Samjal, I hope you build as a big a house as you and your family want and can comfortably afford! How great that you are so close to your large extended family. Given your lack of building experience, I agree you should not manage this process yourself. You will not be able to spot subtle things being done wrong. Building a home is a tough and complicated job. You need to find a builder/general contractor you like and has a good reputation and let them do their job. It may seem like it costs more to do it this way. But I believe you actually will spend way more than you expect if you try to manage it yourself, due to mistakes and things that need to be redone and delays. Not to mention the amount of time you need to be available to manage the job and frustrations. I am still confused about the financing. If you own the land outright, great, you do not have to pay for it. But if you pay for the home build instead of financing, you need to come up with the entire cost of the build. And do not forget to leave $ for landscaping, furniture, increase in property tax once the house is built, living costs while it is being built especially if it takes longer than expected, moving costs. As far as the design, work on it until it is just right for you. Owning the land is a great headstart. Congratulations on the opportunity to build your dream home! I do look forward to hearing more along the way if you are willing to post updates. Lafdr

SS would look just fine with your other appliances. People routinely do colored appliances and a SS range. You're compromising a great deal of cooking ability to go with the GE compared to the Capital. Think clearly about that. Long term, I'm sure you'll be much happier with the Capital. You CAN stop the template from being cut to get what you want. And I guarantee I'll beat you in the "this has dragged on long enough" race. Guarantee.

Somersetlass, yes, it's so easy to get bamboozled indeed! this is the 3rd time I've started the process of changing out our counters to granite. The first 2 times I chickened out, decided to use the money to visit Europe instead. From testimonies throughout the years, from as long as I can remember, all I've heard is about the stress that comes with getting granite countertops. I knew we wouldn't be immune to the anxiety, and I didn't want to deal with all the logistics that comes with it either, but this year I knew I just couldn't work with my existing counters any longer. I think I may have the ugliest kitchen counters known to man-kind. They are formica swirly blue. They're so totally atrocious. We've been living in this house for 3 years now and they still make me cringe every time I enter my kitchen. So I finally took the leap of faith. I'm not even an "I have to have granite counter-tops" type of woman. I honestly would've been happy with formica had they been a neutral color. I like the simple things in life, and sure I like nice things like everyone else does too, but I don't want to lose my mind over them either, but it seems that now this has taken on a life of it's own. What I'm really excited about is our sink more than anything. Do you sense the guilt I'm feeling over such an extravagance? lol

General contractor here with lots of IKEA experience. Re the counter-to-cabinet height, the optimal "standard" for all kitchens, IKEA or otherwise, is to have the bottom of the upper cabinet 54" off the floor. But it's actually pretty arbitrary; I move the cabinets up or down as much as two inches depending upon the type of crown moulding I'm using (I never use the IKEA deco strip on top). Re the framed base, I always use 2x6's ripped down to 4 1/2." As you will be screwing them solidly to the floor there is nothing to worry about regarding shrinkage/warping - it's never been an issue for me. Re Bodbyn, yes, the cover panels all have slightly relieved edges. Re lighting, I've been quite pleased with IKEA's new Ledberg LED cabinet lights - very cheap too at $15 for a three-pack. They have phased out the previous halogen cabinet lights which had transformer issues. If you like white painted wood shaker doors, Scherr's is an option - but I've had excellent (and cheaper) results just by getting IKEA's Bjorket birch shaker doors custom-lacquered: