I have the Grohe Ladylux Plus. I cannot comment on your clearance question, cause I had sufficient clearance. As to the reach, I think it's perfect on the Ladylux "Plus" style (#33.737). I am not so sure on the more arched "Cafe" style (#33.758) you are looking at. I am 5'3" with short arms. One reason I did not want one of the arch-style faucets was because I felt I'd have to reach too far. I think the Ladylux Plus is the perfect distance over my rectangular sink. Also, it does not splash. Another difference of the "Plus" style vs. the "Cafe" style is that the Plus's sprayer defaults back to regular flow when you turn off the water. It is my understanding (someone correct me if I am wrong) that the Cafe style stays on the last setting you had it. So if you had the Cafe faucet on spray, then turned off the water, then came back to the sink and turned on the water again, it would be on spray. I preferred the flow to go back to regular automatically, but that's my personal preference. Here is a link that might be useful: Grohe Ladylux Plus Faucet in Chrome

Patches: Yes, very handy that the soap dispenser can put soap in either sink with this set up. However, it looks like you'd HAVE TO use the pulldown on the faucet to fill the big sink or fill a pot sitting in the big sink. The "reach" of the faucet spigot only comes to the top of the sink bridge. Is that a good thing? Doesn't look so handy from my photo view of this set up.

the time to drill a hole is measured in seconds. This assumes the drill bit is the right one. I think that 99% of men with drills will be proud of their tools and drill as fast as can be done, as long as it's safe. Not "too fast". The drill can turn slow, or slower, or faster. But thinking of a normal hole being drilled in a mere matter of seconds causes a problem. The problem is that this mindset does not slow down the process to include a low-dust result. Getting water to be present = lower dust. the time to drill a hole is measured in minutes, many minutes) if you go slow enough to ensure that water gets into the groove as it is being drilled. Dust is minimized when water is present at the point of contact where the drill bit meets the material being ground down by the drill bit. You might have to back out the drill and go back in. Wasted seconds, if you are thinking of doing it relatively fast. A total waste of effort if you think it's dumb to have to repeat the up and down operation again a mere second later, and again, and again. I guess the only way to get the guy to drill slow is to make him feel pride in reducing dust. This new pride takes time to develop. Lots of talk, beginning early in the day. Like shar-az said in another thread today, sometimes you have to say things more than once. the time to drill a hole is measured in seconds. This is nothing, or almost nothing, when you add up all the time it takes to get to the job site, get set up, measure things out right and do everything else right. So, it stands to reason that a worker holding the drill could adopt the attitude that he is going to do 20 or 30 passes up and down to "go get water" and get water into the grooved notched ring as it gets drilled. It is a hassle if you think it's a hassle. It's a pleasure and a source of personal pride if you think of it that way. It is whatever you say it is. Hth.

Thank you, suzannesl and cloud swift. We don't have a "GC" per se... As inexperienced as we are we didn't know that kitchen removation needed a GC or what GC does and what our cabinet installer does and does not do... We just planned to get the cabinet changed with a new one along with the granite countertop. We are doing an Ikea kitchen installed by someone. And again as inexperienced as we were, we - or I just picked the granite color and got quotes from different fabricators and picked the stone store... (picked one of recommended by the stone whole seller that provides Ikea with stones - Marbles and Granite in MA) So a long story short, not knowing the whole process of "just change the cabinets" turned to be this horrific way more demanding to find out what's going on and what has to be done mess.... So it's our fault - since we decided to do this for this old house we bought - we have to figure out all these. :( I have been feeling like crying everyday and now templating is done I have to figure out what we shoud do. I don't think our fabricator does laminating. He did not mention anything about it... I am just sooo glad that I have found this forum to ask around thing s and find out that "using white silicone to fill the gap" is NOT done. I have shown cloud swift's picture with plates embedded and asked my cabinet guys if he can do it and he said yes. But he is not sure if Ikea cabinets with those plastic legs will be able to support all the plywood+steel plates + granite. I ws thinking "if it's designed to withstand a slab of granite, won't they be strong enough for additional plywood +steel plates?" But then it's me. Another suggestion they had was to make a frame of steel plates all around the cabinet with supports sticking our sort of welded together by the steel fabricator. My thinking is... won't THAT be heavier that a few steel plates + plywood? Any thoughts? THank you again for your help.