I just installed Edin on my test site and this is what I see in the header:

Is that what you mean by the “elegant search icon” you’re missing?
Could you provide a link to your site so I can take a look?
Hi, Kathryn;
Thanks for the link to the image at “cloudup”… yes, the magnifying glass right next to the menu icon is the elegant icon i am referring to… that same icon appears in the original display image for the Edin theme ( see link in my initial post ) too… but when you look here:
( http://www.effetti.co )
there is no such image next to the menu icon… there never was… if you scroll down and look in the left margin, underneath the “Recent Posts” stack there is a clunky grey box with grey content inside that says “Search …” – maybe these are two different things ?
Hope that helps, thanks in advance !! – db
Ah, I think I figured out! If you look in the Customizer, there’s a theme option for displaying the search icon in the header – just make sure it’s checked.

… yes, that did it, thank you 😉 !!!… two questions, if i may:
~ do the elegant search icon and the clunky grey search box provide exactly the same function ?…
~ if so, how do i get rid of the clunky grey box 😉 ? – db
That looks like a search widget, so you should be able to delete it under Appearance > Widgets. Let me know if that does the trick!
… it did, Kathryn, thank you 😉 !!! – db
For Anyone Else: If you are reading this as a way to research customizing the look and feel of the search function within your site, and specifically removing the search box, then there are several places on the “Appearance” > “Widgets” page of your dashboard where the “Search” widget shows up… you will need to check all of those locations to ensure that the settings are set to “Inactive Widgets” in each location. Hope that helps.