Thanks very much for the feedback. I fear that 50% is probably about what I will get. What's going in instead you ask? Well, I use the grill on my current Wolf range several times a week, but I would never use a griddle. So it's getting swapped for a 48" with grill. The fridge -- I Hate hate hate it. Shiny mirror finish stainless that shows spots and smudges like crazy. More spots than on my brushed stainless fridge at old house. Plus, I never had ice in the door, but it's a pain to constantly have to unclog it! Something we don't need that makes problems. I also hate the layout with the "equipment guts" up high, and the veggie drawers down by my ankles. Replacing with a 30" Miele fridge next to a 24" Gaggenau freezer. This is sort of like the Freedom columns setup we have currently. I had planned to do Freedom here too, but I don't like the current models as much as the older ones! The new LED lighting is dim and grey, and they no longer have the electric top shelf. The fridge and freezer doors will be bamboo cabinetry to remove glare from the scene. The Jenn Air model will not allow that either.

I have not used either company above, but used RTA cabinets in a few areas of my home. The ones I used came from China and look a lot like the ones at the from the bulkcabinets site. I think we had one 'glitch' on a packed door that the company replaced without question. There was one cabinet that appeared a slightly different color, but I knew I was going to eventually paint, so I let it go for now. You can certainly notice the difference in color in the 12" base cabinet in this photo! I purchased these cabinets from a surplus building supply store. This store has discontinued purchasing RTA cabinets from China and now uses a company out of Ohio for all RTA cabinets they sell. The Ohio company is a better quality cabinet that provides dovetailed drawers. FWIW: I remember that the cabinetmaker wanted $1,500 for a 36" sink base and 36" upper cabinet in plain, unstained maple for the salon area, shown above. This did not include sink, counters, faucet, or extra cabinets or install. I paid less than $500 for 48" of cabinets and what you see at the link above for the salon, including sink, counter, faucet, cabinets, and install. The ones I bought are 'fine' and had similar pricing as these you've shown us, maybe cheaper. The counters came from HD. The sink in the salon came from the same surplus company ($120 for a $500 Jacuzzi cast iron sink), which I included in the $500 cost above. I've since installed a stone backsplash that cost less than $80 for this DIY'er. I've painted these RTA cabinets in two rooms and will eventually paint all of them. I put them online a few years ago just in case someone wanted to see how easily they can be installed and what they look like. We had never installed any cabinets before. OH...I just thought about it, we've installed another type of RTA in one of our bathrooms, but I do not have a photo of them online. Here is a link that might be useful: RTA cabinet s that we used

Mike, Sorry to be ignorant - what are Chinese RTA cabinets? I just got Mid-continent natural maple cabinets. Not as expensive or fancy as some, but still very nice. Some knots and color variation are normal, but I wouldn't be happy if I were you, with so much irregularity and particularly the parts that appear unfinished. I didn't mind a few knots and minor variations (not as extreme as yours). I had two cabinet doors I was unhappy with . One had a mineral deposit; it was natural but looked like it was streaked with dirt. The second was a knot that went a third of the way up the inside corner of a door. Also several shelves were damaged in shipping. I took them to my KD and he was gracious about it and simply got me new ones - the replacements just came yesterday. As boxiebabe said, what are your options? If you have the option, ask that they take back the problem doors/drawers and replace them. It sounds like you're not going to be happy. I'm certainly not an expert, but I don't think you're being too "picky". Good luck, let us know what happens. Kevin

We painted our new IKEA doors with BM Advance in Satin. Our lowers are yellow and for our uppers we used Marscapone, which I think is a nice creamy white. The doors we were painting were birch with a white-wash type of finish. We brought one of the doors to our local paint store and they recommended the BM Fresh Start Primer. (They did not recommend the Advance Primer. Since then, I've seen several reviews about how terrible that primer is.) We scuffed, primed, and did two coats of paint, sanding lightly between each coat. We brushed everything except the end cover panels. I rolled those. In retrospect, I wish we had done three coats and maybe even four on the cream uppers. The coverage with the lighter color doesn't seem as good. I think the two biggest downsides to BM Advance are the long dry time (16 hours between coats) and the long cure time. They say up to 30 days but ours was more like 60-90. The upside is that, once they cure, they are really durable. We're coming up on two years since we painted them and have not babied them. I've been known to take a scrubby sponge to them when removing difficult splatters and the finish is still fine. The other problem, which you may not have, was the learning curve. I'd never used self leveling paint before. It took me a while to stop poking at it and let the paint do its job. Also it is super drippy so three thinner coats would have been smarter.