Just an update...We are still working with Home Depot on our cabinet order. I guess there really wasn't any rush on that 10% after all! We modified some things, taking some things away and adding others. Price went up about $285 based on our changes. And, now I find out they will only give me up to $300 toward the "free" sink base ($502.01)...The Lowe's guy never said anything about an "up to" limit. So, Home Depot sent the quote to the "bid room" (corporate) to see what kind of deal they can authorize...We'll see what they can do. I still have $11,500 in my head, so hopefully they can stay at that price. With such a large order, I would hope so. A couple hundred bucks probably would not make us walk away just because we have spent so much time and energy on this already, but staying at $11,500 would just make me feel good. :-) We started thinking we could do the cabinets for $8500, but then we got caught up in quality (solid cherry wood doors, dovetail drawers, thick shelves, etc) and convenience upgrades (soft close drawers, super susan, etc), so then we ended up just hoping to keep it under $12,000. Our whole budget for the kitchen is (was?) $20,000 including cabinets, counters, backsplash, wood floors, new refrigerator. Not sure if that is realistic anymore. Thankfully, DH is a handy guy and we are DIYers! Although, with one 2yr old and another one baby on the way, DIY is losing it's appeal...Looking forward to putting this project behind us and enjoying the house! By the way, we added a second super susan to the corner cabinet that was just going to be an EZ Reach with 2 stationary shelves (addl $350), increased the size of another cab by 3 inches (addl $25), got the stainless steel tilt out trays instead of the plastic ones (addl $100), added a base filler we needed ($25), and added a tall scribe molding ($25). However, where we saved some money was switching the 27" and 30" "Base Pots and Pans" (BPPS) cabinets to "Base 3-drawer" cabinets. Saved us about $100 a piece. The BPPS cabinets come standard with undermount ball bearing glides so they are more expensive than the Base 3-drawer which come standard with sidemounted glides. However, since we are upgrading all our drawers to undermounted, soft close anyway it made no sense to get the "BPPS" cabinets. They were charging me for the drawer glide upgrade on all the cabinets anyway, so really I was paying for the upgrade twice on those cabinets. Unfortunately, with both Lowe's and HD, this was something I noticed and had to point out. They should really know that. I also had to point out that getting furniture plywood ends on one cabinet ending being about $10 cheaper that buying the wood veneer skin for that cabinet. So, it helped to get familiar with a line and get lots of quotes so you notice these things. Because of these savings, we were able to add that second super susan - Yeh! If anything I've said here raises any flags for anyone reading this, please let me know. We might finalize our order on Saturday if the "price is right!" Thanks again.

busybme, not kitchen obsessed, but having lived with the kitchen for several years, we knew exactly what we would do when the time came. Didn't think it would be in the budget for another year so we hadn't done any actual planning. We did ask a contractor to come in and give an estimate so we could get an idea about how much we would need. Well, it turns out the price was right (and he would give us additional savings if we could start in 2 weeks). We definitely benefitted from friends who recently did their kitchen. They recommended the armstrong dealer who sold the cabinets at a great price. We really didn't look anywhere else. Also DEFINETELY benefitted from gardenweb photos. We spent hours looking through photos (for backsplash patterns, faucets) once we decided to go ahead with the kitchen. Other than that, there really weren't a lot of decisions to make.

Have you considered antiqued Nordic Black granite? If you really like the look of soapstone, I think NB is the best substitute looks-wise. Below, I've linked a thread to jen4268's gorgeous kitchen, which displays antiqued Nordic Black with cream shaker cabinets and oak floors. Although Virginia Mist is very pretty in its own right, I can't understand why it has earned the reputation that it "looks just like soapstone" (which I've heard from several granite people). The two installations I've seen in person look nothing like any soapstone I've ever seen. Again, beautiful on its own, but soapstone-like at all. Here is a link that might be useful: Update Pics of cream traditional kitchen

Ok! That's good to hear. I am going to set them in the window until I have time to hang them. OK, Ms Lazy admits: until I make time to hang them. Thanks for the input, all! I've never wanted a wood kitchen. I've always loved painted cabinets. Until I stripped these antique Cherry ones down. "Antique" is 1992 or so. so I guess they're just old! Anyway, the chocolate and cream colors they've become are mesmerizing. Casey, "stain" with lye? Just paint it on? I'll go read that thread, but this one is a new one to me. I've bleached wood now, with Clorox and Oxcylic acid. As a matter of fact, to get the red out of these antiquey ones, I used many applications of Clorox. Lye is a new one to me. Does it darken as much as vinegar does to pine or maple? Off to read. This post was edited by CEFreeman on Fri, May 9, 14 at 10:14