When I say, being careful, I mean with regards to cleaning products. I eliminated using Lysol Basin, Tub and Tile Cleaner in all three bathrooms, and I try to watch out for drips from the TB brush. We also used travertine in the entryway from our garage, in the laundry room, and two closets off that same entryway. We got a great price on the travertine at the time, and it didn't make sense to us to spend more for a porcelain/ceramic look-alike. We don't baby those floors at all. We wear shoes in the house, and sometimes track in grit and dirt (esp in the spring when we come in from gardening). We slide boxes and laundry baskets across the floor, too. Does the floor look brand new? Probably not. Does it look beat-the-heck up? Definitely not. There are some faint surface scratches I'm sure. Deeper scratches (e.g. from washing machine and/or dryer being moved) I "filled in" using a permanent marker (found brown, beige, tan ones at Staples) and then buffed off any excess with a very fine steel wool pad. To me, the etches looked worse than any scratches. If I can avoid most or remove them if/when they occur, then I am happy we chose travertine for the rooms/areas we did, and would likely use it again.

I can so relate to this... Being thrifty to the point of being occasionally diagnosable is a family trait. It's in our genes, I think, but also in the family history of going through the Great Depression, living poor while striving for the Middle Class, farm mentality (don't get cocky because things look good, a storm could wipe everything out tomorrow so save-save-save!). Heck, I can only imagine what the realities were in the family lineage before we took the plunge and immigrated across the pond. On the flipside, I just have this frightening image of me rationalizing an upgrade or splurge on every single part of the darn kitchen, not just cabinets! I'm capable of doing that, too. I'm very, very good at rationalizations. We are going back and forth on DYI versus hiring, for the same reason. I'd really like to get major momentum and get this DONE. And I know the lingering stress takes a toll - and gives me more time to research and create decision paralysis. On the other hand, we can save a LOT of money doing it ourselves and that can justify some of my "upgrades". Good for you for pulling the plug, taking the plunge and getting what you want! Clearly you have done a lot of research and made your decisions from a position of knowledge and knowing what your priorities are. I try to remind myself that if I throw good money at something I don't even like or want and won't be happy with, that's REALLY wasting money. I want to get frameless cabinets, too. Mind sharing what you went with?

I would like to thank everybody who has taken the time to respond and give their opinions. I want to clarify a couple of things. The "handy man" was my "slang", he is actually a contractor, he's just a "younger" man newer to the contruction business, not one who has been displaced from building homes by the recession like the "other" one we interviewed and received a quote from. The GC from the "big box store" was also one who had been active in the home building side in our town during the boom town years of the mid 2000's. We have actually received a glowing referral from our neighbors who he has done a number of projects for. Live Wire Oak, our friends who have had everything under the sun go wrong with their kitchen remodel had referred us to the first person we attempted to work with. It wasn't the GC we have ended up with. This lady is a KD, who happens to sell cabinets also. After our friends were several months into their debacle we were actually happy we didn't go any further with her. They are close personal friends with her and her husband. We have had a number of contractors look at our plan. The only wall to be taken down is the one in the picture I posted. It is not load bearing. We have a very detailed contract with this young man. He is insured. He plans to be working at our house for a month. As for the budget...I have found that the big box store is a great option for somebody who has unlimited funds. None of the other quotes we received came close to that high amount and were very realistic we found. No, we wouldn't have had to lift a finger if we'd taken their quote and gone with it, but we're not rich people and it wasn't an option. This will be our one and only time that we will ever remodel our kitchen and downstairs half bath and we will never build anything ever. Thank you dilly, badgergal, debrak, chispa and art teacher mom for your hard wood flooring thoughts. It appears we all have I am certainly going to be open to exploring the tile option. I would certainly make the tile flooring heating a priority. We are putting the tile in our half bath with an electric flooring mat. We have paid a sizable deposit to our guy already and I will need to make a quick decision on the floor. I plan on revisiting calling the flooring people tomorrow and seeing if that is an option. We called our contractor today to clarify what we needed to do. Need to move fridge, set up temp kitchen in house somewhere. He takes care of stove and dishwasher. We then spent several hours at our Big Box store today picking up all our other materials. The first KD designer we worked with there working, she helped us and gave us designs layouts, etc for our contractor.. She apologized about the lack of follow through from her co-worker. I am feeling now alot more confident. I will keep the board up to date on what we decide. I'm still torn. In love with wood, but warm tiles wouldn't kill me. Honestly, we were on the north end of the Sandy storm and were very fortunate we didn't sustain damage like so many others. This is a small matter at best and I thank everybody for their thoughts.

Stellaalto The examples shown above are primarily of the Shingle Style with a few embellishments. They are strongly related to the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Cotswold Cottage and Post Medieval English Styles and have little in common with true Colonial designs. Try googling images of "shingle style houses" and save the ones you like. Don't be confused by the bad or mislabeled examples. These houses don't have to be shingled but they don't usually look good in brick because a large part of their charm is the smooth relationships and transitions between walls and roofs. The best ones will often bring a rake down to the first floor eave line. Also try googling images of "Cotswold Cottage". Look at the massing and gables independent of the stone and thatch materials. Often it is necessary to sketch a building to isolate the essence of the design and better understand what you like about it and how you can use it for your design. It's OK to enlarge the image and trace it. Also look at the architect portfolios on Houzz and the web sites of other architects. Don't waste time looking at Internet plan sites. If you are looking for ideas, look at the best. Even large expensive houses can yield good ideas. if your architect can't use your photos and comments to create a great house, post them here and we will do it with a money back guarantee but with no deadlines.