Plumeriavine, I am so sorry you are going through this. I really sympathize with your frustration and I admire you for trying to seek out solutions for the various issues. Some of them are just cosmetic, but many of them are structural and I think it would be good for you to take a step back for a minute and decide if you have the time, energy and experience to determine how to fix each and every problem individually. I'm not a lawyer, but I used to do a lot of contract work in my former job working with lawyers. I want to caution you that once you start developing and implementing your own solutions, you will begin to muddy the waters between what is you KD/installer's issue and what is a result of the fix you implemented. In simple terms, you're taking joint ownership of the problem. If you agree to a specific fix, they will be able to claim that you authorized it and they may be off the hook. As soon as you take ownership of fixing their mistakes, they will hold you accountable if the fixes don't work. It's taken them 6 months to do a horrendous job of installing a poorly designed kitchen. Allowing them to continue to butcher your beautiful cabinets and repair them inch by inch, while you do battle to get everything fixed is a long, long road. Even more complicated is trying to document every issue and every fix needed in an attempt to get a financial settlement out of them. Remember, these are just the issues you know of--there are probably more you haven't discovered yet. I think now is the time to make a firm decision to choose one of the following doors: 1. continue to work with these clowns bandaiding issue after issue, 2. get a thorough evaluation of all the problems by qualified third parties and go to court to get a monetary settlement to complete the job with someone else or 3. have they rip it out, put everything back to where it was and get a full refund. I don't think #1 is an option-you don't trust them and you will take ownership of the problem. And I honestly think that # 3 is a shorter road than #2. I know that's not what you want to hear, but as many have said, the problems are just too massive to think that you have a chance of catching every issue and developing the correct solution. You paid far too much for those beautiful cabinets to accept a hatchet job of an installation. Many years ago we watched as a good friend battled with a builder over their dream house experiencing structural issues. They continued to work with the builder, allowing him to implement solution after solution. In the end, they ended up in court and sold the house back to the builder. The whole process took over 5 years. When it was all over, they wished they had just cut loose from the builder when the problems piled up and moved on. Figure out which option you want to pursue, and put all your energy into that option. If it were me, I'd be headed for door #3.

Believe me, there are NO plumbing issues involved. What MAY be an issue is finding a hardware store--or other source--for the parts you need to do a changeover. The best thing you can do for yourself is get down and climb under your present sink, the neighbor's sink, your family member's sinks, and familiarize yourself with the plumbing that's under there !! While you're down there, check for leaks, and use a ruler/tape measure to get an idea of sizes. Bathroom sinks are usually 1 1/4" diameter thinwall pipe; the tub/shower and the kitchen sink are, or should be, 1 1/2". One thing to remember: the 1 1/2" thinwall pipe hooked directly to the bottom of your sink, and tied into the "S" or "P" traps under there, is NOT NOT NOT the same as the 1 1/2" drain piping; HOWEVER--there are adapters to mate the thinwall to the heavier piping. By the way, you ARE gonna go to the store and find out what a "P" or "S" trap is, aincha?? Dont be afraid to ask Q's, and do realize many of the guys you ask are about as ignorant as you are when it comes to plumbing....many--not all of 'em. THEN: when you find somebody who sounds like (s)he can help you do this project, and they put down on paper the parts you need, the best thing you can do is repeat the process--go find somebody else at another store who can do likewise, and then compare the parts recommended, &c. Maybe this soundz like plumbing 101--you're right, it is. Anything else spellz disaster in the making, not to mention the resultant feeling you bin ripped off and jerked around, and that you coulda done a better job yourself.... if only.... you'd taken to heart the suggestion of: kenn 1RmSchlHse millersport oHIo -- there's a time and place for spontaneity....

Sometimes a drip edge is installed below a farm sink and looks good as well as being practical. That would work for your half inch below the sink, the sides could be filled in with an overlay panel like Food shows. Google for images. Most farm sinks without an overlay panel look fine but your sink is significantly less wide than your cabinet, that is why it is more noticeable.

I just had a farmhouse sink (copper) installed and followed Joseph Corlett's advice and had a very slight positive reveal. I had dithered over positive, negative and flush but decided to just go with the "expert's" advice. I am very happy with the installation as the reveal is almost invisible unless I am really staring at the sink. Not mentioned regarding the negative reveal (what your installer wants to do) is that it is more prone to having the edges chipped if something happens to hit the edge while the slight positive reveal helps protect the edge. My fabricators were willing to install anyway that I wanted - I would certainly not be happy if my any tradespeople insisted on doing it a certain way UNLESS they backed it up with a rationale which I could then verify as being accurate rather than their just being lazy :-).