Uh, my kitchen. I don't think so :-(. You have no idea what I have there. The cupboards fell off, I wasn't well, and couldn't stand the thought of even dealing with the ins co, screwed myself out of more, let alone having it all torn up. I'm going to have to face it sometime. I have shower stall boards duct taped to the wall so the cold air doesn't get in so bad. I wish I could move to an apartment for a couple months and get it done, but that costs more money, too. I've been down that road and cannot stand to have the house torn up and pounding, people coming and going, actually ended up in the emergency room over it several years back. Now a whole wall needs to be redone because the studs are rotten from a roof leak for years I didn't know I had until water started dripping down the wall, that means the countertop has to come off, the sink, garbage disposal, bottom cupboards, ugh! That's why I'm escaping by making the outside better first. If I had a "normal" kitchen, that would be a really cool idea. My kitchen is cute if it were fixed back up. Thanks for the suggestions on the primers. I took everybody's suggestion and am definitely using it upside down. I simply do not have time to do all that with all the other work. I have the rose planted that may climb on it if it does ok, but I can't risk putting the rose on that hot brass finish. The stakes for the ladder are so thick, got them for 10 cents apiece, treated, painted, and the way the ladder legs splay out, drilling and putting in two screws which I was going to do originally just was too much to make sure the stakes were on straight. They could be crooked, but what I do do, it has to be as right as I can get it. Let's see, I have the baby crib, the trellis I have to pay somebody to do, my iron plant stand is still in the shop to be welded, better check on that, and that rack. If I can take my time, I can do it, but I'm really feeling the pressure. Habitat Restore just called to say they have a bunch of register covers in, my friend wants me to come see her roses, my other friend wants me to run an ad for her, I made a huge cherry pie I didn't want to do but didn't want the cherries to go bad once I had thawed them out. And I wanted to do a lot with my plants today . . .I'm feeling really stressed. I wish I could be like other people and go, go, go, but I pay a price for it and have to slow down. Sorry. I just feel like everything is closing in on me. It will pass. That's how I cope. Pretend it's not there until I find the strength to deal with it.

First, wamot, I'm sorry you're having to go through this. It's the nightmare we all have while planning and going thru a reno. I'm mostly putting this here for others who might find this thread down the line. I know that the GCs and KDs at each store are unique and that becomes part of the puzzle that we have to untangle as we make our decisions. We first went to Lowe's and had them measure (paid) and do a design. There were some things they wanted to do that we thought were excessive (possibly in the wake of the violations that lucille posted) and I felt that the 'designer' was more of a sales person. I think he might have been handing things off to another designer to do. I never once saw him in the design software. We REALLY liked the GC and tried to make it work because we wanted to work with him. But we decided to check out HD. A friend had HD do their kitchen last year, so they also had the recommendation thing going for them. We had measurements from Lowe's, but we had HD come out to measure to protect ourselves ($49 in the midst of this was a bargain, even though we'd already had to eat $91 for Lowe's to measure). The hard part for us was every step with HD took two times longer. There wasn't such a tight arrangement between GC and store. We had to wait longer at each step, and as such, while I was hoping our cabinets would be here next week or so but we're looking about another month out past that. The big reason I'm posting this here is that we were told the GC would come to measure and his wife did. I was not here, MIL was here and remarked what a thorough job she did and how impressed she was. The measurements went from GCs wife to KD. She tweaked the rough design we had based on my measurements to what the GC provided. She was off in four places. FOUR! So that led to a whole round of 'How are you putting that there, that won't fit?' because I knew pretty much all the measurements by heart. I remeasured most things, confirming my measurements with Lowes' measurements. We tweaked the plan for the 3rd or so time and the GC revisited to confirm everything was good. I'm pretty sure THAT's the point that they're responsible up to. After that, I did some switching of things. I did things like move to a 36x33 Susan to gain 3" more in trash pullout to get two cans and make a base and wall into a tall to create a transition from an area that will have a backsplash (interior wall) to an area that will have masonry behind it (exterior wall). Since no floor measurements will change, I should be good. My KD at HD is very good, but she let me know she was a little intimidated by me (and often regrets giving me an old spec book). And more related to the OP's issue, as I was deciding whether to make the jump to HD from Lowe's, I did some reading. I wish I could remember what I googled, but I read that if you want your kitchen done on time, don't use Lowe's. But if you want to save some money in the end, do. They're known for delaying things for many reasons (misordering, not organizing installs well) BUT the flip side is that there are non-performance clauses in their contracts and so you often get $ off per day for each day certain things are delayed. I'd look things over and see if you can find anything like what I'm remembering. I was concerned with Lowe's because they wanted us to pay for everything (all materials and all labor) up front and when I balked that I watched too much People's Court to pay contracting things up front...they have no incentive to finish, I was told there were non-performace clauses (just as I'd read on the internet). Whatever I googled, I also came across a forum with current and former Lowe's employee's posting about changes to the structure of the way they work with outside contractors etc. It was all very interesting. Good luck. If you end up doing away with the fillers, make sure that at least you don't get charged for what will become 'extra pieces you don't need'.

Writersblock - it wouldn't even need the wood around the front. The frame around the Kohler Verderra sits behind it. But it looks like it is meant to be used only with recessed mounting the cabinet and we need to surface mount it. Also the shade options were too light or dark. This is the Kohler frame:

What an amazing find -- I'm so glad you went back to check it out and rescue it! My grandmother built a dollhouse for my younger sister. Actually, it was a castle in style, with turrets and a drawbridge, but traditional rooms inside, complete with working lights and chandeliers. We both played with it and I think I loved it more than she did. It left me wanting to have and decorate my own dollhouse, but I never did. Had two boys and no grandkids so far, so.... Well, I did make a dollhouse out of a jewelry box. The bed was a fabric covered penny and the doll was self made -- something akin to a worry doll. I think it would be amazing to have a miniature of your actual home. Even if you "fix" a couple of things.