OK, I'm back with more exciting pictures! First, so it doesn't get lost below -- marcolo -- I read installation instructions for a different one of these shower kits to get an idea of how they are installed, and they said do NOT use 100% silicone caulk. I don't know why. Also, it said NOT to caulk the interior where the frame base meets the pan, only the exterior seam. Why is that? Before I ripped this out, it was caulked (and coming loose) on both sides. Anyway, I decided to partially disassemble the shower frame to get a better idea of what is going on and how to fix it. Here's where I am now: First, as you can see, the wall panel was not plumb when it was adhered to the wall. That would be, of course, because they didn't level the pan when they put it in, so when they lined the wall panel up with the pan, it ended up crooked. Duh. Pretty sure whoever installed this never heard of a level. A closeup view shows it even better. The jamb (metal frame part that was screwed to the wall) only barely overlapped the wall panel by the time it reached the bottom. The screws at the top of the frame went through the wall panel, while the screws at the bottom did not. The pan is badly out of level in all directions (the other wall is even more out of plumb, sigh). Now we can see the state of the drywall underneath the panel... ...and it is really not good. Crumbling drywall and scary black stuff (mold?) extends several inches up behind the wall panel. Here's a little drawing I did showing how the studs/drywall/shower wall come together -- or don't, as the case may be. The studs are badly out of plumb too. Easy to see how the slightest gap in the caulk inside the shower meant water getting under the edge of the shower wall panel and wicking up into the green board. Sooo....now I'm not sure where to go next with this. One thought is to cut away (from behind) the edge of the drywall that is sitting down inside the pan, and then insert some kind of extra flashing behind the wall panel so that any water that got behind it would not get any further. Another would be to cut away all of the damaged drywall (several inches) and patch it, adding flashing as in the first option -- again, this would be from behind. No, I don't exactly know how I would do that, but maybe there's a way to McGyver it. ;) I could try to remove the wall panel (it seems to come away from the green board pretty easily), replace the studs (they are not plumb either) and all the green board, and re-adhere the wall panel. The studs are only there to support the shower wall. This could help solve the fact that the wall flexes where it doesn't meet the studs. The risk of course is that I could break the wall panel, and then I'd really be in trouble. Also, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get just the one panel out without having to take the corner and the other panel as well. Removing only the one panel wouldn't address the other wall of the shower which doesn't seem to have leak problems (probably due to the slope of the pan and the fact that the shower head is on that wall) but I would not be surprised to find water damage to that side as well. And of course there's always the chance this is just a complete waste of time and I will have to bite the bullet and replace this shower kit with another. I don't think there's any way to get the pan leveled, and the fact that it's not level really throws the rest of the installation off. I'm not clear on whether removing and leveling the pan would mean having to do something with the drain height, which might be outside of my DIY abilities (though I do have a great plumber I could call). I'm just not too confident this shower can be made watertight enough to not leak into the room beneath. I haven't even shown the issues we have with the seal thingy at the bottom of the door, where water can easily leak out onto the bathroom floor, and I know that if a good bit of water ends up on the floor, that alone can mean a leak downstairs -- water that goes under the baseboard pretty much goes right on through the subfloor. Any advice at all would be very much appreciated. As is my usual habit, I decided to dig into this problem while my husband is out of town, and I'm going to be nobody's favorite person in my house if I don't restore this bathroom to working order pretty soon! (The other shower is in the basement, and none of us really likes using it -- plus it's the same shower kit and I'm betting it isn't installed any more accurately than this one was!)

lazygardens photo shoes variations, but just different shades of the same tone. RED is a whole different family than Brown, and I can't imagine the same wood turning RED with a simple varnish. I'm with you. I would be bothered by the completely different color hues. It would be understandable, light vs dark in the SAME color family, but 2 different families on one piece of wood? Looks to me like 2 different woods. I just walked in our pub and looked at the butcher block top, stained in a walnut tone, and yes, there are variations, but every little piece of the block has the same tone. Maybe the fix would be to strip the whole thing, stain it all one color, and then apply varnish? I am sorry this happened to you. Good luck with getting the contractor to fix it for you. If you still owe money you do have leverage. An unhappy customer is not good business for any contractor. Fingers Crossed for you!

I really like palimpsest's plan. It has nice symmetry and great function, and will look very nice from the front door. One of the things I do not like about many of the plans posted is that the range is not directly across the aisle from the prep counter. You want to be able to just pivot and access the range, not pivot and step. You might have to have a filler between freezer and pantry wall to ensure the freezer will open all the way. It also keeps the cleanup off the island, which I agree is very important. If you GIS "kitchen sink on wall" there are lots of lovely options, and here is an article we trot out from time to time with lots of examples: http://www.thingsthatinspire.net/2010/04/kitchen-sinks-on-walls.html. You could even have no uppers and just do a huge arched mirror that would reflect your DR window (slider?), if that's a nice view. It's a cheap way to "fake" a window :) Ballard has some nice ones that look like arched, paned windows too.

your tile does look lavender. what is your vanity color? My sister has done a lighter lavender gray in her kitchen, with white cabinets. The tile is a soft grayish limestone look-a-like luxury vinyl. The whole room is so well put together, color wise. She had a kitchen designer help her. I don't know who chose the whites and gray. She probably chose the lavender gray, and the team chose the white for the cabinets and case work. The point I'm making, is get a color that goes with the tile, while in the room. The lighting will make a huge difference with color. And our own personal preferences. Type of lighting will change the color of paint throughout the day. Maybe you know all this. Paint color can be tricky because of the lighting. When I was choosing my paint for my second bathroom, I wanted something different than the typical greens/blues that I've used throughout the house. So I tried a tan. The room has tan and browns in it. Out of 4 samples I selected a good candidate. I painted the whole room and about puked when I was done. My neighbor loved it. To me it went pink, like antique pepto-bismol. I got another paint and redid the whole room lickity split, in a greenish blue gray, almost white. I love the color. It goes with my tiles, as did the other paint, but I just couldn't stand the pink that I saw. And I like pink. Anyway, I'd go with the color of the tile, matched with paint, darker or lighter, when you have the correct lighting you want in the room. I would then use accessories as complementary or analogous colors for interest.