Hmmm, I'm going back and forth on going stainless for the appliances. I was all set to bite the bullet and do stainless (I do like the look), but then I started reading again all the threads about everything people go thru to keep it looking nice... it seems even the folks who claimed it was no big deal to keep clean were spending significant effort doing it. (Maybe not significant to them, but it would be significant to *me* - it's all relative! ;-)) I think it might be back to white. I'm also rethinking the color of the countertops a little - I was going to do a darker countertop to contrast more with the light maple cabinets - not in the black/grey/dark green family, but more of a dark brown. (Silestone has a new color that has dark brown with specs of other colors including a sort of cream color that would work with the white appliances.) But now I'm thinking I really like the look of granite better - it has more "depth" than quartz, which looks kind of "painted on" to me. (You know what I mean?) And sealing it does sound easy enough that even I can cope with it (lol). So I'm actually thinking of more of a mid-color granite, still in the brown/tan family. With even lighter-color maple cabinets than I was originally considering, so I still have some contrast. There's a Hanssem finish I'm looking at called Alpine (I think) that's practically natural maple. Might all work better with the white appliances - not like white cabs (which I have now and don't want), but similar idea. Have to let it all gel in my head for a while... Abejadulce, it's true I don't cook much, so the 18" dishwasher would actually work for me. Actually, *any* dishwasher will be an improvement! I've never owned one ! I think I'm going to need lessons on how to use it. It will be my favorite part of my new kitchen! I love on Property Ladder when someone says they're going to put in a new kitchen and master bathroom and new hardwood floors and add french doors and a deck and landscaping and a new roof - and all for $20k. Of course, it ends up costing them $40k, but *still* - you couldn't do anything close to that in NYC. Isn't igloochic amazing?? I can't believe she's doing all of this for me!!! Ig, next time you're in NY, you must come visit! I'll cook you something wonderful in my new kitchen, and you can dine at my new dining table, relax with a cup of coffe on my new sofa, and then take a shower in my new spa-like shower!!! (Yeah, I know that's a little weird - I keep inviting that people should come take a shower in my house once the bathroom's done. ;-)) The cabinet place I've been speaking to that sells Medallion and Hanssem also sells Omega - I'll talk to them and see what the price diff would be. (Mesh back and door to cabinet? That's brilliant!!!)

Ha, we just spent all weekend having that debate about the dishwasher! :) You can do it any way you like---doesn't affect the functionality, so it's just aesthetic. The problem we had (we have the Inspira with prefinished door) is that the "natural" way to open our door involves putting your thumb on the top of it, and to do that we had to either lower the dishwasher or pull it out from being flush with the cabinet doors. In the end we left it flush and just lowered it, but I think it's a wash on the aesthetics. One way it lines up vertically with the cabinets; the other it lines up with the depth of the cabinets. The awesome thing about the Miele is that you can play with it after installation before screwing it in---all of the screws/controls to lower and raise it are accessible from the front, so you just slide it into place and then wiggle it till you're happy with how it looks. Super, super easy installation (aside from the spousal agreement bit). We left 24" for the dishwasher and 36" for the range even though neither of our appliances is actually that big. Our cabinetmaker just put filler in to cover the difference; it can be unscrewed in the future if someone wants to put a 24" dishwasher or 36" range in, with no cabinet hacking needed. That was important to me, since we were remodeling a kitchen with lots of "cubbies" for 1940s appliances that couldn't adjust to modern dimensions at all. So we actually did that for all three appliance spaces (36" for the fridge though ours is only 30", with an adjustable shelf to allow for variable height).

Thanks for the headsup, angela12345. I measured the GD and went to HD to measure the interior dimension of a 30" sink base cabinet. My oh my, a 30" sink base is TINY! But, it will have to do for now. The 33" sink base has more space inside and I wish we could put it in our layout without my being so bothered. Sigh. Alas, I really can't stand how the spacing of the sink base is uneven in relation to the already lopsided window on the wall. It makes me feel I am living in the winchester mystery house! So far, I have ascertained that it can hold our trash, recycle bin and compost pail, with a smidge of room left for fire extinguisher. Definitely no room for insta-hot water heater and filter. So, we nix that from our wish list. I am looking for a single bowl undermount. After some online research, I found a kindred sink KCUS30A-10/10BG that I like but I don't know if it's available online or not. I wish I could use the ticor sink but the one I like needs a 33" sink base. Bummer. The kindred sink I am interested in will have interior dimension of 27"W x 16"L x 10"H. I think that will work beautifully for washing my long-handled pans. Here's the specs: http://www.kindred-sinkware.com/grfx/products/specs/KCUS30A_10-10BG.pdf. Hope Kindred is a good product.

Lascatx: I cook 'gravy' and pasta on Sundays so yes, I use big pots! LOL Funny thing, tho, is that I've had a double sink for 25 years, each sink being 14" so 23" to me would be an improvement! brittu: I fully understand your issue about real estate. However my sink needs to be centered with the window and I think it would bother me more to not have the sink also centered in the cabinet. My setup is so tight that I really can't move things around much so going into a 27" base would only give me 3" on each side. Not sure if I can work out the other cabinets to abdosrb that 3"...might be doable tho. Something to work on. Thanks! I guess if I can't work that out then I'll just have to get another double sink, maybe 70/30. I don't think that would look as out-of-place as a single 31" sink.