@Nikki Daughtry - I love the modifications you showed! Do you have any pictures you'd mind sharing? I'm seriously considering this lovely plan and I'm so in love when the changes you made. I just can't ever tell how anything looks without pics lol. Thanks :)

I have a Kraftmaid frameless line (since discontinued) installed in 1990. High-density 1" particleboard with laminate veneers (interior and exterior) thicker than what is used nowadays. Having a lot of experience with particleboard bookshelves in the last 35 yrs - we have something like 6,000 books, a lot of them seriously heavy art and history books - I knew this was no problem as long as the cabinets were no wider than 32". There are different qualities (as others have pointed out) of plywood, particleboard, and MDF. The Kraftmaid cabs were a very good quality, so I had confidence that I would have no problem with sagging shelves. The cabinets have been perfect. In one base corner Lazy Susan cab one of the hinges finally loosened - I have a very bad habit of leaning on the door as I bend down to get something out! My handyman took off the door, plugged the hole with quick-set epoxy, redrilled it for the hinge and popped the door back on. No problems, solid as a rock ever since (5 years ago). The shelves are rated for 75 lbs. I have Lazy Susan base corners and pull-out pantry units, all heavily loaded, no problems. Had a small leak in the sink cab for six months and didn't find out till we replaced the whole faucet. A tiny quarter-sized piece of the laminate bubbled up slightly, no cracking though. Sink cab was unaffected otherwise, and in fact you can't see the flaw, you can only feel it. I love these cabinets. I put dishes away wet without worry. They clean up faster and easier than anything I've ever owned. An added advantage was that when we put in a bank of 20x16' picture windows, the UV increase was a nasty surprise. Destroyed the flooring and killed the refrig in less than 10 years - but laminate has very high UV resistance, unlike wood. Pure luck! I'm seriously toying with the idea that when we go to resell, of installing an IKEA kitchen and taking these cabinets with me. They're better made than the St. Charles cabinets I checked out at HD's Expo two years ago.

A few years ago my son Michael went to the local ER for pain in his lung area, he has no known pulmonary issues. They rushed him in for an emergency Thoracentesis, they removed more than a liter of fluid. Several days later he was released after we were told this probably won't happen again and they found no cause. He was 40 yo but I brought him home to watch him awhile. 6 days later after a night that he ccouldn't sleep he finially fell asleep on the recliner in the early morning so I covered him and let him be. Early after noon I could see his eyes open following me...I KNEW something was wrong, I ask him Michael what's wrong, he whispered mom I'm going to die taking deep breaths between each word. I called an ambulance. He was taken to the local ER where again they did a Thoracentesis and again more than a liter of fluid. He was transported to Presby hospital in Pittsburgh where he was rushed again for emergency procedure. This time a chest tube. For days we watched it pump fluids from his lung. Test after test and no known cause. They also found 7 blood clots in his lungs so he was started on blood thinners. The doctor told us at one point 24 hours and if the fluid is still building up we have to open his chest. Suddenly it stopped. 3&1/2 weeks later he was released to come home. He is 6foot 7 200 pounds normally, he lost 57 pounds that month. They found no known cause for the fluid and no cause for the clots. He was sent home with a Picc line to start 30 days of antibotic infusion. I did all the infusions but a nurse had to come to care for the line. I think each infusion took roughly an hour every 8 hours....so I'm thinking Anglophillia..all the travel time back and forth another hour at least for infusion + beginning and end flush....geesh should we all pack sleeping bags and camp out with you in the hospital parking lot.

As hard as it is to read this, I hope it helps you just a little to write it all down. I had to stop reading halfway through then pick up again--stranger and much more awful than fiction, for sure. I'm so very glad you had help and wonder how you can possibly hold up; Jody too. Oh, Marilyn. (I did smile just a little at your cussing. Must have felt good. Some people chatter on and on when they're nervous or scared.)