A basic wooden raised bed is easy to make if you have hammer and nail skills. It's just a box.

But, if you don't want to tackle that, Gardener's Supply sells corner connectors -- you just slide wood or composite boards into the connectors and viola! you're done. I used these years ago to build an octogonal-shaped short raised bed under a tree and they were a snap to use and good quality; this was quite some time ago, so I can't comment on quality nowadays. But they are super-easy to build a bed with.

Here's a link: https://www.gardeners.com/products/1-inch-lifetime-raised-bed-corners-4

"I'm probably a bit biased since my past experience with container growing has not been very productive."

Container growing isn't the same thing as raised bed growing.

I'll admit I was dubious, but my 4' x 4' x 1' test box overall was a success, and I was able to jam a lot in there. Like I said, I'm varying the heights of my boxes in the new garden.

We all have different experiences. For the life of me, I can't get winter squash to grow well when trellised, and I've tried multiple times, yet others swear this is the way to go {shrug}.

"Container growing isn't the same thing as raised bed growing."

You're right Porkchop, when reading DrCindy's post mentioning rasied metal beds I was wrongly picturing those large metal tubs that a neighbor of mine who uses those extra large metal tubs. Beds are bottomless so that's a more favorable growing situation.

We still don't know what OP was mad about and why she tossed the meat.

I did look up Amish beef processors and found the carve out. Good for them.

Custom-Exempt Processors: Many small local or traditional Amish butcher shops operate on a custom-exempt basis. This means they process animals owned directly by individual customers (such as a consumer buying half a cow) for personal use. These facilities do not require a daily USDA inspector on-site, but the meat cannot be resold commercially in retail stores.

In florida it looks like you have to buy a share of a cow so you are the owner. We should not have to jump through these stupid hoops to buy beef from local farmers. It is made complicated so that 4 corporations have a lock on our food supply. I am sick of it. There is legislation crafted to solve this stupid issue for us and they refuse to do anything for the people. Maybe we need our own lobbyists.

” should not have to jump through these stupid hoops to buy beef from local farmers”.I am surprised to hear this.

in canada, we can buy meat from anyone or anywhere. This could either be from local grocery stores, or farmer next door.

Tim Wood, that is spectacular!

Tim Wood -- WOW!

@porkchop_z5b_MI haha no. He isn’t out there that long . He has shoes lol just lazy. c

I really admire your ingenuity, Pillog! You always seem to come up with clever ways to use up things.

I like Emeril's roasted cauliflower recipe. I also have a recipe for roasted curried cauliflower. IMO roasting is the way to go - it brings out the depth of flavor.

One of my favorites is Aloo Gobi. Yes there are potatoes but not a lot of added fats . In terms of Indian dishes, it is a bit less complex. On the spicy cauliflower vein, I like Gobi Manchurian but not the deep frying --- but there are some air fryer variants.

@Gooster — this sounds good. I had to look it up.

Flying cars....what could possibly go wrong....

For the low information contributors, it does not fly. It's designed to reduce speed and slowly drop to the ground if the car is in the wrong orientation using flight stabilization software and compressed air, and can only compensate for 10 seconds. They are not rockets, (yet).

The software is exactly what is used in drone technology, and compressed air is what you put in car tires, but Telsa uses 10,000 PSI.

You're right olly, they got smart.

"Lotus has since focused on its own electric vehicle lineup and is now fully owned by Geely."

Still smarter than jumping in bed with an idiot.

I don't understand what you're asking.

We wanted to initially do backsplash change as we did our house reno there was unexpected costs so we thought not to go through the backsplash

So I'd just get matching tile and put it back up where you took it out.

"I wonder if municipal water is not as well treated as it was years ago."

I think the problem is modern washers, not the water. The washer I replaced a year ago was a "regular" washer, meaning it had a hot cycle but not a sanitize cycle -- no on-board water heater. I would set teh cycle to hot and I could stick my hand in the tub of water, it was barely lukewarm, not even close to hot. A non-negotiable for me when purchasing my new W/D set was a sanitize cycle. What a difference!

armjim: "I have it set very high so that when I do need hot water I am getting hot water too hot to touch."

Scalding is a thermal burn from hot water or steam. The severity depends on both temperature and contact time. The standard residential guidance — 120°F at the tap — is the consensus across the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and ASSE: hot enough to suppress most concerns, cool enough that an able-bodied person has 5 minutes to react before a third-degree burn.

A scald is a thermal burn caused by hot liquid or steam. Skin damage scales with both how hot the water is and how long the skin is in contact. The reference table — sometimes called the scald exposure curve — captures the relationship.

For an able-bodied adult, full-thickness (third-degree) burns occur at:

• 140°F in less than 5 seconds
• 130°F in about 30 seconds
• 120°F in about 5 minutes
• 115°F rarely full-thickness even at long exposure

Children burn faster: at 140°F, infant skin can show third-degree damage in 1 second. Elderly adults often have slower reflexes and thinner skin.

The 120°F residential setpoint is a balance. Any lower starts to drift into temperatures where Legionella can grow in the tank. Any higher creates real scald risk for vulnerable users at every fixture in the home.

-- https://washingtonplumbers.net/glossary/scalding/

Lawrence, we don't have children in the house. I do appreciate the article you shared as the information is beneficial for many. In our case the water heater I mentioned services our washer, dishwasher, laundryroom and kitchen sinks only.

Paint can change things quite a bit, example the dark wall rack, the dark R painted a fun light colour, mirror frame, picture frames etc, If it were me I would find that easier and more pleasing than changing the colour of the antique beams.

Leave the beams.

Those stairs terrify me.

Ideas:

Heftier wood-toned shelves and storage unit (with an open-back section to accommodate the wall vent), TV wall (including vent cover) painted charcoal to hide cords, foundation boxing painted to match walls (or a bit darker, as ChatGPT did here). Roman shades at the windows for some pattern. Could consider a rug and/or ottoman(s) if desired. I really don't see a better furniture arrangement than the one you already have.

And I'm still planting....

I've been on a spree the last couple of weeks, mainly trees and shrubs. I don't think DH is too happy. Too bad.

ETA: He does like the pine tree, though.

Best of luck, Still trailing. That's a lot to do with a broken thumb, ouch!

In the last couple days I have planted 7 peonies (2 more to go, still debating where to plant them), snowdrop bulbs that a kind acquaintance sent me, and started on irises. I'm new to peonies and snowdrops, and this is my first year buying new fancy irises instead of using pass along plants or the old tried and true varieties. I've had to prepare and amend a couple beds which is mostly done now, so hopefully the rest of the planting goes faster.

Dee, I am so with you on potting things up. I'm doing some of that too in case the weather turns and I can't get everything in the ground. I hate babying pots over the winter but I think it's going to come to that again! Oh well, my porch would look so sad and lonely if it was clear. Hope your knee recovers soon and the weather stays nice for you.

@diggerdee zone 6 CT I missed the part about your knee! I am so sorry! I hope it will be all ok by Spring planting.

My thumb is coming along better than I have a right to expect. Thank you all for the good thoughts ! They helped .

2 of the shrubs are going back tomorrow to the nursery. I don’t know WHY I don’t check for root bound. I have been dumb like that before and should know better. One won’t come out of the pot and the other did but it is just ridiculously overgrown. They have a 1 yr no questions asked policy so will be more careful. The Proven Winners are beautifully potted in better soil. I am going to remind myself to check check check . c

It didn't happen to me or any of us, so we don't know what actually transpired. Remember that old saying -- there are two sides to every story and the truth is usually somewhere in between.

That said, I am completely against anyone going on-line to trash a business in this manner, but particularly a celebrity with a large following. A one-sided review/comment can completely destroy a business.

IMO the way these things should be handled is to take it to management. Maybe in that moment, maybe a little later when one is ready to; in this way, a great many situations it can be amicably resolved. In this case, a sincere apology in the moment or soon afterwards might have smoothed things over. Instead, it's blown up into internet fodder and the sting of it carries on for all parties involved.

I had a very unpleasant shopping experience at a plant nursery last week. I took it to management at the time; I did not go on-line and bash the business -- What would that accomplish? How would that smooth things over? It wouldn't have. Instead, I talked to the manager about it; they apologized, said they understood why I was upset and they would look into it. Whether they did/will or not IDK, but I felt heard and valued as a customer -- and that's what matters and keeps me willing to shop there again.

"I believe she might be under some emotional turmoil."

^^ That is not an excuse for her public business-bashing behavior.

@Ally De, I have a similar story. It was for the first new car I negotiated for and and bought myself. I went first to a dealership out of town that was recommended for good deals. The salesman immediately started in with the ’honey’ thing every time he addressed me. I couldn’t wait to get out of there and didn’t even drive one of their cars. Need,ess to say, I shopped elsewhere and found what I wanted locally and eventually bought another vehicle from them several years later. Someone even called me from that first dealership about why I didn’t deal with them and boy did I give them an earful.

Outside - you'd think people who depend on making sales to make money would get told on Day 1 that rule number 1 is don't tick off potential customers. 😄🙄

Stainless. Your white applicances don't match your warm-white cabinets, not at all. Stainless will look much better with the cabinetry.

I'd go stainless too — it pairs much better with warm-white cabinets than bright white appliances do. One tip from experience: look for a fingerprint-resistant finish, it makes a huge difference with daily upkeep.

Agree with replacing with stainless steel appliances. Not sure if any of them are truly "smudge-proof" especially with kids or messy husbands (like mine).

But get a container of Weiman's Stainless Steel Wipes. They are the BEST at cleaning SS. I use one wipe on a refrigerator, range hood, microwave oven, convection oven and rangetop. Works great!

https://weiman.com/stainless-steel-wipes?srsltid=AU7gw4UGng6FCStcX8BCSAtHcQvT2nKIU1aLgLf3sUWPBQmUUr2mO0k_

And no, I don't work for the company!

"Have you done any winter sowing in the past?"

Yes, without success. It was a half-hearted attempt, though.

I doubt I'll ever get into winter sowing. I enjoy growing from seed indoors where I can tend and watch the sprouting and growth. Plus, I grow mostly "summer annuals" and vegetables and have cut down on the amount I grow over the years, so it's enough. I do cuttings, too -- those things that I can't get seed for.

We get some very warm days in winter too Markay. I think that's why I've come back to using gallon jugs. They're not quite clear so maybe it's helping them to not overheat. I got over-confident last year and left mine out in the sun with just the lids off. They did just fine when it was windy but then we had a day in the nineties in late winter/early spring with no wind and they cooked. Lesson learned.

Diggerdee - "it can't hurt to take just a few minutes to take a look" That's true unless you're on a budget. Sounds dangerous. lol Much of my temptation comes from reading here or reading articles about "best plants for butterflies" or "long blooming perennials for sun" stuff like that. I research and make lists.

Thanks for the welcome, christie and diggerdee!

I will have to get a soldering iron and try that method. It's about the only thing I haven't tried. I tried steak knives and a sewing awl, various push pins, and screwdrivers. I like the tip about stringing up the prepared jugs! I have just been throwing them in a big box in a spare room but that's an eyesore. I also found the milk jugs gave me the best success. Like Markay and christie I have to watch the temperatures closely. We actually don't get real winter weather here until January most of the time, and February is also cold, but we will get warm days and hot days sometimes. I experimented with growing tomato seeds which I know isn't really the ideal use for the method, but the seedlings that survived all the freezes and hot days were nigh indestructable and I had enough I needed to give some away. I did have to cheat a little bit because there was one hard freeze, I think it was in the teens, that came through in February and I am pretty sure that would have wiped them all out, so I moved them indoors a couple nights. I had one batch of flowers that I killed by letting them stay in the sun on a hot day. I need to keep better records because I don't even remember what they were now. Even if I have some failures and have to modify the method a bit, it's worth it to me to try. I really would like to have a dedicated place with lights and heat mats to germinate seeds efficiently, but I don't have a good spot in the house for it and I get overwhelmed looking for indoor lights and heat mats.

LOL! I will gladly pass the screw-up baton...

I'm not sure what I would do about the cypress. I think the best two choices are to try to overwinter in the garage in as warm a location as possible up by the house wall, or find the most protected spot you can and plant it in the ground -- microclimate line of thinking here. I've never overwintered a potted evergreen, only deciduous shrubs and trees, so I have no guess as to odds of success. Although, I suppose it can't be any worse than planting it in the protected location -- maybe a toss-up?

Sorry, not much help here...

I've grown so many of these (Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma Goldcrest') here in Z8, and a lot of them in containers - for years. Based on my experience the top is probably hardy to around 16-17F for a few hours, the containerized root system around 20F, again, for a few hours.

I know what I would do: Keep it outside in good light but protected from dry winds as much as possible, as long as the temperatures are above what I described above. Move it into the garage for cold-snaps only, but then back out when it warms up again.

Since your plant was mail order I'm assuming its quite small and easy to move multiple times.

Good luck, garden experiments are at least half of the reason I keep going!

Thanks guys! I'm still so bummed lol. Every time I walk by that thing my first thought is how beautiful the color is, and the immediate second thought is, what am I going to do with it?

The plant is about 2-2.5 feet tall, so yes, it is easily moved - for now. I do need to put it in a bigger (which means heavier!) pot though if it's going to live in a pot, even for this winter. I think it's too crowded in its current pot.

It is currently in my family room lol. We had a freeze warning last night so I brought it in.

So artinnature, I think you and the others are right and I will need to bring it in and out, at least till I decide it's permanent fate. I think I knew that from the get-go lol. It's just I'm not sure of my options. Even bringing it in and out, these are the options:

Outside warmest spots:

In front of the house: decent sun in winter, lots of wind (i live in a fairly windy spot) but hoping the house would break the wind and protect it

On the side of the house, against it, on the asphalt driveway (which goes all the way up to the concrete house foundation): warmest, sunniest spot throughout the whole winter, but not as protected from winds.

Back patio: My house forms a kind of U-shape around the patio - back of the house, a room that juts off the back of the house, which is connected to the garage. That corner by the garage wall is very warm (I have trouble keeping things alive in summer because the sun here is so hot). However, there is more shade (from the house itself, so even in winter) and also that U-shape makes the wind into whirlwinds. There are often little piles of leaves in the corners and against the walls - which might be a good thing??? Insulation vs winds??

Inside options:

Unheated garage: Honestly, I'm afraid this is too cold. I swear sometimes it's colder than the outside!

Family room: long story but this old addition to the house is on a raised concrete slab, between the back of the house and the garage, with an inaccessible crawl space, and the concrete slab is cracked, so the room is cold. The back door opens into this room. We rarely use it in winter since we finished the basement, but in the old days we used a space heater in addition to the heat from the vent from the furnace. If the space heater runs and the door to the next room is closed, it stays warm. But I can't run a space heater for a plant lol. If the space heater is NOT on, it still is warmer than outside but it does get cold (but no lower than 40's-50's I would say). It has 2 east/southeast facing windows, so it does get decent sun at least in the winter mornings, and is a bright room.

Front hall: about 6x6, does have a heat vent but has cold tile floors. Temps fluctuate - cold at night and when the sun isn't there, much warmer on late afternoon winter sunny days.

I think I just need to figure out my combo of indoor and outdoor spots lol. Trying to decide what is worse - the cold or the wind. Indoors? Well I just worry in general because I can never overwinter anything in the house. My doors are the threshhold of doom to any plant lol.

And then of course, I wonder, okay, how long can I keep this up? The plant can grow up to 8 feet tall lol! Don't think I'll be able to lug that in and out! My daughter was laughing when I told her - she told me I can use it as our Christmas tree! :)

Anyway, if anyone is still reading after my long dissertation lol, thank you again for your suggestions, and please feel free to add more!

:)

Dee

Beautiful stone. Glad your not going with a pot filler.

@chispa I see a pelvis too.

Do you really want to cook in front of a giant pelvis?

Looks delicious!

@Sherry8aNorthAL we grew up in New Orleans and haven’t had great shrimp since we left in the ’70’s!

We never go back to visit and when we have spent a month a year in the Gulf area South of Tampa we lucked upon some great fresh never frozen shrimpa couple times in 4 years.

The industry isn’t what it used to be . So we just reminisce and don’t bother with frozen suspect sources .

Your scampi is just what we liked very simple but delicious. c

Pickled ginger is great in okonomiyaki- yum!

@Sherry8aNorthAL, I'm curious- you said you find Chinese recipes confusing when they cooking ingredients then remove them to add back in later, yet your shrimp scampi recipe does just that. Maybe if you imagine the Chinese recipes as a variation on shrimp scampi that would help.

Nothing exciting or different here. Been busy with work travel then yardwork on the weekend, so Sunday dinner tomorrow is a simple pasta dish because I'm too tapped out for anything more adventurous and I'm behind on my housework.

Speaking of pumpkin lasagna -- I have a very good recipe for roasted butternut squash and hazelnut lasagna. Delicious! Little too early in the season for that, I usually make that mid-winter.

FWIW, that made me think about how my squashes would lose flavor and sweetness over time - the best tasting were closer to harvest. Happens with some store bought as well.

I'm in Colorado @ 7600'. We ahd light rain until a heavy snowstorm blew through. It wa very quick, the snow only laste 5 minutes tops.

I cooked pork tenderloin sliced and breaded, fried in a dash of olive oil. With white rice and gravy on the side. A warm...cold day...comfort food. It got down to 36F last night....drained the hoses. We had a high of 39F today.

I like Fedco and Pinetree, in part because they are in Maine, like me. Johnny's is good, too. If you find a local source of seeds, they will probably be very suited to your climate.

The Butterzukes or The Zukenuts would be a fab name for a band LOL!

In past experiences I found that Burpee from the catalog is cr*p but off the rack is fine. Weird, I know, but there you go. I haven't purchased anything from them off the rack in a while, though, so IDK if that statement still holds true.

Thanks. Scary interesting. So maybe sfter a while, no more oaks, beech, birches and maples, but plastic cacti.

I have heard of the jumping worms but have never seen one. Thank goodness. But, it's probably only a matter of time...

I have to overwinter a "Sun King" aralia and a "Halcyon" hosta which are in pots; I just haul those into the barn.

It's too early to dig the geraniums for storage; I usually wait until after a light frost or two for that then dig and store them dormant with the exception of one mother plant that I grow on in the window (my insurance policy against over-wintering losses -- geraniums are easy from cuttings).

I hate this time of year! I have about 30 containers - some are very large + there are several that are a little smaller = still large. I have some smaller ones - but not many "small" ones (more are a medium size) I wish I had all small ones right now!

I just HATE seeing plants die. I moved a few late this afternoon to under the covered patio + pulled the patio curtains in order to keep them warmer. It's been sprinkling all day (rained pretty hard last night) - so, even though the low is 45 degrees, I think some of my tropical plants needed a break from being soaked.

I pulled something when I lifted on of my large heavy pots - my neck hurts + I am having a shooting pain in my shoulder when I move my arm at times.

The four hanging baskets I made that are around the patio (three are by corners of the covered patio + a fourth one over by the windows around my breakfast nook) are HUGE and beautiful (I really stuffed them extra full this year). They are filled with so many beautiful flowers - and it's supposed to drop to the low 30s for two nights (Fri and Sat). Next week is warm again - I hope they still look good after this weekend.

I need to start purchasing more perennials to use in some of my containers/pots! It's a lot of work moving so many of them into the basement!

Ouch Dani have you tried soaking in a hot bath? Hate when that happens. I‘ve gotten good at reminding myself to lift with bent knees but shoulders are a different story, sorry to hear and I hope it’s nothing serious.

I still haven’t brought in the rest of mine yet. What’s left will be ok if it frosts tonight and I’m hoping to bring them in tomorrow ugh. Geraniums still glowing as of tonight…crazy as this is the best they’ve looked all season even after their friends have been pulled.

I've been taking mine down as the plants decline. Most are still going relatively strong, though -- geraniums, salvias, etc. I did plant up a replacement pot for the front with some fall-colored marigolds and with some pansies in one of the backyard planters.

lol Dee yes, you are doing good! I know they are very hard to resist. I go to a greenhouse that has every color available and I swear I feel like a kid in a candy store! They have so much thats its overwhelming and I end up having a hard time deciding. 🥴

It is strange how some years squirrels will be a nuisance and not in other years. I had bought new irises by mail order one year, and had just finished potting them up and left them on the ground outside the back door. I came out to check on them and a squirrel had come along and dug them all out and ran off with them. lol I did find one across the yard with bite marks all over it. But...I think I was feeding the birds then and that was drawing a lot of squirrels into the yard. When I am not doing that, I barely see a squirrel. They must find other feeders to use.

They also used to pull out all my sunflower seedlings. One year I replanted three times! And the third time I did what gardenho did....cayenne pepper. I worried they would rub their eyes and get a nasty surprise, I didn't like to do it,. but....three times?! lol They didn't touch them after that.

I have some critter that sits on my bottom front step to eat cherry tomatoes and leaves the remnants of one there, all the time. Pretty sure it is a chipmunk.

I have multiple tulip trees. One is a really really tall one that was here when I moved in. It is an admirable tree, I find nothing negative about them. I've never noticed any "sticks" from the blooms, and the leaves get shredded along with other leaves in the fall.

That's good to know. Porkchop. Do you have a large property? I think that makes a difference too and how larger tree you can accommodate without it becoming a problem. I love the look of tulip tree. They look like great trees. The flowers are great. I like the trunk. As long as it doesn't have sticks, LOL if I had the room, I'd try one.

You should take some photos of the trees in their new location, as well as any historical photos of them in the old location, if you have any. I'm sure that uploading those here would improve this thread.

My favorite time of year and weather, pork chop.

I have a microwave shelf below the counter.

@thinkdesignlive: That's a great idea, but I would recommend a beautiful wide sideboard rather than a continuation of cabinets--just to add more elegance to the dining end.

Lots to chew on. Thanks to everyone for their advice - much appreciated.

No.

Good work excavating down to the root flare — that's exactly the right first step, and I agree with the others here. From the photos, what you're seeing looks like adventitious roots (small roots that sprouted from the buried portion of the trunk while it was underground), not true girdling roots.

A few things worth doing:

1. Keep tracing down until you find the true root flare — the point where the trunk widens and the first structural roots branch outward. Any small roots originating from trunk tissue above the flare can be pruned off cleanly with sharp pruners. They serve no structural purpose and can thicken into problems later.

2. True girdling roots are larger roots that wrap around the trunk or cross over other roots. If you spot any of those, remove them with a clean cut at the point where they return to a normal outward direction.

3. Keep the flare exposed going forward — no soil or mulch piled against the trunk. A 2-3 inch mulch ring is great, just pull it back a few inches from the flare.

Recheck in a year or two. Redbuds are fairly resilient, so with the flare properly exposed these trees should do well.

Wow that Florida King is really something, and the Houston put on a lot of growth, too. You must be quite pleased. I have four peach varieties (none are the varieties you have), and I have noticed that the Baby Crawford just doesn't have the vigor of any of the other three I have. I don't know whether it wasn't a good specimen to begin wtih or it's not a particularly robust grower, but it just can't compare to the other varieties. So yea sometimes that happens.

Do you have deer? If you do, you better get deer protection up around those trunks ASAP, as in yesterday.

"However, I get attached to useless things (see Klem), and now I"m afraid I'm not going to be able to chop this tree down next spring "

You've always been able to chop Klem down, be-it Spring,Winter or Fall.

Why don't ya'll try your hand at grafting desirable stock onto those maverick peach trees?

I tried some grafting with citrus. My attempt with a bud graft was the closest I had to getting a survival. Maybe I'll try more at some point but too many irons in the fire now!

Power goes out = portable butane camping burner inside or propane grill outside. Problem solved.

Ginny, there are disadvantages with glass to electric. I much prefer coil. Because the glass gets so hot, the spills burn onto them and they require razor blades to get gunk off. Glass is an insulator, so isn't the best at transmitting the heat to the pot, and is equally slow at cooling down itself, like when you go from boil to simmer. And they stay hot longer. Etc. Do check out all the reviews and commentary before you jump in. I do not like it at all.

That said, yes, there are non-induction, glass, 12" cooktops. There are also ones with solid electric elements that look like coils with out the openings. I know nothing about them, but it's worth looking at as a contrast to the glass. Whatever you're getting, if you haven't used the type before, bring your Farberware to an appointment at a demo center, with some food that needs active work, stirring, flipping, etc., and really see how you like them. You might be just fine with the glass and like the whole flatness, or prefer one of the other things you try. I hope you find what you're looking for.

lacey, I agree. Here it can be 30 below zero and I am not going outside to use the grill and I don't have a camping stove, not that it's any better than my Bosch propane cooktop (which I hate, BTW, but that's for all different reasons). My gas cooktop can be lit with a match and I can still make coffee and cook dinner. My double ovens are electric, so those are out of the question.

We do lose power here, sometimes for days. We have a generator and a pellet stove for those times, our rule of thumb is that if the power stays out more than four hours we fire up the generator. The real problem with induction for me? My All American canner will not work on induction. That crosses it off the list immediately for me and yes, I know I could can outside in the driveway with a gas burner or whatever, right along with the bugs and the 90F heat and the chance of dropping those glass jars onto the pavement. I don't have a deck or a patio or a porch plus the house has air conditioning so I'm canning in there and the gas cooktop is just going to have to stay.

I did buy one of those free standing induction burners but the hum drove me batty, so I gave it to my granddaughter. She says it hums more with some pans than with others. The fan in convection ovens has the same effect for me, I made sure my ovens were NOT convection when I bought them.

Annie

What's wrong with them now? They look to be in good shape, from what you show. I'd start with switching out the door hardware and the pendants and see if that is enough of a change for you. Why did you change out the flooring in the kitchen? In the one pic I can see what looks to be a darker wood or wood-look LVP. Not sure I like the old and the new next to one another. Is that flooring staying as-is?

I like the green that Emily has selected in her rendition but will suggest that you also paint the island the same color as the rest of the cabinetry. That will help eliminate the difference between cabinetry and flooring altogether.

Emily’s AI image removed the cherry toned wood floors in the adjacent area. I think it’s going to look like 2 different homes unless you either continue the same flooring like Emily’s image or you keep some cherry toned wood in the kitchen. Either way, it’s not ideal to have fake wood floor right next to real wood.