Sometimes there is no perfect solution available. In May we have a long discussion on Thrips. One of many I've read over the years on this forum. I've copied the summation of my thoughts from the May discussion below. A "search" on this topic will yeild many many posts on the topic: The thing is that I'm not opposed to using chemicals if absolutely necessary, it's just that in the case of Thrips aside from using Orthene every 3 days I haven't heard of anything that's 100% effective. And if you use Orthene that much you end up with spider mites that must be sprayed with Avid, and then the spider mites will develop an immunity to AVID so that within a year or less you end up not only with a Thrips problem, but a Spider Mite problem as well. So what have you accomplished? You've only made matters worse. It's the nature of how the Thrips feed deep inside the petals that makes chemical warfare so ineffective....Other solutions such as cutting off the spring blooms is maddening in my area of the country. Summer blooms are almost always inferior to spring/fall blooms(prime Thrips season), and you have to get up at the crack of dawn to cut them before the heat arrives. Eventually I've had to make some decisions about which roses I grow. There are some light colored roses that don't show the damage as much so I've switched to them. Honey Bouquet, Symphony, Tineke, all have Thrips but don't seem to show the damage as much. And I'm sure there are many others that I haven't tried yet, the point is that sometimes it's less frustrating to just go with the flow instead of fighting the current.

Thought I would update you about my quest. Last night, as I was putting water in the rice cooker to cook rice for chicken fried rice today, I thought, hmmmm. So I put the cornbread dressing in the water and mixed it well, then put in the rice, then added the cut-up, leftover chicken breast I was going to use for chicken fried rice, and last added the rice, and stirred again. Turned on the cooker and about 15 minutes before the rice was through cooking, poured petite green peas over the top of the mixture. No additional salt was added. I was very pleased with the results - just the right amount of salt for everything. Although it was good, I cannot say I will write down the "recipe" and make it again, but I did achieve my goal of salvaging the terribly salty cornbread stuffing.

I have no experience laying out kitchens (just in planning stage for my re-do) but I would move the stove/cooktop to the opposite wall. That would give you a stretch of counter near the sink for prep (also wouldn't have to move sink). I also think having the cooking area on the opposite wall (probably middle of counter area) would give you some room to assemble ingredients and de-congest the other wall. HTH

GLAD the pink tone is gone. No advice on darkening some of the squares, but why not try a patch test in an unobtrusive place and see what happens. We had a floor mess on one entire floor of our rowhouse. Patch-tested and Red Mahogany was the stain that looked perfect with already-stained original baseboards and other woodwork. Floor guys put down the first coat on our new white oak flooring, and when it dried, it was purple. I swear, it looked like someone had spilled red wine or grape juice all over the floor. We didn't want to sand again and were concerned a second coat would just deepen the purple. Head floor guy said, lemme try a coat of Jacobean over it to dull down the red, and if that doesn't work, we'll sand and start again. It turned out pefect - rich, deep, just the color we wanted.