My 1924 home has 8' ceilings and 8" baseboards. I love substantial moldings--most homes I see here on Houzz have skimpy, out of proportion moldings. "Postwar all the trim got small for some reason"--yes, due to COST. After WWII so many homes were needed that the builder homes were all cookie-cutter and mass produced (Levittown anyone?). Keeping costs down was a priority so the builders could earn a profit while not charging too much for the servicemen who came back from the war who had limited funds. So things like good proportions, plaster walls, nice trim was replaced by small, lower quality homes with skimpy clamshell moldings, no fireplaces and hollow core doors. The ironic thing is that today's new homes are even less well made than in the sixties. I grew up in a sixties home and have lived in a 1924 home for many years now. No comparison--my home is almost 100 years old and will probably stand for another 100 years unless some idiot decides to knock it down and build a monstrous McMansion.

I am so grateful for this feedback I have received today. And thank you again PPF and Bryan911 for all the helpful details. I am going to see about a new upper cabinet. We’ve put too much into this project to let two upper cabinets good us up :) I had a lot of people including a designer I hired for a short time out eyes on this, and we still missed it. Just goes to show you how difficult it can be to build a house and get all the details to work out as hoped. PPF — the reason we broke up the expanse of the pantry door with shaker panels was since we wanted it to look integrates with the cabinetry and to break up the tall doors since we have 10’ ceilings. I do agree also about hinges that can be hidden. It also annoys me that they are such a bright gold when my lights and cabinet hardware will be more of an aged, satin brass. Is it easy to switch out hinges and not mess up the doors?

Charles Ross Homes- Thanks so much for the extra info on the need for tempered glass. I was originally going to do a semi circle type arch at the top, which was nearly $4,000 for that window section...so the 3 rectangles will be much cheaper overall. I am still debating if I want to do the full picture window from 7.5 inches from floor to my 96inch header...or do the awning window at the bottom. If I do the picture windows, the door directly to the left will have a retractable screen. We are building in woods, so there won't really be airflow, we just want to hear nature. ILOVERED-good point. My kiddos are older..and we would definitely babyproof for grandbabies...but there are so many other hazards that a locked window at that stage. Thanks to everyone for the calculations...I started with Google..but big difference between 5 and 8 inches!!! CP-Thanks for the photos. I'm thinking 1*8 for baseboard, 1*6 for above doors/windows and maybe 1*4 for the sides of my doors. I don't want anything too fancy. JuneKnow-Interesting. I pulled out all my crown molding and put 1*4 baseboard trim in my 8ft ceiling flip house. I like the nice look of the trim, but the cleaner look on the ceiling. I use to love crown molding...but I'm getting a little simpler in my tastes as I age. Still like nice and expensive...just a lot more things in my house to focus on than some crown molding 10 ft high.

To me, drywall based molding is cheap. You may not agree and that is perfectly fine. But hear me out. There are some people (like me) that come to your house and think 11 ft ceilings are all fancy but you cheaped out on the details. Now you can dismiss me as a snob and that is fine. But you should know that there are people out there that understand trim and feel like you are being less than genuine. My last hood had 55 houses built by 5 custom builders. One of these areas that was developed and each builder bought lots (presumably 11 each but not sure about that). They then built some spec houses and some custom. All to about the same level (fancy cookie cutter we liked to call it). Trim levels usually pretty ornate. Most with 10 down/9up ceilings. You could always tell which houses were Rudy's houses. Ah the corners he cut..... like drywall based crown. Our good friend's next door bought a Rudy (not the company's name) spec house..... My builder (total trim snob) refers to drywall based trim as a "spec house trick" that he refused to partake in. Better to have no trim than fake trim.... On your other issue - you should post a floor plan. 11ft transitioning down to 9 ft is tricky with door sizes as you are figuring out. But the plan matters. You can mix 8 ft doors and 7 ft doors in the right situation I think.