thanks for all the feedback. i'm thinking EXACTLY as gobruno suggests in that he is not at all used to having so much input from a homeowner. this was the case when we did our first house. i remember making an appointment to interview a kitchen designer and he asked the dimensions of the kitchen. when he arrived he had plans all drawn up and ready to go. i was perplexed to say the least. he spec'd a suite of kitchen aid appliances and was going to stain the wood maple. when i told him *I* was going to select the appliances and the wood species/stain/paint he looked at me and said, "ohhhhh... you're one of the FANCY people!" dh will never let me forget that. i did get an email back from cabinet maker today explaining WHY he hadn't followed the drawings exactly (he thought i would lose counter space with so many uppers being pulled down to the counter, etc...) but i assured him i KNOW what i want and need. he'll re draw and frankly he can revise until he's blue in the face. i'll see how he does but in the meantime i have some contacts i'll look into when we get back home. the guys are roofing this week and it will take a couple of weeks so we have the luxury of time. i also have very detailed drawings of exactly what i want which will make it very easy to come up with close estimates. i'll keep you posted. thanks again for all your wisdom, suggestions and patience. i'm making notes of all the vendors mentioned and will be sure to give them a call.

Jennifer- didn't you post your layout already? Yours is the house with that beautiful original wood bench in the foyer, right? Beautiful! I remember, you got some great ideas for your kitchen, powder room, and moving the laundry upstairs from some of the best designers here on GW. You mentioned it being hard for you to get to a big box store or cabinet store as they are all an hour away from you, I wondered if you could call the nearest Lowes and set up a phone or email appt. with the KD. You could use one of the layout suggestions you received on your other thread for now just to start the ball rolling. There design service is free. That way you could get an idea of the cost. The first time I priced my cabinets at Lowe's, it was way over my budget for even for the middle cabinet line (Kraftmaid I think?). My budget was much less then 20,000, but my kitchen is probably smaller then yours. Disappointed, I decided I better wait and save every penny for a while. However, in desperation, I ordered a sample door from one of those RTA lines that are not "made in the usa" since I could afford those. Thank goodness, at this time I discovered GW in researching that particular RTA brand. I read comments from Sophie (hollysprings) saying they were total "----------crap" I am very thankful for her blunt comments as it helped me from making a huge mistake! The sample looked exactly like she said after only about a month. I next looked into Scherrs as they seem very nice, but they cannot ship to me. I was leaning heavily towards Barker at this point. Then one day, after about a year and a half, I go into Lowe's and they were having a great sale on the better quality Schuler line (which I believe is the same as Medallion?) I again did my same layout with the same KD (btw, she is an awesome woman who has been a kd for over 35 years and out of neccessity has been at Lowe's for like 20 years! Sounds like someone on here!) After the discount, I was in the ballpark! I even added a few extras to get me into the next price category for an even bigger discount. The sale also included a free sink base and free paint upgrade, and a Lowe's gift card for 10% of the total price. After all was said and done, I think I saved about 7,000+ from the original Kraftmaid quote from the year before. I didn't change the layout either, in fact I added stuff. I got a way nicer cabinet brand. And I have a gift card to use still. I think the Schuller brand is very nice. Mine is the maple white icing paint, full overlay, plywood box, soft close, mostly drawers, stacked uppers with glass. They pretty much fill the needs you said you wanted above. I'd check them out. Maybe ask if they have any idea when a sale might be coming up. They might not know exactly when, but should have some insight. I know you want quality that will last. I will let you that my mom redid her kitchen with the Lowe's Kraftmaid in a maple with espresso finish about ten years ago. I was so glad I didn't go with this brand. Her finish is wearing off by all her knobs, it's dull in other areas where you don't even touch them, a couple cabinet doors fell off the hinges, etc.... She's single, immaculate, and not rough on her cabinets. I feel bad as they are not holding up well at all. Point being that I would not go with that brand if you want them to last over ten years. Well, I have rambled on long enough! :-). I am so bad that it is a running joke in my family! Ok, sorry have to add something else. See! I cannot help myself. For the record, I did not take your response to Sophie as negative at all. You explained that was indeed not the case. That is why when I read a post I try not to add tone, body language, or attitude into it. I do that only in posts where I want to have a good laugh! Not where it will make me offended to do so. I have appreciated and used so much advice from Sophie over the years. She always has the OP's best interest at heart. I find her short, simple, to the point delivery exactly what is needed sometimes. In fact, she has made me laugh out loud many times with her honesty. I never took it as brutal, just honest, with a hint of sarcasm when appropriate. I love her! :-) Best wishes on your cabinet hunting!

On the recommendation of this thread I've had several goes looking at Allthingsplants and I really didn't like it, apart from the quality of the photographs being better on their Plant Id Forum. The forums I looked at weren't particularly busy. The page is cluttered with distracting graphics and blinking emoticons which I find annoying. The messages are headed by a large user id and picture which takes up a lot of space and there is an advert right across the middle of the screen after the first post which you have to click to get rid of. I much prefer the, probably old fashioned but to me much cleaner-looking, format of GW.

Years ago, I didn't have a good experience with Roses Unlimited. It was my first ever rose order. The lack of success had a lot to do with weather, shipping delays and because the roses were in the box too many days during transport. Roses Unlimited has such overwhelmingly good reviews, so my experience was unusual. I didn't complain, because the winter was awful that year and I knew they took a hard hit. I learned that roses from nurseries closer to my side of the Country do much better, so I purchased roses from different sources from then on. I'm sorry to hear that Pat's husband died. He is the one that phoned me about the shipping delays. He sounded like a nice gentleman. I think they could benefit from a different ordering system. They used to only take checks, so there is some progress. I can't imagine running a nursery and producing a living product that is dependent on so many factors. I think we need to have patience with nurseries, because what would we do without them? I ordered Alakazam from For Love of Roses in December of 2015. However, when the rose proved to be difficult to propagate, my rose that was "in stock" became an additional mother plant out of necessity. Of course the owner offered me a refund or another rose, but I told him I wanted to wait as long as it takes. They expect to fill my order sometime in 2018. I appreciate that they haven't given up. I have stories about other nurseries as well, but this is already becoming a book. Rose nurseries are in business, because they have a love for roses and will do what they can to please their customers. Give them a chance to fix the issues and they will. I've ordered from a variety of nurseries and now have my favorites, which is our prerogative as the consumer.