I must confess I like bare feet best...I keep my toenails polished even in winter 'cause if I'm inside I'm usually barefoot. But otherwise I do love high heels still. Never liked mid-heels, in fact insisted on high heels as my first "heels" as a teen ...practiced walking around the house with a book on my head...LOL I like canvas or leather flats/sandals...but most important a flexible sole...love what are often called "driving mocs"of soft leather or suede for winter. For tennies I buy the cheapest at KMart... think they're Keds, but they're lightweight and sole folds double...I've always disliked the clunky athletic shoes (but then I don't jog or even walk fast...LOL). Love strappy little sandals flat or high heel. But bare feet are best...josh

He is a good friend, but... Actually, I think he's doing most of the work himself, because of the lack of work in this economic state our country is in. These allowances haven't been written up in a contract yet, but I will question how we'll even come close to those. I guess that's the point of low bids. You'll almost never come in under. I wanted my dad to be the GC, but I think my husband feels like he wants to help out our friend in these tough economic times. As far as moving, we've been through that conversation many times. Here's the deal...we bought our home in 2000 for it's location. We're in a river community. We have a decent amount of land, and as my realtor has always said, we'll never lose on anything we do to our home. We put a pool in back in 2002, and we would definitely want another one if we bought another house or built new. We are both teachers in our town and I work about 1/2 mile from my work and my 3 children's school and my husband is about 2 miles from his. Our neighbors are the best. We're very close-knit. We are in NJ, and in our area there isn't any land we'd be interested in for sale. We are close to things and yet secluded. Anytime I discussed moving in the past, people would tell us we're nuts and they wished they lived in our neighborhood. I've looked around at homes for sale on line and anything I would consider is about 380k and needs to be updated which will be even more $. I know we'll go over our allowances, the question is how much.

OK, I'm back. Here's my stab at it. Others will tell you if something I say won't work. This is all referring to your plan, not the current kitchen. I have exactly the same distance -- 7'3" -- right now b/t my sink and fridge. Granted, the stove is 6' from the fridge and the sink is 11' from the stove and all the counters are separated from each other by doorways and more. Terrible setup. There is no taking things from one place/zone, pivoting or short steps to put in the next zone. I have to take several steps. Your distances b/t the other two appliances are shorter than mine, but I don't see an easy way to get things from the fridge, clean/prep them, and take them to cook. All those involve more than a pivot or one or two steps. We ended up putting a rolling cart in the middle of the kitchen, which helped with that, but it always felt like it was in the way, we were always having to shift it one way or another to get around it or into things. Is the pellet set in a place that it can't be moved? Before I saw it I wondered if you could switch your LR and DR and have columns to replace the wall b/t the LR and kitchen. If no, then forget what I'm about to say. I also realize that the LR is much bigger than the DR, so maybe this could work just to borrow a little space from the LR and keep the DR where you have it. If you have a more formal LR though, you probably won't want to do it this way. But let's just say it is possible. Here's what I see. I may be biased by my own layout, but you can try it on for size anyway. - Open the LR to the kitchen with columns for support. - This would eliminate the run of cabinets by the fridge. - Start your cabinets on the next (stove) wall. Put a tall pantry cabinet in the corner on that wall. To its left, put the fridge with the side panels. To its left, a run of counter and upper and lower cabinets. - Turn the corner. Allow enough space for the range; move the window to the left to accommodate it. - Move the sink to the left to allow recommended counter space b/t stove and sink. - Instead of a door there, continue the lower cabinets further along. They could go another 2' and still allow more than 36" for clearance to get into the DR without changing that wall. - Start the window to the left of the MW cabinet and center the sink if you like, or have upper cabinets if you need them, and start the window at the sink. (My vote would be to start them at the stove and go to the end run of cabinets. You can center the windows above this run and center the sink with the windows. If you have any kind of view to the left as you are standing at the sink, the uppers on the left side will drive you crazy (or would me). - Replace the middle bay with a door. - In the middle of the kitchen, 42-48" from the counters, run an island parallel to the sink run, 6'x36-39" with seating. This would leave a 42" aisle to the left of the island from the DR through the kitchen. If it doesn't work to switch the LR and DR, I still have another idea. - Leave the long wall b/t kitchen and LR alone. Instead, add 18" to the 12" section. Move the peninsula 30" into the kitchen and down to butt up against your new 30" wall. Your doorway to the LR will be 3.5'. Your peninsula will extend in the same direction and to whatever extent you want, leaving clearance. - Keep the same L-shaped plan as above for your kitchen work zones. - In the middle of the kitchen, put a smaller island for landing and work space, leaving 42-48" for working aisles, 36" for passage aisles. A 4'x2' island running parallel to the sink would give you some workspace and some storage and a 36" aisle b/t it and the peninsula. - An alternate to the peninsula: make the cabinets in the DR next to it 12", bring the peninsula 3' out and make it an island, 3.5'x4', with its long middle where the wall is. I'm assuming you will have something for support? Columns or a beam or both? GW thread on islands with columns Island with columns If you like that look, google "Kitchen island with columns" to find more One other thought: if you were to put the stove on the outside wall, would you consider getting a regular hood? We are trading our OTR MW for a full hood and separate MW. I don't know about your OTR, but mine is no good at clearing the air when cooking and is way too noisy. I hope that is all clear and somewhat helpful.

thats why, when my ob/gyn offered to leave one ovary for hormones, i declined the offer. the other ovary had a grapefruit sized segmented cyst on it, never had any pain. i was only 35 at the time, but i knew if he was gonna take one thing, i wanted him to take it all. so he removed cervix and everything north of there. good luck, and please seek prompt medical attention. anette