I like your cabinets. how are they for showing dirt? We had pure white cabinets in our last house and they had to be cleaned every day or else look dirty. I really like white cabinets but with 3 kids, I can't clean cabinets every day and the dirt bothered me so I was wondering if glazed white cabinets showed less dirt??

mtnrdredux - I'd love to see your floors! Love the dark, but they do show every speck of dust, so I might lean towards a medium stain if I ever do these floors again. It's funny, whenever I drop something on my floors and see the new dent I've created, I just shrug my shoulders and tell myself it adds character. A few times we've had to sand and apply more stain and tung oil when I dropped something sharp enough to chip the wood. I couldn't imagine being worried about keeping my floors in pristine condition with how clumsy I am. justgotabme - I'm not sure about trying to age the cabinets. They have a really heavy grain, very different from my pine table, and the natural color tends towards yellow, not brown. What if I end up with a hot mess! I guess then it would at least be easier to convince DH to replace them :) If the uppers weren't arched, I would paint and lightly glaze without a second thought.

I found it! Thank you all for helping me have the courage to find the best color. I also have white oak not red and white. Silly me. They put some color mixes out for me to study. Right onto my floor. They can sand off what I don't like. And I love Mahogany and English chestnut mixed together. It goes with the lighting I have and seems to be dark but not so dark that I have issues with dog hair. It looks closer to your color Erikanh. Kelleg, I was disappointed with Ebony mixed into the English chestnut. Not at all the warm beautiful glow of yours. Your floor guy must have perfomed magic! Don't lose your floor guy. Pbrisjar, The image you posted was the closest example of what the colors looked like. I can not thank you enough. I noticed the Ebony not being what I really wanted but not realizing it until they stained my floor a small section. I should have studied your images better. thank you for them. I will post pics when I get a chance. They are not staining until next week. They are still sanding everything. I am truly happy with the choice, I just hope it looks as good as all of your floors. Even half as good and I will be pleased. Thanks again everyone. ~boxerpups

Sorry I missed the questions and thanks for bumping. Marble - It was sold to me as carerra (I never know how to spell it!), but I've been told that's not it, given that its coloring is primarily white and not gray. It has gray and brown veining. Whatever it is, I love it. It is 3cm. It's holding up well, but is developing the patina I expected. We weren't careful on moving day and big, heavy boxes full of kitchen supplies were dragged across the marble (my parents did it; how could I yell, "not on my marble!" when they were so graciously helping us move in?) and there are places where you can see drag marks when the light hits it just so. And DH allowed the A/V installer to use the island top as his work station one day; it's pretty dinged up where he was working. Hubby's response, "You wanted it to have a patina." Well, yes, but not intentionally! No staining yet; a couple of etch marks, but nothing drastic. The biggest shock is that I have a crack in the marble, where I took a heavy stock pot full of a double batch of chili off the Berta, turned around & plopped it on the marble. I don't know if it was the heat, the weight, or both, but CRACK! It's about four inches long running into the marble from the edge. Geez! I don't think marble is normally susceptible to cracking, so I don't know why mine did. Sharp Micro Drawer - We love it. It's the best micro I've had and it's very convenient for us under the counter, though my parents' first comment was , "You know your kids someday will be cooking their toys." Thank you; that's why it has a kid lock. I purchased it online from one of the appliance places that is discussed with frequency on the appliance forum. I don't remember which one ... just who ever had the best price at the time. I would suggest getting the manual open and close. We went with the style that you have to push the button to open and close. That's not intuiative, especially for guests who always grab for the handle. Sink to Fridge - I don't know the measurement offhand and I'm writing from work (shhhh!) so can't run and measure. It doesn't feel cramped to me. There have been times, though, (i.e., Thanksgiving) when I've had too many dirty dishes that I wanted to wash by hand that just didn't fit in that space, so I used the island behind me. Day-to-day it is plenty of room. DH has asked numerous times if he can set up the coffee maker in that space (since it's right next to the fridge, which is right next to the pantry). It would be a very convenient place for the coffeemaker, but I need that space free. The fridge is counterdepth. It's a GE Profile. Love the fridge. We continue to enjoy the kitchen immensely and are cooking more than we ever have!