Dandylandy, I'm so sorry to hear about this mess. You unfortunately do need to talk to a lawyer now. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to file a lawsuit--sometimes a stern letter or three from a lawyer is all it takes. Also, depending on the value of this (what's the total cost of the cabinets?) you might find yourself in small claims court or in mandatory arbitration, which is a lot easier and cheaper than a full-on lawsuit. Where I live any dispute worth $25,000 or less goes into arbitration, which just means you and the contractor show up (with or without your lawyers, but obviously I'm going to recommend WITH, absolutely) and say your piece to a group of three local lawyers who volunteer as mediators, and that group of three lawyers decides how to resolve it. It's much cheaper and easier than an actual lawsuit. If you're in NY, perhaps the cap is higher than $25k. Anyway, what I'm saying is that you may not be looking at a lawsuit at all; that's not the only way the legal system has for resolving disputes like this. So, put plywood on your counters or some other temporary fix, DO NOT pay the guy another dime, talk to a few local lawyers who specialize in real estate or construction law (ask friends and your architect for recommendations) and pick the lawyer who seems best to you. The first step will probably be for him or her to write a mean letter to the contractor, and then you go from there. Oh, about this: **"Some of the things that really bother me could have been avoided with better communication - e.g. if they couldn't go to the ceiling with the cabinets b/c my ceiling isn't totally level (or something, I am just speculating), and they warned me about it, that would have been a lot better than telling me "Yes" and then not delivering."** I don't even see how that would be possible; if your ceiling's not totally level, then the cabinets would stop somewhere below the ceiling and it would be up to you to decide whether to build up the ceiling a little bit or put some moulding on to hide the gap. In other words I can't think of a legitimate reason that your ceiling would prevent you from having ceiling-height cabinets. I just mention this to cut through any BS you may have heard from the cabinet guy. Anyway, gather together everything you have in writing (including any drawings or mock-ups) and write down everything you remember saying to or hearing from the contractor. Have your architect forward you any emails she sent to or received from the contractor. Also go through your voicemail and see if he left you any voicemails that could be relevant. Then try and write up in one or two pages exactly what you understood he was supposed to build for you, in every detail (dimensions, materials, etc.), and then what he actually did build, and what problems that caused or will cause (e.g. plumbing messed up, plates won't fit, layout changed so cost increased). Also note any scheduling screwups that occurred. Go over it with your architect and your hubby (if any) in case they remember things you don't. Then send this write-up to the lawyer, along with a copy of your contract with the cabinet guy and any other really critical documents like emails where the contractor committed to something that wasn't clear in the original contract or where he said X but it later turned out he did Y. It will take less time (and thus cost you less money) for the lawyer to read this than for the lawyer to "interview" you to figure out what happened. Best of luck.

Thanks for everyone's comments; I very much appreciate your time. Believe me when I say we are fully aware that we're not buying a new house and expected age problems. What makes this house so attractive to us is its VERY low price. We're in Oregon where housing prices make it a buyer's market. Our budget allows for a limited price ceiling. This house has all the room we need. Those two points, combined with the house's location in a nice (but not pretentious) 55+ golfing community with several other amenities, were really the selling points for us. The current owner, who has never lived in the house (it was his parents'), acquiesced to replacing the broken gas furnace with a new one and coming down about another $3K on the house's price. His Realtor convinced him that otherwise, he'd never sell the place. It's been on the market since October 2011, our offer is the only one he's received in all that time, and, if WE don't buy it, he said he'd take it off the market and just let it sit. When his Realtor (who works for the same company OURS does...so that's how we know this) informed him that not only the neighbors but the HOA would eventually be on his case for letting the house fall into disrepair and then he'd NEVER sell it, he finally agreed to replace the furnace. What strikes me as stupid on his part is that he'd rather let the house rot than at least make a little money on its sale. It's selling for MUCH less than it's worth, but still, anything's better than $0! ANYways...we have scheduled electricians and plumbers to come and take a look to give us quotes on the rest of the problems but we are hopeful that they won't be so dangerous and expensive to repair that their costs will be manageable. Luckily, we have a bit a money to deal with repairs and we have no intention of doing any remodeling, so those added costs won't be an issue. The house is small and modest but actually perfect for our needs and, frankly, we very much want to live in this community. While there are plenty of other houses available in this community, so far none of them in our price range...which equals houses of this general age of 50-years-old...have enough room for us AND have a fully-fenced back yard for our little dog. We run an online bookstore and I have two Etsy shops...we need the room the finished garage and bonus room this place has so we can have someplace to keep our inventory and I can have an office and craft studio. As you probably all know, no house is perfect. We have prepared ourselves to take the bad with the good. But we ARE being realistic. If it turns out that the repairs will be costly because they'll be necessary to fix truly dangerous problems, then we WILL have to keep looking. We take solace in knowing that our building inspector came highly recommended and he is respected in his field for his knowledge and honesty. We just hope we find contractors who are as well. Thanks again for your comments! ...

I only grow PAoK and Charlotte from your list. We are hot & humid with blackspot being the fungal issue here rather than PM, so can’t comment on that. PAoK is on the chopping block due to defoliation after spring flush from BS. Looking back, I only have pictures from April & May each year. Even though one is from this spring, I honestly don’t remember her blooms ever looking as pretty as they do in these pictures. I seem to recall her sometimes showing salmon coloring like Desert Garden posted about, but have no pictures of that….probably because she has defoliated by the time salmon hues appear. So far, I haven’t replaced the rose because it takes up so little space with its wimpy three or four leafless canes, but will probably remove her this fall. I’ve read posts about how large the rose gets, but that’s not the case here…maybe due to competition with my vigorous Scepter’d Isle next to her or maybe due to her fungal issues. PAoK this spring (with some Scepter'd Isle blooms behind and to the right) and last spring: Charlotte gives me steady blooms throughout the summer heat. With hard deadheading, I can keep her 4 to 5 ft tall by about 3 to 4 ft wide. Blackspots some, but not too badly with occasional spraying and doesn’t defoliate from it. Only mild to medium fragrance to my nose and usually a pale, creamy yellow fading quickly to almost white in the heat. This is the strongest coloring I ever see from Charlotte, and it is rare: This is Charlotte's normal coloring here (a very photogenic rose):

I have a few thoughts I'm wondering if you and your team have discussed... Did you consider adding a wall between the present formal living room and the present dining room? It seems particularly odd to me to have this whole first floor totally open with two seating areas open to each other. If you added that wall perhaps you could turn the front room into a music and sitting room. The locations of the windows and doors across the back wall don't seem to related to the different spaces. I was thinking you could put a swing door between the dining room and the living room and another between the kitchen and the dining with windows centered on each of the three spaces aross the back; living room, dining room, kitchen windows. Did you discuss putting your clean up sink on the exterior wall and a prep sink in the island? I thought maybe instead of reach in pantries you could frame in a walk in pantry behind the fridge. The areas in teal are a reach in pantry on the left and a walk in on the right. Just food for thought...