Is there only one photo posted? That's all I can see . . . I can't see the hardware on the bottom cabinets. We had base cabs with inset doors made: I know that the uppers had the butterfly hinges and simular pulls as yours. The bottom had the pulls, but I think we had interior hinges . . . we did so much work on that house I can't remember some of the details. Everyone raved over the work we did, though -- thought that the base cabs were original to the house. I notice that the upper cabs are not shut all the way: one thing I remember about ours is that there was SEVERAL layers of paint, and in order to get them to shut we had to strip and paint them: that made matching the lowers easy. Also, if you take the door to a glass and mirror store, they can help you match glass as well. If you have any housing/salvage stores, cruise by to see if they have any old cabs -- you may be able to salvage old glass or hinges that way (it's amazing what the new "green" salvage places have). Another word to the wise. If you pull up the floor, be aware that there may be asbestos tiles underneath the flooring. You can play the "don't ask and don't tell" scenario, or just assume that it is and place the replacement floor over that layer. We just laid the floor over the old. The next owner, we heard, did the first option.

It looks like you have knotty alder for cabinets. These are natural coloured (light gold in tone) wood cabinets. That means you want to work with things that work with natural wood tones. The other thing you need to worry about is how BUSY the wood is. That means you want to work with counters/floors that are CALM (ie. not a lot of movement; not a lot of UMPH in the visual). Only ONE THING in the kitchen should have that "kick in the gut" impact (visually). The high-impact item you already HAVE = cabinets. Good. Now that has been established we can MOVE ON to the next thing: colours. Light gold wood likes to work with 3-4 "colours". The #1 = White (white counter tops...just like you have there...you would be replacing "like for like"). With a white counter you would look at white or very light flooring (just as you have already = another like for like replacement = not much of change for all that money spent). The #2 = Black. A black counter top (like Uba Tuba = black with hints of green in it) can be used to really set off the light tones in the wood. The easy-peasy floor choice would be (you guessed it) black. Ouch. This can be stunning - but VERY hard to live with. I do NOT think this is an option for you. The #3/#4 options would be BLUE or green (personal choice for colours makes blue more viable than green and vice verse). I personally LOVE blue with light gold wood. I love a blue slate (counter tops AND flooring) with a country-style wood kitchen. This is a great way to get a modern country feel (sigh...yes your kitchen is country in style...there is no way to change that without changing the cabinets). The BEAUTY in using blue slate is it works NICELY with gray. Gray and blue are often compatible (assuming the gray you choose has blue undertones). If you work with green, you will need to rethink the carpet and the paint. See how much fun this is? This is why Sophie suggests a designer. Personally I would go with blue slate. It has LOW visual impact. It is simple and timeless and it will EASILY support a modern country kitchen....it also works very very well with gray (again, watch your undertones in the paint/carpet...do NOT work with beigy tones...it will get ugly in a hurry).

Exactly What Kristin said.... Sometimes when you measure a kitchen you can get a feel for whether you will need shoe molding or not. Quite often it is ordered midway through the install of the cabinets when it becomes obvious it will be needed. Of course you have to pay for it. But it is a fairly standard molding that every cabinet company, maker, custom shop etc would have a standard part of their offerings. Also - did you ask if he is keeping a certain amount of your paint finish? What happens if you need a door replaced in the first year? Dye lots change, there usually is paint kept for parts replacement or add on pieces needed... Did you do crown molding and light rail? Who supplied and finished and installed that? As far as the nail holes! Whoever installed that should be touching that up..... Good luck and keep us posted

We had a Thermador dishwasher with custom panel at our last house and loved it! We'd open the DW after the cycle to help air-dry the dishes too, and you could see the steam coming off but there were never any warping issues. Maybe it depends on the quality of the panel's wood? It was next to the fridge though, so sometimes we'd bang the slightly ajar door with the fridge door and the alignment became off-kilter (I was able to adjust that on my own with some elbow grease though!) so probably don't place it next to the fridge LOL. In our new house, we are planning to buy a Bosch DW with custom panel. Good luck!