Hi chas045 and thanks for your thoughts. I should maybe give a bit of background and detail: my pond was installed with commercial underlay and pvc liner back in 1993 and continues to perform magnificently. We're currently changing the style of the pond and correcting the pond edging level in one or two places. The changes include the addition of largish boulders (I can barely lift them one at a time) and pebbles on the first ledge about 9" below the water level. Also, the liner is being held in place by very heavy "brick" edgings (actually made of concrete 18" x 9" x 4") that will be level with the surrounding lawn thus providing a mowing edge. A separate section of the pond overflows into a bog garden area when it rains. I guess I could use spare bits of black underlay for the heavy boulders as an alternative to lisa's recommendation of spare bits of liner - after all, the boulders will be in the pond and therefore wicking is an irrelevancy. But, for seating the heavy concrete edgings on the liner, I really don't want to use anything that wicks water onto the surrounding lawn area. I'm worried that carpet will wick. Hope that helps and thanks again for your helpful suggestions and advice!

For the added 1/2" use plywood not OSB. With the added information: 1) Add your 1/2" plywood over the existing osb. 2) Dryfit your heating mat. Take a reading off the ohm meter and record that reading. Then pull up the mat and set aside. 3) Caulk all joints/holes in the floor to contain the slc. Add a dam at any doorway to contain the slc. 4) Add 1/2" thick foam around the perimeter of the floor to give a cushion between the slc and the wall's sole plate. 5) Prime the floor with slc primer 6) install the heating mat, test the leads with an ohm meter and record the reading. At a minimum use a squawk box. 7) Put slc primer in a garden spray can and spray another coating of slc primer on the floor and on the heating mat. 8) Mix and place the slc, have a squeegee to coax it into place. While it flows well, it's truly self leveling only if you help level it yourself. 9) record another reading off the ohm meter. Tile over the slc after it's fully cured. Plan on pouring about 3/8" of SLC, have enough on hand for a 1/2" pour just in case. You can always return unused bags, but if you have to run out mid-pour to get more product, you;re installation is toast. That 3/8" depth is for a perfectly level floor. If you floor is sloped, plan on having the thinnest part be 3/8", that thickness will fully cover the wire mats. Now that you're planing on using slc, you don't need cement board, you don't need ditra.

I second the suggestion for the waterhog mats. I'll post where we purchase them if I can find the link - you can get custom sizes, colors, styles, etc. LL BEAN sells them too but they are very pricey IMO. We use them around our dogs water bowls too since they are sloppy drinkers. In addition to our entry way, we also use them in the back of our SUV's in the cargo area since we travel with our Boxers. Keeps the truck nice and clean and absorbs liquids. After my dog had surgery he peed in the truck on the drive home from the vets office (post-anesthesia, if I remember correctly) and I was thankful for that waterhog mat. Not a drop of urine on my upholstery; the waterhog captured all of it, and it was easy enough to clean -- I sprayed it down with a hose and some cleaning solution, left it out to dry and no residual smell whatsoever. They're awesome mats.

A cabinet maker might go to all of the trouble to sand and restain dinged pieces if he's the one who built the cabinets, but there is no way your average cabinet installer would ever do that. No one is as careful as a homeowner who has all the time in the world to be very careful with their own stuff. A paid installer who has another job to move onto quickly will remove the moldings, yes, but if you want the dings to end up on the molding rather than the cabinets, you'd better plan on reordering all of the molding. Cabinets are not like off the rack clothing that you can take back to Macy's and return if you don't like it. If you change your mind after you sign off on the design, purchase and install the cabinets, then anything different will cost you. Installation is the last step in the chain and it constitutes complete acceptance of the already approved design. This is yet another reason why it's very important to be there when your cabinets are installed. If the OP had been there when the first piece of crown went up and didn't like it, it would have been an easy matter to put that on hold, order the solid stock, pay a bit extra to the installer, and reschedule him for just the crown. In a cheap cabinet line and a cheap labor market, the changes discussed would be $1100-$1200. In a medium high cabinet line in an expensive labor market, you could be talking 4-5K. So, I'd say that 2K is on the low side for the changes. A good compromise for all concerns would be Kompy's suggestion that the OP pay the actual costs. However, don't think that it will magically save you hundreds of dollars. Cabinet markups aren't as high as most people seem to think!