Something I would like to see some test and report back - food color stains, particularly red and purple seem to be a recurrent problem. I wish someone would get some powerful hydrogen peroxide from the hair dressers and test a spot of food stain. I kept some carpet remnants to do this but before I was able to locate the peroxide someone, aka 'the spouse' tossed my stained remnants.

You know I have the magic bullet and really didn't use it very much. Then one day I accidentally bought whole bean coffee instead of the ground coffee, and used the magic bullet to grind the coffee up in. Boy, it did a great job, I must say. I know it sounds funny, but I wasn't using it much til I found a new purpose. LOL. So, for those with a magic bullet, try griding whole beans in it, it's easy, fast, and boy does that smell good!

Thank you all so much for the kind words of support. I have been treating myself to long walks and leisurely baths - which will usually get me out of a funk, but it's not working this time. Tally is right, I'm not giving my girlfriend enough credit. I'll head over there tonight for a glass of wine. She'll probably welcome the opportunity to laugh about my pitiful doldrums. Talking to DH about things like this just leave me feeling worse (bless his heart). I'm perfectly able to handle the details, but he'll go into problem solver mode. He'll go on for hours about tires and body shops and identity theft blah, blah, blah when all I want is a hug, an 'it'll be okay baby', and a bowl of home made soup that I didn't have to make for myself. Although a conversation with him will likely bring me to tears. I hadn't considered a lack of sleep making things seem worse than they are. I haven't slept well since my schedule changed. Working up a sweat, as suggested, will help in that area, too. Since my back yard always needs attention this time of year I'll attack it on my day off tomorrow if the weather holds up (don't belong to a gym). That should leave me exhausted enough to get a good night's sleep. Food? At times like these I resist making Glenda's fudge pie because I have no will power. I'd eat half of it for dinner, then finish it off for breakfast. Especially since I'm currently between blenders...

Actually, the more I think about your hidden sink counter, the more I like the idea. I would love to see a drawing of it in the open position to get a clearer idea of how it will look and function. I'm not big on designing for resale either so I get it. This is your home and if you plan on being there for awhile, you should design it the way you want. I suspect some of my design decisions aren't going to appeal to everybody either. However, I do think all people appreciate good function. So, to the hood....the distance the hood should be from the cooktop depends on the manufacturer's specifications. If you're committed to the cooktop/hood at the island, this is something you'll need to be aware of while choosing your hood. But really do your due diligence and read reviews. You might want to search around here at GW/Houzz for more feedback on island hoods. For example, there is a ceiling hood system that does not drop down but, rather, is more like a bathroom fan in that it doesn't project down from the ceiling. Sounds great, right? Except I've read time and again bad reviews. Even though it's a powerful and expensive system, it just defies the laws of physics regarding how smoke/grease/steam rise and can be captured. In general, people just seem to report more problems with the capture and noise with island hoods. If you're aware of this and choose carefully, you may make a choice that minimizes these issues and that you'll be happy with in the long run. You bring up hood noise. Yes, it's a much bigger issue with an island hood. As you're standing there cooking and speaking with guests at the island or the table beyond, the hood is right above and in-between you and your guests. The noise is being generated right there. So, yes, there will be more noise than from a wall hood 4-6 feet away. It's a reality. Also, many people don't use their hoods correctly to minimize grease build-up in their kitchens. I learned here that it's best to turn the fan on low several minutes before you start cooking in order to generate the proper air movement to capture the particles. Then cook. Then wait until about 10 minutes after cooking to turn the fan off. It makes a big difference. Not only do cooking smells disappear better but, also, grease and grime on your surfaces are greatly reduced. For those of us who really don't like to clean, this is fantastic! Hopefully, the low, quieter speed handles everything well by using this routine. If not, you may have to change to higher settings which are always going to be louder. So, with an island hood, if you use this routine, think about how long that fan will be on while visiting with guests. If you buy a better hood with lower noise output, it might not be too loud or a problem. But, depending on what you cook, it could be. Just something to consider. Another thing to consider is that, per time studies, most cooks spend about 70% of their time doing prep, 20% cooking, and 10% on clean-up. So, if you want to visit with guests while cooking, you'll actually have more face time with them if your sink is in the island and you're prepping while visiting. And, if kids are ever in the picture, it is harder to keep an island cooktop safe for them to be around. If that's a future concern, you might consider induction which doesn't get hot and is super-safe compared to gas or electric cooktops. 48" is the suggested minimum aisle width for multiple cooks. In our family, we prefer wider. We were going to do 54" but have recently moved our temporary peninsula out to 60" and like that even more. So these are things you need to play with. I always suggest mocking up using furniture or boxes to simulate and then do some pretend cooking sessions to see how the different widths feel. I hand wash so few items that I just put down a towel for drying which I then use to dry the few things I hand wash and put them away immediately. My hand washing is limited to large pots and knives and a few other obscure things. For example, I might hand wash a bowl I've just used if I need it again in the prep process. My preference is to keep the DW door open while prepping and cooking and immediately plop things into it after I'm done using it. If I empty the DW immediately upon finishing, I rarely have more than a few dishes waiting for the next load and they are easily hidden in the sink. So I rarely have items, dirty or drying, cluttering my counters. (Of course, the rest of the family isn't as good as this so it depends on what all they did while I wasn't around to keep up after them, darn it anyway.) DW's, especially the newer, efficient ones use less water than even the quickest, most efficient hand washers per studies as they usually use less than 5 gallons of water for an entire load. Believe me, none of us could wash that many dishes with that little water. DW's also use less soap. So they are cheaper to run and usually gets items cleaner while sterilizing, too. And it's a waste to rinse prior to plonking something into it as the detergents need the enzymes from the food particles to work best. You should, of course, still scrape. So my feeling is that if you change your dish washing habits to something more like that, you won't have to deal with a drying rack of dishes on your counter. I have no upper cabinets so everything, including dishes, glasses, and utensils are kept in lower drawers near the DW. Yes, your DW should be placed near those types of storage areas. When my remodel is done, my DW will be on one side of the sink and the drawer stack with those items will be on the other side of the sink. Most cookware and prep items will be just across the aisle from the DW. The only things I have to walk a bit farther to put away are my items specifically for baking (9 feet away) and items used in my coffee/blender center which are a few more feet. Hope this helps a bit.