Nancedar - if you get your countertop marble or granite honed, it won't be shiny. French, Italian, Greek and other european kitchens have been using honed marble countertops for centuries. As to etching, that's an american aesthetic bias. Again, if you go to a french kitchen with marble countertops, the marble is etched, stained by wine, etc. and they don't mind. I mean, the marble IS in a kitchen after all, and used for food prep, so it will show signs of use. Similarly, a wood counter in a traditional french kitchen will scratched and gouged, not babied. But I understand if we are thinking of home resale, and what we prefer, we may not want any etching or patina. As to flour containers, I am surprised no one has brought up the issue of insects getting into flour containers that aren't air tight. The OP's first link, and the pioneer woman link, both seem to me to be flour containers that are invitations for insects. I like a glass container with a tight screw top, but often the mouth is not wide enough for scoop-and-sweep of flour. I also have an assortment of the big Oxo Pop air-tight containers, the Click-clack cubes, and LocknLock containers. They are all BPA free too. A friend of mine doesn't like the chore of transferring flour or sugar from the original bag to another container. If anyone reading this thread is like that, there's the air-tight Flour container or sugar container.

LOL! My cousin was from Kansas and was overwhelmed by the foothills and mountains! But, I know what you mean. If the ceiling wasn't white, it probably wouldn't feel so high (although I like a white ceiling) but I do like the way they use the plate rail and transom to bring the space down, a bit. Once you got used to 'more headroom' you'd probably want to vault a few ceilings :) I like taller ceilings and story and a half vaults, but not small, two story rooms...I always feel like I'm in a phone booth! No offense, to those who love them...

No, the deleted thread was just under 2/3s full, but perhaps the mod felt the concern raised about spamming justified pulling it. Of course, since the bickering got out of line, that may also have factored into its deletion, but I've seen other disputes that were allowed to stay active and let the community make its own assessment. If you check the reg dates of several of the outraged posters there seems to be more than mere coincidence at work. One of the same posters asked a supposedly innocent kitchen question on another thread and forgot which name they had used to originally post. They later replied under another name, again one used by the accused spammer, and made it quite obvious to those familiar with both threads that the accusation on the deleted one was on target. I don't know if I was the last to post on the deleted thread, but I suggested that in the future once a spamming accusation is deemed warranted, we simply cease to respond as a few good GWers well versed and knowledgeable in the operations of internet marketing pointed out that one way the spammers can benefit is by the number of posts generated to a thread that calls attention to the spam product, not just by the number of hits they may drive from the curious who look at the blog or internet vendor. Besides I really dislike the utterly stupid change in tone that the accusers interjected in to the GW community. While we may have some with a strong sarcastic flair that might make the more sensitive types cringe a bit, their pointed wit is often well placed. I have a lower threshold for the type of silliness we were subjected to by the spammers. Nonetheless (N-o-n-etheless) earlier on that thread I noted that the antonym to "all" had disappeared from someone's post as the same word had disappeared from my posts in a different forum. I read another thread this morning and saw the same word was missing in yet another poster's response from 8/16/11 so this was not a new problem just occurring yesterday. Anyone have any ideas whether this is just a GW gnome issue confined to the GW site or whether it could affect posters?

I would have an exquisite period kitchen. Arts and crafts freestanding cabinetry or oil-rubbed quarter sawn oak with leaded glass lights and strong vertical elements. Counters of finely laid tile, worn dark wood, and dull zinc. Burnished brass and copper lighting fixtures and accents. An Aga cooker or French range, in some interesting color. Polished nickel faucets, white enameled sinks. Hand-painted Art Nouveau wall detailing, a 10 lb trout mounted on one wall, a well-used 1894 Winchester hung on the other. Intricate black-and-white hexagonal tile floors. Refrigerator concealed in a vintage wooden icebox, small appiances hidden away. No granite, no stainless steel. Jazz would be playing. In the corner of the room, there would be an ornate wrought iron spiral staircase. It would lead down to the basement. Where my real kitchen would be. This would have a rubber floor with a central drain. Steel sheathed walls. An eight burner Garland with salamander and double ovens, a wok range with jet burner, a deep fryer, and a Big Green Egg (grilling in the rain sucks). Enough exhaust venting to pull off your toupee. High-temp, high-speed dishwasher. Lots and lots of stainless steel countertop, stacks of prep bowls on open shelves, good knives and a heavy duty food processor. A reach-in cooler and freezer, a walk-in wine cellar. A really nice sound system, tube amps and horn drivers. All rock and reggae down here. A woodstove, a couple of deeply creased leather chairs and a tippling table with a half-full bottle of scotch and a kitchen timer - for snoozing while waiting. Don't forget the hand-lettered sign: "No Girls". It's a man cave after all. I think there's some right brain - left brain incompatibility going on here. Incipient multiple personality disorder, perhaps.