Agreed on the 10 year old, but what if the unexpected happens you have to sell this year? Same answer! What sells a house's kitchen is that it's nice looking, good functioning, plenty of storage and counter space, and CLEAN. REALLY CLEAN. People don't want to buy other people's dirt and that's the biggest turn off, not the color of the appliances. Where stainless makes a difference, because it's stylish, and that makes it look new, is when new appliances are put in an old kitchen. The overall style of the kitchen, including stainless, might make the difference in a development where a lot of otherwise identical houses are for sale. You can counter that with an attractive price, primarily, and good vibes, curb appeal, and other intangibles. Get what looks good and it'll look good.

Thanks for all of your compliments. My goodness, I LOVE that dream house too. I think that yours is just like it, or on it's way. Do you live in California? I am the kind of person who never finishes decorating. When I took the pictures, we had just had Christmas at our house, and everything looked great so I said, better snap them now. I still want to paint some more accent walls, put up my pictures, add some panels of curtains for sound reduction on some of the windows, and add some walls units (probably from Ikea...love them!) What's so crazy about me is that I'm an art teacher, and right now I have nothing on my walls. I do all of my work for my kids at home and at school, and everything looks great for them. It's now time for me! I better get creating! My taste is very New York loft, but I live in a small community in Florida that does not lend itself to that taste. As I started to redo my pink, black, and gray 1988 house, we started with floors and painted the walls. Our old white plastic verticals (which we bought back then as a quick cover and left them up all those years) needed to be replaced, and after looking at panels, I decided to go for the plantation shutters with wide slats. I love them, but they changed the entire feel of what I was going for. Suddenly things became more formal. I think that since it takes me so long to decide, I finally just said do it on them. We bought our couches back in 1988 and actually had to travel to Miami to get good ones because you couldn't find the dyed through ones, only vinyl, here then. They have lasted so long, and are more comfortable now than when we got them. But after looking at your new one...our relationship is not as good now! My DH's black recliner is another story! Ewwww! We built our house to have a pool table, and got that back then too. It is black, gray felt, and brass. Like my fireplace, brass was "in" back then, but now, well you know. I have just given up and decided to mix the stuff. I know it not what people with money would do, but I'm not one of them. LOL I just got my dining set after 20 years of marriage. I could never afford what I wanted, so I waited. Then I got the poor shopkeeper to come down a lot. I feel bad that they're out of business now! It from Calligaris and it's the motion table with cherry and glass. The glass in a regular clear one, with the underside painted white. It has a light greenish blue tint. It looks darker in the picture It's my pride and joy. It pulls out and a cherry middle leaf pops up! I have my DH's grandmothers hutch from the 50's with it. It's very deco. I want to put some of the Ikea pull up cabs like you have above it. I think they might give me some displays for my dishes. Do you like them? I would love your kitchen. I wish that I had thought more about replacing it with the Ikea. When we got our cabinets, they were "the modern thing". I asked for European, the simplier the better. I loved them. Now they are outdated, but I'm not sure that I want to spend the money right now to reface or change the doors. I'm thinking about just doing some sort of funky backsplash and hoping that if I pile up enough dishes and junk, no one will notice my cabinets! Our tile floors were not cheap, but once again, I went to that store many times over a year and a half. After many times, I got him to come down on the price a lot. I think that the final cost was around $4.50 a square foot. I got the tiles from the Tile Market in Fort Myers, Florida. After looking at your dream house, have you thought about concrete floors? They can be very beautiful. I told you I took long to decide. I literally but that sample at my feet by the sink and dropped things on it, dirtied it up, and then cleaned it as if it was my tile. I lived with it and knew that I couldn't live without it. When I almost got my soapstone, I did so because it felt like my floor, soft. The granite was a mistake. I listened to others on that one, and I shouldn't have second guessed my thoughts on it. I also wanted a gray countertop, but DH wanted black. It's never going to be my dream kitchen, but I'm going to try to make it one I like. Maybe someday, when I retire, I can build one like yours! Good luck. I think I finally found someone who understands my decorating style and the dilemmas it can create (usually cost!). Have you noticed that simple is often expensive!

So, your aisles would be 37" once you factor in the overhand on the counter (40 - 1.5 - 1.5 = 37") In our house, we have to go with 36" aisles because an island is essential to making my kitchen work for me. I am the only cook and practically the only person in the kitchen (my DH will come in to grab a snack our something to drink from the fridge, but the kitchen is mostly my domain.) If I could go wider on the aisles, I absolutely would, but to do that, we would have to take down a load-bearing wall. In regard to my findings when I headed to IKEA, 42" was comfortable for me. If working with a two-cook kitchen, I would possibly go wider still. One of the reasons that double islands receive criticism is that they create additional barriers for getting from one area to another. You'll find most people on GW are very oriented toward *flow* of a kitchen, workspaces, and how it works for what you are doing. What you mentioned as a scenario with your DH doing prep may help others offer suggestions as to how to get that situation to work, maybe with or maybe without a double island. But, you are at a wonderful point of planning where you CAN make changes without the challenges/limitations that those of us who are remodeling face. You are so fortunate to land here at this stage of the process. :) I'm rather new here, but without fail, I have seen advice on this forum that has been helpful in making decisions. For me, I'm not following everything that has been suggested (for example, I will have a barrier [i.e. island] between my cooktop and my oven and someone suggested that I do a range rather than separate...I wish to have the oven situated a little higher than it sits when part of a range, so I am opting to keep them separate), BUT with the help of people here, it has made me look at everything I assumed that I knew about cooking in a kitchen and what I need to make it function well for me. I strongly encourage you to begin to think about where your items will have homes once to start to get your layout together. There are some excellent posts on here that will help you with that. I wound up getting my layout mostly how I thought I wanted it, and then I found that I needed to change a few drawers to have items where they would make the most sense. I narrowed a drawer bank and added a narrow, tall cabinet where I didn't have one before for items to have a home. You'll be happy that you thought of where things are going to live in the kitchen before you have the cabinets because then you have the opportunity to have exactly what you need. In regard to traffic pattern concerns, people aren't just talking about where other people may be walking, but also where you are walking while you are using your kitchen. I can't say that you'll wind up with a kitchen without ANY regrets/wish-I-would-have-done-differently, but with the help you receive here, you will find that your kitchen is likely to be better for working in it than what you originally planned.

I might leave the soffit as is and change the dining room walls. I don't think the benefit of painting the soffit is very great. I would actually change the hardware on the cabinets to a darker finish-oil rubbed bronze or pewter, and a style less colonial-more transitional......larger handles/ stylish in some way you like. ....the all wood look of the kitchen along with dramatic granite is a plea for stronger hardware statement .....