Since you asked "what would you do?", what I would do (which isn't what others here would do, and I'm not criticizing them) is to fix it with trim. Honestly, I don't think anyone will notice unless you point it out to them. My front door is trimmed below the two windows next to it and I never noticed before this post. I am very particular about a lot of things, but this isn't a battle I would choose since the cost to change is so high and the the resulting fix is so small. When we were building our home 14 years ago, we had a couple of minor probems, both of which our GC offered to pay to fix. We declined since neither were a big deal to us. If it were a question of safety, that's another story. I understand those who say make them fix it. It is your money and you're paying to get what you want. But, you're obviously thinking twice about it or you wouldn't have asked the question. Economic times are tough, and it could be one of the lowest paid workers on the job who has to end up paying for this error. Dee

When we moved into our current home, the kitchen was much worse that what you have shown. Although the floor space seemed like it should be a decent size kitchen, hot water baseboard heating took up much of the space where cabinets could have been placed. The fridge and stove were opposite each other and so close that you couldn't walk between them if one or the other was open and that was right in the entrance of the kitchen from the dining room. We had 2 upper cabinets (approximately 15" wide each) and 2 lower cabinets. It was horrible, just horrible. Oh, and all that wall space that was not covered by the few cabinets was covered in the most horrendous wallpaper I had ever seen! Anyway, I painted the few cabinets we had. We stripped the wallpaper and painted the walls. We purchased a pre-form laminate counter top from Home Depot, put down a new but very cheap vinyl floor and DH built open shelving from pallets we got for free for all that wall space and we lived with it for 13 YEARS!!! I had big plans for this kitchen but my DH and I are very debt averse so we wanted to pay the house off before we did any major reno. Anyway, 10 years later we paid off the house and then I started saving money for the reno. We are currently almost finished with it and I am absolutely loving my new kitchen. Countertops are scheduled to be installed tomorrow morning...can we say WOOHOO!!!! I said all that to say that I think you should spend as little money as you can to be able to tolerate it for a couple years. We spent just a touch over $500 all those years ago and while it was never an ideal kitchen or even a functional kitchen, we made do for as long as we had to. When it comes time to do the big re-do, you'll be so glad for whatever money you don't spend now!

Thanks, everyone! MamaGoose, Pickle2's kitchen is soooooo dreamy! I adore that apple green color! I sort of got lost reading about all the kitchen updates and backsplash woes, that I totally didn't even notice the uppers and lowers difference. I guess that's proof enough that it can work ;-) 12crumbles, The door styles for the inset uppers and the full overlay lowers will likely be very, very similar (probably with a recessed panel), so no worries there! For the island, i'm toying with doing a raised panel of some sort. No decisions yet, but thanks for the vote of confidence! Homechef, i've explored the Barkers and Scherr's route, and I haven't written them off yet -- I'll be reaching out to Scherr's for a bid once I get a little bit closer to making some decisions. I didn't realize they also did inset, so thanks for that! I'm holding off considering Barker until their growing pains have worked themselves out. I know I can just get doors from Conestoga via one of their resellers, so I don't think anything special is required for compatibility to IKEA (except for providing them accurate measurements). But, i'm speculating now, and making assumptions that the drawer fronts just attached via screws. Good idea to double check how everything comes together and talk it over with the door supplier. I'm not ready to give up on the Inset uppers, as I really like the look and think they will impart some charm. That being said, you are right, I am making it more complicated than necessary, lol. The wall of uppers will be prime viewing area from the family room, so i'm willing to put extra effort into their aesthetic -- even if I am the only one that notices the inset detail ;-) But, frameless uppers is the fallback plan, don't worry! So, on the list so far are Ikea supplemented by Scherr's or Conestoga. I thought I also read something about Omega now offering a frameless line (anyone have experience with them?). Are there any other lines that do both inset and frameless that I can consider?

I'd embrace it too, since too many temporary solutions would read as an afterthought-as a renter you can't change much, and the space is tight there. I'm not sure getting the exact screens that's work in the space will be worth money and effort. Depends on screens of course, but the reason I don't have them in my place for example is because I can't afford the ones that'd make my effort worthwhile. It's a nice room, interesting fireplace, and I can relate to your landlords being proud..and to you being a bit frustrated by it too. I'd fill the shelves with things I love, and I'd start with plants and books. If you put there decor for decor purpose-you undescore the decorative element of the shelves themselves that you don't love. You bring attention to the shape you dislike, etc If you fill it fully wih books so the elaborate shape can't be easily seen anymore, as previous posters suggested-here you go, you have books as the element jumping at you, the shelves become just a surface (can books be there? in terms of fire hazard etc? I know I do keep some on mine..) add smaller plants maybe add a bigger one too in front of one of the winged shelf..so it's partially cover it but not enough to totally obscure or interfere with using it it's not a monstrosity. there are many monstrosities of fireplaces out there, this is not one of them. Pretty tame, and the proportions are good. It's not your taste. It's too fussy maybe when you prefer simple. So make it simple. Treat it like a surface that's not fussy. I think you'll be able to enjoy it much more that way.