. Just last year when she wanted to have her after-prom party here, I had some mini meltdowns feeling overwhelmed with my regular daily workload and then adding more to it. This year isn't looking much better... Anyway, to clarify some of the questions you asked: I broke the measurements into 2 sections since the bar seems to separate it into 2 areas. The nook area is 13'x9'8". The kitchen area is 9'5"x13'2" but that is only the actual floor space. The cabinets are 25" deep so you could add that to the width of 9.5 for a size of the actual room. The garage is on the other end of the house. There is door to the backyard patio in the nook area. The original plan called for columns and a more open floorplan. DH chose to change it to large c.o. I posted pics from different angles to try to show this. I measured everything you asked to help clarify; fridge is 35"Dx35"W - cab depth is 25" - MW cab is 29"D - raised bar is 12"D. I checked the face frame of cabs and it appears the only ones sharing is the section to the right of the sink where the raised bar is. The rest are chopped up due to the DW, stove, and corner that leads to the MW cab. I'm trying to visualize the changes you suggested...I guess I need to sketch it out to understand it completely. Since his brother is doing the reno, it actually gives me more comfort b/c I know is fully capable of any little details I bring up. At this point...right now...I'm in panic mode after talking with DH last night and he totally doesn't get my lack of enthusiasm about the schedule. He makes it sound so easy. The ct can be done in one day, the floor can be done in one day... what's the problem??? Arrggh!! happy, Glad to hear of your wp sucess, painted and stripped. I hung every bit of the paper in this house and have 3 baths of wp also facing stripping.