I'm thinking along the same line as you catsgirl. In theory, Hugelkulter does fly in the face of what we are told about N being tied up by decaying matter. In my first attempt last year in what you are talking about,tomatoes,squash and beans were healthy in a 5'x5'x42"deep container. I added 4" of topsoil and planted tomatoes again this year. I am building a large pile of limbs on the ground in preperation for a larger planting area in 2015. I believe the reasons why N isn't depleted are; A. The total exposed surface area is much less than if wood chips or sawdust is used. B. Rather than mixed throughout,the wood is concentrated at the bottom and plants have N available in soil at the top. When fertilize is applyed to the ground surface plants respond. That would seem to indicate roots near the surface are supplying N to the plant, not those 12" deep.

Part of the problem is that people assume that their mattress is the standard, advertised size. Like an standard King is supposed to be 76x80 but MANY manufacturers cut their mattresses short, believe it or not. Tempurpedic is notorious for cutting their mattresses short (Saves them money? Who knows.) The point is - the pocket depth being wrong is not the only problem you will have with getting a tight fit and avoiding swimming in bunched-up sheets on your bed. We have a Tempurpedic King mattress that is actually 74.5 inches wide by 79 inches long and 11.5 inches high. The thing to do is to order from custom sheet companies. These sheets are not that much more expensive than many premade sheets and often are higher quality. We ordered fitted sheets to match our existing sheet sets (similar colors) and the prices were quite reasonable. Good companies we found include CozyTown (https://cozytownlinens.com/ Call or read instructions on how to order custom sheets - they want you to choose the general size in the dropdown list then in the comments section tell them the actual mattress measurements). They use only long staple cotton. Their Italian and 300 thread count sheets are really nice and ship fast, while their 500 TC takes a bit longer to order. CustomMattressFactory.com is another company with 600 TC organic cotton that is even less expensive than the former company. But there are a lot of companies doing this sort of customization. We gave up searching for premade sheets to fit the beds and have finally gotten sheets that fit.

I iron my top sheets and pillow cases. Any wrinkles in the fitted bottom sheet come out when you put it on the bed. I have tried to buy iron-free sheets but they are usually sateen sheets and even though they are 100% cotton, my husband and I don't like the feel of them. We like crisp, fairly heavy sheets and they are hard to find, especially if one's on a budget. I have one perfect set and 3 other not so perfect sets in addition to sets that have gone to Goodwill because we hated them.

you don't think it will look strange if the 2 ends don't match? Since that side of the island doesn't face an open space, I think you'll seldom see the whole side at once. Therefore, not matching is irrelevant. The countertop already won't match, and I think that will be far more visible, so I wouldn't worry at all about the underneath part not matching. I would suggest making the shallow drawer a little wider (same as the butcher block) and lose the other drawer completely. That way, you would scoot the stools down a bit and have some more roominess created by the overhang continuing around the corner. We have three stools in a 7.5' opening, and with elbows and legs, I can't imagine being truly comfortable with four stools and only six more inches. We have 18" deep drawers on our pantry wall, and we find them tremendously useful. I think 15" could be quite useful, too.