Thanks tcstoehr!! The Crabapple is on the other side of the house... Some places I read say the trees need to be within 50 feet and others say 100 feet... I guess the crabapple won't hurt having it there...I thought it might be too far away to pollinate but I guess we will see. That tree is flowering right now though. I am much more clear now... I guess I did luck out because I picked through all the trees and the ones I got are over 6 feet tall and they were not too expensive...And very nice looking. I drove my hubby crazy at the store looking though all the trees for ones that were as close to perfect as I could get :) Now should I tell hubby I don't need another pollinator and go buy another tree anyway :) lol I just love the idea of having all these fruit trees in my yard and I don't care how much work they are to maintain, I love to do it! Plus my kids get so excited, they check the cherry tree a lot to see if any of the little green cherries are red yet. I guess I need to net that thing so the birds don't eat them all! Karen

I have no personal opinion on this, but I have heard of people who have had their orders completely messed up by the HD/Lowes people, and it takes weeks to straighten out. That's probably one of the things you get with a window professional. Also, when I did my windows, both reps (from window stores) could immediately tell me when a window needed to be tempered glass, and when it had to be a fire escape compliant window. My architectural designer missed one of those...the window guy basically had to change that window to be compliant. My friend's architect missed one or two of the tempered windows. It's just like anything else...if you know what you're doing, and are OCD about double checking everything, then you're probably fine. If you're like me, and burnt out after trying to save money with an architectural designer, and want your actual build to be smoother, then you work with professionals, and hold them accountable when the order isn't right. In our area, prices are marked up quite a bit. By getting quotes from people 40-60 minutes away, the prices were much more comparable with the big boxes...good luck!

Buying locally gives you a point of presence for any ongoing issues you may have from either the product or its installation. Having a relationship with a well regarded store may help with the manufacturer. Also, the local store probably knows the best installers in the area. Did you go to the local stores to see the flooring you like or did you pick everything from the online pictures from online retailers? If you use the local stores as a hands on experience to actually see the merchandise but then buy online, haven't you effectively stolen their service the store has provided? The retail stores physically have the merchandise and can provide a service that the online stores cannot. Isn't that worth paying for?

I don't particularly rely on a store to provide me with repair work except for the immediate delivery of a product. I have Bosch appliances and I would contact an authorized Bosch dealer in my area or KA. Similarly my Apple computers and other devices are serviced by Apple or Apple service people once they are out of warranty - I've bought them from numerous places including mail order back in 1991 when I bought my first Apple Performa :-). @Lizzie - Hi there! My kitchen is finally finished but construction continued around me until fairly recently as odd stuff would happen - my washer dryer was a bit too deep for the closet so that had to be reframed. My hood was the wrong size and so that delayed finishing kitchen for a while because they didn't want to install cabinets on either side until the hood was put in - and didn't want to finish the backsplash etc. etc. etc. I am still not completely finished as they have to come back for various items on the "punch" list but it's livable except for the boxes which are still in the living area as I was a pack rat and I am still slowly going through stuff - and I have furniture I can't use and nobody wants :-( Apologies for hijacking the thread by responding to Lizzie but here are photos of the kitchen and dining area. I am really happy with the way it turned out and spending time (SO MUCH TIME) on houzz asking questions and reading threads helped me so much in terms of getting the best result possible. I worked with a very knowledgable designer but thanks to houzz, there was stuff that I asked for which she had never heard of like my toe kick step stools. It truly is correct that having the luxury of living in a space gives one a better understanding of what doesn't work in the space and what would make it work better because almost everybody has certain constraints that impact the design of the kitchen. In my case, I was working with a small urban kitchen in a high rise - the kitchen is 8' x 10' so I needed to expand functional storage. @Lizzie - here are a few pictures of my finished kitchen. To the left of the cooktop I have a Bosch side opening wall oven with a microwave drawer below it and a VERY shallow tall cabinet with shelves. It is in front of a concrete support beam so it is about one can deep. This is the area behind my dining area. The tall cabinet to the left can be seen in the first photo. There is a door on the side and so the KA mixer and Cuisinart can just be slid out when I need it. The tall cabinet to the right is my broom closet. Excuse the mess on the counter as this was taken just when I moved in. This shows the tall cabinets in my dining area better in terms of the appliance storage and how it relates to the kitchen counters. I had the interiors painted blue but the shelves are clad with blue laminate and the sink cabinet is also clad in blue laminate for easier cleaning. This is the sink wall. The kitchen sink is disproportionately large (36" for the space) but because it's a ledge, it is super functional since the grad which you can see to the right of the sink gives me very functional "counter" space. I can store it on the bottom of the sink and I also got the cutting board. There is a sponge caddy to the extreme left which is a narrow removable shelf which is handy for sponges and other wet stuff. My KA refrigerator is on the right peeking through. It is counter depth but not integrated but I "cheated" the look by having my lower cabinets made slightly deeper than the standard 24"; having a panel on the left side and having the cabinet maker clad the sides that protrude with matching wood. With a counter depth, you need to have it protrude slightly so the hinges are clear of obstructions but since I had those parts clad in matching wood, it fools the eye. Not part of my kitchen ha ha but this is one half of the wall unit in my office/den area. Since I have an open concept space, it relates to the kitchen cabinetry in terms of color as well as having slight Art Deco style elements. This was my sad kitchen prior to the remodel. Again apologies for taking this thread in a direction completely unrelated to the original question.