It really does not matter since her paint won't stick to the splash, but easier...I'd say i woud be asier to paint without the splash so you don't have to tape off the bottom areas...

Thank you so very much for your responses! (I've been distracted with the fact that I started this kitchen plan with a beloved 42" copper hood, and now, after my kitchen design choices for material, it seems that the copper doesn't "fit in" anymore... :( I really like my fabricator. Is there any harm if I have him install the backsplash first, and then install the hood/upper cabinets/molding? Or what happens if I find a good fabricator says he can do it in 1 piece, but during install, the marble breaks/something -- is he at fault? Then he would have to get a new slab, yes? Again, thank you very much. Amanda

I wouldn't wait, given that it sounds like YOU will be doing the painting? (Am I right or were you going to pay someone?) It takes time to paint cabinets, so I'd start on that now, and just expect to do a little touch up when you remove the countertops and if you get a ding or two when changing out appliances. If you follow the link for "my" clippings (click on my name) you'll see a formula that I use for painting cabinets. It's for a brown paint, but you can use the primer for any color. It walks through the important part of painting cabinets, including prep and tools. (I get tired of typing it over and over heh heh) Follow that and you'll have a very tough surface that will last, but the lovely thing about paint is that you can always touch up any dings really easily if you keep some paint on hand. When you do the rest, be sure to guard your cabinets. What I mean is, YOU take the counter tops off (it's easy...score the seal on the backsplash and between the cabinets and counters, and gently rock them off). If you have someone else do it, they might not be so gentle..and you'll have much more touch up to do. Congrats on the new house :) You'll really enjoy having a fresh new kitchen (and the paint will make it feel that way, even if you have old counters for a while). And the best fun is that it's YOUR kitchen!!!

I put in a counter height window after the cabinets were in, so any necessary shimming wouldn't mess up the height. The window should be installed before the counters are templated if you want the countertop to extend onto the window sill area. You need to know the exact heights of everything ahead of time so it all matches up. It is nice for the counter to extend onto the sill but unfortunately, it snowed the day of my window install (the only snow of the whole year) and the counters were templated before the window was put in. So I ended up with the counter being installed the same day as the window. Talk about chaos. I still haven't filled in that tiny strip of sill because I am still irritated about the chain of events. I am hoping when I get soapstone counters put in my bathroom, they can add the strip to the counter. Since soapstone has an invisible seam, it should look okay. It was one of the few things I paid for because I was nervous about the height of the cutout but it was not a big deal for the guy that did the work. by the way; shezzy; I love your butcher block piece!!!!