Thanks folks! All good input. I just emailed my brother, who's an architect, and his suggestion is: Keep the built-ins ONLY on the long wall. Don't wrap them around on the short wall flanking the wood stove. He would like to see bare wall there (with a firewood bin on the right and the chair/ottoman on the left of the woodstove.) What do you think about that? Regarding door hardware: I was thinking no hardware, actually... just those push-to-open thingies :) Color: my brother suggested stained or painted almost-black (playing off the slate woodstove wall). Palimpsest suggests wall color. I would have done white just cuz its my fall-back. I will have to think on that! Depth: The built-ins as drawn are about 11" deep. We don't have any A/V equipment deeper than that, so no need to bump any part out. I'm also not a huge fan of bumped-out cabinetry in a more modern setting. I know I said I wanted to keep it cottage-y, but it still has to work with my modern furniture :) I could probably be convinced if there was a really compelling argument, but my druthers is for simpler, usually :) Height: I considered varying the height (taller on short wall, etc) but I felt like going taller made the already small room feel a lot smaller. DIY- yes, we're building these ourselves :) .... although I think we may buy the doors from Scherr's. We have a really long project list to get through this year!

i was just thinking about the same thing. my floors are stained dark walnut (but there's a lot of grain showing, it's not sooo dark). the island in the kitchen is a dark cherry with a Java stain, the furniture in the great room is a very dark walnut/espresso and then i have this transition area between the kitchen & great room where i got this beautiful desk. i ordered the desk online and it's an espresso stain on cherry veneer. but the deep red hue of the cherry shows through a bit and it's definitely not as true brown as the adjoining rooms. maybe one day i'll have it painted, but my family is telling me not to touch it because it's beautiful and rich looking and does not have to be so matchy matchy.

I would suggest looking for a beautiful rug that you love--it should have at least some of the colors you have already used in your rooms. Use the rug as in "inspiration" and tie-together piece. From your description, I think using your ocean blue in the kitchen area would be nice. What color are the existing walls? You would have to figure out if there is a good stopping point to switch paint colors. Good luck, and we DO want to see pictures.

Ballards has some nice free-standing banquettes and benches: https://www.ballarddesigns.com/furniture/dining-kitchen/banquettes/#w=*&af=cat3:furniture_diningkitchen_banquettes%20cat2:furniture_diningkitchen%20cat1:furniture%20pagetype:products