Dawn has broken. The gloom is gone. Remodelfla, can I just say that you have revolutionized my life. The Excel program works like a dream. I set the width/height to 0.25, with two squares equalling one inch, and away I went. It meant dinner last night was about three hours later than usual, as I couldn't tear myself away from it, but all in the name of the cause. It's sooo much easier than my ruler-and-rubber method, and I don't have to worry about being "green" in my kitchen materials, as this step alone has saved about 600 trees. Thank you!! Of course, this works only for 2-D renderings, but I can deal with that for now. Intrigued by your trajectory, igloochic ... sounds like something I would (and still might) do, starting with the BH&G package. It's like a self-given dare, isn't it? Solarpowered, thanks for the tip re. educational discount. In fact, I do work in an academic environment (medical research), so would qualify! Thanks to all for your help!

All -- thank you so much! If I could send you virtual Gift Cards to the restaurant of your choice, I'd send at least a $100 for a decent meal and couple of drinks :) (Sigh, I know I'm too cheap, been in New England for too long.... ok fine, make that $200 for a really nice meal). Your feedback was hugely appreciated and ever so timely. I took today off work and worked on the plan (said differently, wasted the WHOLE day), and have submitted it to the cabinet shop/company I am working with. Once I have their plans, I will post. Changes today -- aisle widths have been a concern to me. I reworked my island layout (see below), which includes current widths. I also trotted up to the attic and measured my faithful old round table and chairs (to be used in b'fast area, and before you ask -- I like the table, it has a lot of family history, and hopefully will refinish it :) ). Based on how we would sit in the old kitchen, and how we will sit in the new, we sit facing out the window. We have a nice, long sloping lawn (before, used to look at birds a few feet away at bird feeders, we will miss that). I have always love the idea of a command center--i.e., you're prepping away in front of your guests, so this does appeal very much to me. From Drop Box While not optimal between desk and island, I believe it's something we can live with. Marcolo -- Thanks so much for chiming in, I hoped you would! Long hike to pantry -- good point. Will consider other locations for this. Fridge clearance - point take. (Half day spent on reviewing panel fridges) Fridge swapped. Drawers - I take your point re 1 shallow, 2 deep. However, one of my goals for the new kitchen is organization - I love idea of home for creme caramel cups, for example -- why I liked the idea of more, shallow. Remembering that you can compartmentalize a larger space... will take longer to sink in. Cabinet over fridge to be pulled forward, definitely. Angled corner cabinet -- another point taken. Wait for drawings from cabinet co. In the meantime, please ignore ugly jog in countertop (s/w not cooperating). Enough storage for flatware/dish/glass -- definitely unsure about this. I think I measured loosely and thought I'd be fine - but right now, in temporary kitchen, I'm storing things on top of chairrails, so... have lost track. I've added a cabinet to the left, and both are configured for a 4" drawer, and then two ~8 " drawers. Yes to the MW drawer. Brianadarnell - good questions/comments, all. THANKS! Straight upper cabinet wall, check:) Swapped fridge and went the (virtual) pricey route of the built in Liebherr. Regarding beverage fridge -- DH has asked for only 1 thing in the remodel; a beverage fridge in the island for his -um- malt beverages. Unfortunately, hampered by the requirement to provide seating on the island for our two kids and three neighbor friends, I lose out on being able to place essential items such as warming drawers, and unfortunately, even more important items such as - um - redundant malt cooling storage facilities. To accommodate DH, I am placing the overflow malt beverage storage unit as close as possible to his work zone (read GARAGE/OUTSIDE). As this unit may need to contain beverages of a non-malt nature (read - wine), rest assured that this unit is capable of cooling appropriately. Also, there is also primary location of fridge, for 'overflow' storage. The pantry/laundry room will be open to the kitchen (no doors); there will be sorting drawers for the laundry (scroll up to see picture); when laundry is brought in and dumped on floor / countertops, it should be sorted right away. (Currently, we open the door to the basement, and toss down.... rather nice!). The range wall is an outer wall, the garage (to the right of the kitchen). This is the room through which we will normally enter and exit. There will be a mudroom, with coat storage and storage space for the hockey bags :) -- beyond that is the 'fire room'; we're in New England and keep a fire going here in the wood burning stove for most of the winter (Oct - April; it's a long period). Large storage for big pots and pans - hopefully, most of these will go below 48" cooktop; current plan is 4 drawers; 2 on top, 2 below. Hi Houseful -- as always, thanks for your input. You're right about the M/W, have moved to the right of the ovens. The plan is for pull-out laundry bins (to the left of the washing machine); laundry is dumped on the floor or C/T and then sorted into 1 of 4 bins (whites, colors, darks, delicates). So, hopefully, laundry won't ever sit out. Rachel -- Wall is gone, LOVE the idea of symmetry/tiling right side. Thanks! bmorepanic -- you get the Platinum Gift Card; please select the meal/venue/virtual Gift Card of your choice! I spent the day reviewing your aisle notes/recommendations; they were so very helpful. While not perfect, my plans have been improved due to your input. Good catch on the angled wall in the pantry; another casualty of the original plan vs. reality.... I've adjusted the island towards the stove per your 36" suggestion. Your advice re. larger cabinet size is appreciated and will be reviewed carefully. My only comment is that if you have tons of space in a new kitchen (egad, you should see my former (combined) baking station/coffee station/dish cleaning/prep area/library,etc. -- all crammed above a 24" cabinet) - then there might truly be a place for everything.... On my plan, when 'pullouts' are designated, I plan a handle which can be tugged to pull out the cabinet (vs. open cabinet, then pull out). I'm obviously not calling this the right thing. Thanks, I do very much agree that the double motion should be avoided. Good points on the opening issues. Double ovens will receive 1" filler to the left. Would appreciate any feedback on items in final drawings which don't seem to be paying attention to this. You have a knack for really understanding a picture. Thank you for the comment regarding pulling out the hood as well. This, I hadn't yet considered. Designov - would like to see your layout; hope you are able to post. Fridge wall removed (I'm pretty sure it is not load bearing; DH dbl checking). I don't think I have room to put DW to the left of clean-up sink; will keep in mind. We are getting cabinets from Conestoga. They offer an RTA cabinet and GORGEOUS doors. Onus definitely on you to make sure quote is accurate. I have received quotes from Lowes/Kraftmaid cabinets (6 visits over past 2 years), as well as Omega/Dynasty and alternate Kraftmaid dealer. I really love the door styles available and feel if you put in the work, you can get a terrific product at a lower price than the big box stores. Computerklutz - would love to see your kitchen/progress as well, please do post pictures once your counter tops are in. (Fingers crossed between now and then that all goes well!). After reading your post and others, I spent a good deal of time reviewing fridge's. Thank you for the heads up. Also -- regarding the microwave -- did you put in a MW drawer at a lower level or a regular MW? From what I've read, people seem to like the MW drawer... but since I have an unopened MW drawer in the basement, I would very much appreciate your feedback! Best regards to DH.

I agree with funky camper.....new house = don't do ANYTHING immediately. When we moved into our house 3 years ago, we had a 43" 1950s electric range with coils with two small ovens...ugh. It turned out that yes, while the coils sucked, the ovens were awesome and I learned that I LOVE small ovens. I also thought we'd want to gut our the circa 1950s kitchen in our 1939 house because the cupboards hung down so low, and the mudroom was part of the kitchen and there wasn't enough storage. Well....we didn't. We did have a contractor cut and modify cabinetry, add cabinetry, put in undercabinet lighting (helps a ton!) and a new backsplash and we bought a killer Lacanche range and converted to gas. We are very happy with it. It wasn't super cheap, the bulk being the appliances, but probably 50k cheaper than had we done a full gut remodel to our liking. So, I am now a firm believer that what you want really does change once you live with a house for a while and it can save you a lot of money. Even if one can afford a full remodel, it doesn't necessarily mean one should do a full remodel. But my original interest in this post was the title on cutting cabinetry. Here's our original kitchen. You can see the space above the range is low for a hood. and above the baby/dog gate there is just one cabinet (dumb waiter): Here's the revision. We replaced the cabinetry with a hood, replaced the backsplash, added lots of cabinetry and oven to dumb waiter. We also did lots of pull outs and turned a closet around corner from range (not shown) into a pantry. The microwave is in the top drawer above the steam oven. Dumb waiter replaced by oven and then the rest surrounded by cabinetry. Anyway, try to patient and good luck!

I have a tremor, so can't use a pencil etc. I used Live Home 3D app to design my house. It worked out great. However..... I couldn't handle the 3D mode. I used 2D only. I also found that it helped at the very beginning just to use the rectangle/square tool (with a color for each room) to make rooms and then drag the rooms around, change sizes, etc. Once I got more or less what I wanted, I used the tools for wall thickness, etc. to fine tune. I used this tool also to figure out a layout for my kitchen, cabinet sizes, etc. If you do a lot of versions of your house in Live Home 3D, I would recommend creating new sheets (files) frequently. Rendering for design changes can be slow and bog you down: the fewer versions on one sheet, the better. IIRC I created a new file every 2 weeks or so. Once I had my plan more or less, I handed the plan over to the "designer", who put it in her CAD software, made corrections, did zoning compliance, inserted electric, etc.