I was diagnosed with high IOP 30 years ago. Since then, I've: visited my opthalmologist every 3-4 months, spent a full day every year or so at one of the country's best eye hospitals having a battery of tests, been on every class of glaucoma med available, and consulted with one of the country's top glaucoma specialists. My pressures are always in the 25-29 range. The meds made no difference to my readings. And yet, in all those years, I've had no damage to my optic nerve--no actual symptoms of glaucoma at all. Then, about 4-5 years ago, on one of my annual visits to the glaucoma lab at the hosptial, the tech doing my tests asked if she could measure my corneal thickness. She'd just been trained on the machine the day before and had yet to use it solo on a patient. Before that time, it wason't common to test a glaucoma suspect's corneal thickness. Well, voila! My corneas are so thick that it's impossible for the drs to get an accurate reading with their instruments. My thick corneas account for my high--but normal for me--pressure readings. My dd also has thick corneas--which she's very thankful for at the moment because she's having Lasik in about a month--and it's much more successful on people with thick corneas. As a matter of fact, her surgeon (who is also her boss) is trying to get me in--he wants to do my thick corneas as well. If you're asking for advice. First thing I'd recommend--if you haven't yet had it done--is to have your opthalmologist measure your cornea. A thicker or thinner than average cornea can really skew the pressure results. Then, educate yourself. Learn about glaucoma--the risks, the effect it will have on your eyes, the potential treatments, etc. I'd recommend that you go to a dr. who is a glaucoma specialist, associated with a very, very good eye hospital. Opthalmologists tend to have different specialties. When my original dr. retired a few years ago, he recommended a young woman dr. who is an expert in the field of glaucoma--I've been very pleased with her. You see, even though I don't yet have that disease, I consider it vital to go to a glaucoma specialist BECAUSE in my case, if I ever do develop it, it's going to be extremely hard to diagnose. Glaucoma, if you do have it, is very treatable in most cases, if caught early. Most cases will respond to one or the other of the drops. If not, surgery is an option. But it's important to understand that glaucoma rarely has any symptoms in it's early stages, it's not until you've suffered irreversible vision loss that you'll notice it. I urge all my friends and family to have regular check-ups with and OPTHALMOLOGIST (not an optometrist--optometrists aren't medical drs) to keep an eye on the health of their eyes, whether or not they need glasses. If you want to find more info on glaucoma and other eye conditions, the Wills Eye Hospital site is a great resource. Don't know if they still have this, but they used to offer online chatting with some of their glaucoma drs at certain times during the week.

I think an angled peninsula would look unique and interesting if done properly. What is the clearance b/w the peninsula & pantry in your drawing? With seats there, I hope at least 48". BTW...the locations of your range & sink concern me a little in that if there are two people working in those locations they will be "bumping elbows". I agree w/Rhome, post a to-scale drawing of the "empty" room and then tell us the pertinent information (appliances, goals, "wants", "needs", "do NOT want", etc.) If you haven't already, I recommend you read the "Read Me" thread. It discusses drawing a layout as well as other useful info. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

I have an 8" cabinet on one side of my stove. In it I have stored 2 pizza pans, my pizza peel, 3 lg. 9 x 13 cookie sheets, and some heat mats that I use on my counter for hot pots, pans, etc. I can easily get what I want without the rest falling out. My muffin tins and other bakeware are stored in a cabinet dedicated to bakeware-cake pans, pie pans, etc. I think your 9" cabinet will be fine. Go for it if that's what you want!!

Just about any major carpet store can help you by making a custom runner and not too pricey. The cheapie way would be to get 3 short rugs (all the same) and arrange them evenly following hallway path. HD offers a limited variety of runners thru a vendor and perhaps vendor can do custom runner