I would recommend taking out everything from the top drawer and under the sink. If taking everything out from top drawer is not an option, I would put something in the drawers that would cover everything - especially if there is a seam over that area. All our top drawers had bits of stuff fall in them from the install and I'm glad my drawers were empty.

A ledger is a board that is secured just below the counter into the studs. It should be 2" deep by 1" high at a minimum. I have a dishwasher that has granite over it with cabinets on either side and my contractor installed a ledger. You will need to have the panels on either side because that is how the dishwasher gets secured. I learned this the hard way. We reused our dishwasher and it was not designed for securing below granite. They put screws into the sides of the cabinets but the dishwasher went out of square and leaked water all over my wood floor. Fortunately most of the water ran into the basement below and my 90 year old floors weren't ruined. We ended up purchasing a new dishwasher designed to be side mounted. But you definitely need something to attach it to.

These are my pics of my countertops placed Friday June 22, 2018. I cried looking at these seams. It looks so cheap. Fabricator explains that's the way it comes. I explained that I shouldn't be able to see the seams so clearly. It looks so unprofessional. They ended up taking them back to their warehouse. In hopes they say if it is quality control will try and fix it just to make it look better. Otherwise I will have to pay an additional fee for them to come out again to install. I just don't know what to do and if still looks the same. This is the first time I've replaced my counters in 24 years. I don't and can't live with it. looking at this for another 24 years. It looks so cheap and it really was not it's a lot of money to me. I hope fingers crossed that they will fix this problem. They never told me that there would be such seams. I thought the edges were done by a machine and it would be all one piece. I have read up on this and now understand there are seams. But now I do know that they should not look like this. If they are good fabricator you shouldn't be able to see them so clearly. I will find out next week what happens.

I’m not sure about trends per se, but I’ve always painted north facing rooms, darker by default, in deeper shades. You can paint a north facing room bright white and it will look dingy because it’s a north facing room. Just give in to the darkness on that side of your house, and celebrate light in your south facing rooms. In your case that would mean a darker foyer, and lighter LR and DR. Gold is a good color to avoid, almost always. What other colors are in your rug? Become photo handy. Then google your granite and look at images of kitchens that designers have painted, that have your granite. You will learn a lot about the possibilities. What I’ve learned is that green granite and white (or off-white) cabinets means you have two colors in your kitchen. One of them will be your wall color. Almost every image with that pairing has white or green walls. You picked a beautiful, powerful granite. It runs the show.