ideamom your ideas sound like my dream kitchen!! i need to figure out how to upload pics so i can better explain - but i have tons of ideas for a mostly DIY re-model. we want to go with dark wood floors and i really want to paint the cabinets white (not a stark white but not cream either, i guess more of an off white - but nothing yellow or creamy - just nothing stark, i hope finding the right color will be easy!), i love ORB pulls/knobs for the cabinet hardware, all stainless appliances and i'm also into the santa ceceila and gallo ornamental granites. i'd also like to do a white subway tile backsplash with i *think* a light white grout. the only thing missing is the sink and faucet fixtures. i LOVE farmhouse sinks but i'm not really sure if it will look right. the kitchen is on the small side and i've only seen farmhouse sinks in larger areas. the dishwasher is off to the side of the sink so i'm not sure if there is even room for a farmhouse sink - but i LOVE the way they look. right now the kitchen has maple cabinets and a dark gray corian counter - all pretty new (about 3 years old) but it has that standard builder look and i want something more custom. let us know what kind of sink you decide on and post pictures! i'd love to see what you end up doing since your kitchen sounds a lot like what i'd like for my own!

@BT Great question and not to hijack this thread but since you asked: The hip roof has long span trusses and girders. My entire design was a slight overkill since we are also in a siesmic region. I wanted vast open span living and garage spaces with no posts or visible supports. Even though I subsequently enlisted a top local engineering company for their final design and stamp, I upgraded foundation and roofing members. The same design went into our 55' long and deep garages, creating a sense of open and free space. The foundation was another piece of engineering where I chose a post and pier foundation in the 5' high crawl space, and boy is it solid; it contributes to an extremely solid floor, on slab like foundation feel in the entire home.

I love my Kohler Whitehaven in white. However, Joe, the countertop / sink replacement guy here has shown cast iron black sinks that look rather awful after 10 years. I have a 20 year old white cast iron sink that still looks great in the basement kitchenette, but white does not reflect micro scratches the way black does. Consider a stainless steel apron front sink - maybe the Kohler Vault. If you are installing on a standard sink base cabinet, both the Vault and the Whitehaven come in a "short apron" style that can be installed on a standard sink base cabinet, or a "tall apron" for a farm sink cabinet.

@joseph_corlett I'm curious, what does it take to replace an apron front sink with a different apron front sink? To me it looks like many of these apron fronts even of the same size have different footprints. So it seems to me (and I'm no expert so I'm aware I could be wrong) you are having to deal with at best, cutting the new shape out of the countertop and cabinet or at worse having to replace those two things in whole or in part. While I've no doubt for a pro like you its entirely doable it seems like it would be expensive and definitely not a DIY job. My reasoning, and this is entirely for my situation, has a lot to do lean years and unexpected job losses. I'm in a secure time in my life but I never take that for granted or assume that I'd be able to absorb an expensive sink trade out in the future. I hope I will be able to if it comes to it, but of the two choices I had at the time cast iron seemed safer (as in it may be ugly but at least it doesn't leak) while still giving me the look I wanted. I would have seriously considered that Elkay sink if it had been available though, however I don't think it would have fit, I didn't have room for a 36" cabinet. I remember wishing they'd had those granite sinks in a white apron, but at least at the time that wasn't an option either. OP, there is definitely a mix of what is entirely practical and what you just want (consequences-be-damned) that goes on in re-doing a kitchen that is for sure! Though anytime you can find something tough that matches pretty close to what you want its definitely worth an extra expense, IMO. If not you weigh the risk of something not working out with how bad you really want it and then - decide. You live with every decision you make, but I've found that even the decisions that don't turn out like you wanted still tend to be better than what you get from a kitchen you inherited from a previous owner.