>Is it considered bad practice to keep the doomahickeys in the same table with the widgets and things, even if there are only a couple of extra fields?

this get's into the art of design - technically it is denormed - but that may be OK - In this situation I take a hard look at several things including how many extra fields there are, how many records will not be .NULL. (how many doomahickeys), and total DB volume.

8 or 10 extra fields or more, tons of records, >50% null ? go with 1-to-1.

A couple fields, few records, and or few null? probably in same table.

I am a big believer in the practical, the flexible, the speedy, and the user-friendly over the "academeic" when there is a conflict.

HTH,