Shelley, I'm the wrapper from hell too. Glad to know I'm not a lone. You need to delete the word Wanted when you do a preview of your post. I always forget too. Ann

I had mother in law problems, big ones before she died. I also have in-law problems in general that we are able to manage only because we do not live close by, we are 4 hours away. In my experience with our mother-in-law problems, it was all about her inability to let go of her son (my husband) and or love/parent him the way she wanted, despite the fact that he was a married grown man. The only way I felt better about the situation was to put it completely on my husband because it was HIS mother. A healthy mother/child relationship wants the adult child and their marriage to be happy and peaceful, and they just want to share in their lives - the ups and downs of life. Unhealthy to me indicates a desire to control. This is not your problem, it is your husbands. I would sweetly, without anger, with all things that she brought to our home say "well thanks for thinking of us, although I don't know where we will put it, we're pretty maxed out as it is and we're donating boatloads of stuff at the moment because we're trying to downsize and make life less cluttered and stressful. But is always nice when you think of us". If she made inappropriate remarks about my house or anything else, I wouldn't hesitate to say "That is enough. You're out of line. Perhaps you should go". I would put everything else with this woman onto my husband if I were you. I would start a box in the bedroom, basement, or garage with HIS name on it. Anything she brought over that I didn't want or didn't know what to do with would go in that box. I would remind hubby from time to time that he needs to do something with "his box" because it's getting full. HE needs to be the one to confront his mom and stand up for your family. HE is the one with the long standing relationship and its HIS mom. Also, watch alot of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and remember that you are not alone in trying to understand mother's and sons, and all of their dynamics. I just don't think this is about you at all other than you took her son. This is about her need to control your marriage and force an unhealthy expression of love onto her son. Many husbands will stand back and let their wives attempt to handle their husbands and do nothing, especially if they tend to be the peacemakers in the family like my husband. Too bad I say. Make him man up and handle his mom and protect your family. That's his job, it's HIS mom. JMHO

I think Dune matches the best in the picture (but pictures aren't the same as real life). The marble looks good, and very rich. Thebes is too dark, and it looks like Porcelain is too blue. I like the brightness of Papyrus, however, and think it's worth continuing to consider. Good drawing. I hadn't realized there was wall over the windows. That area was there in the previous drawings, but I had interpreted it as ceiling. Question: Is the bottom of the cabinet on a line with the bottom of the hood? Usually it's a lot lower. Looking at your nice drawing, I'm thinking it would look better either to tile the whole wall, or to stop the tile at the bottom of the hood. This can be done, but it's outside of my experience, so you'll have to ask someone else the best way to trim it so that it has a nice finish, and how to set the hood so that it's in the right place vis-a-vis the thickness of the tiling. Doing that with the wall color on the sides of the hood flare will give you a better horizontal illusion.

Hi Everyone! So nice to be missed. Thank you all for the kind words. Breezy, not in Europe, but you got the lack of internet right, at the most inopportune time. Meantime, I've been tackling some big projects. I'm always available by e-mail (through My Page). (Even during the big outage, I had my phone. ;) ) I haven't much to add. I don't have any appliances with clearance issues. What I can say is that my single when open 90 degrees has room to spare for removing the racks. The entire cavity is clear and then some. The measure from the edge of the handle to the inside of the door is 3", but the door overlaps the trim. The handle only protrudes about 2". I rarely open the door much past 90 degrees. If you have something big and heavy, you might want to use a barbecue mitt. The door of my toaster oven gets hotter, though. In ultra modern kitchens, they install these flush, where 90 degrees open is the only option, so it really should be adequate.