I had a whole family of cabinetmakers to love on my first kitchen, but did not meet most of them. They were great, did a fully custom kitchen cheaper than I could have gotten from semi-custom at HD or Lowes. Albers Cabinets at Richmond, Michigan. My true love is my contractor. Jim is a GC by license, carpenter by trade. He has done my kitchen in my former house, front porch including a ramp and front door replacement in this house, insulation and new bath heater/fan in this house, kitchen in this house, library in this house, and we are planning on the full bath next. The library included having to pull up a cracked poured concrete floor, working with my engineer on a plan for replacing it, and working with Jim's concrete contractor friend to do the floor replacement. In between, we had a different company do foundation repairs, and I think Jim coordinated with them, too. After all that, he did my library built-ins, replaced two windows, re-installed that front door and door sill, made the opening of the room fit the french doors I got off Craigslist after he drove 20 miles to pick them up for me, installed a new cork floor, did new trim for the foyer and library, and painted. Jim has one helper, a somewhat quiet guy who has no intention of making a career out of all the construction and carpentry skills he is learning. (I asked him one day.) I think Jim has given up on trying to find an "apprentice" type helper to teach. He is happy to have someone who does the work and does not complain. He has no intention of teaching his son. "I don't want him to have to work this hard." In our prior project, poor Jim was stuck with me using recycled cabinetry in the second kitchen remodel we did together. He had to deal with whether my design would work and work with me to adjust as we went. I asked him to turn a corner 27" double oven cab into a raised dishwasher cab. He rebuilt a sink cabinet. He suggested re-skinning any cab fronts that looked worn, and I always bow to his superior knowledge and experience. He knows I always do! He made the three cabinets I needed to finish the kitchen, too. He also built a new wall, replaced a ceiling and added a skylight. I, however, refinished all the door and drawer fronts and sanded and stained and poly'ed all the cab fronts and visible sides. What I love about working with Jim is that he will listen to my ideas, consider them, tell me if I am nuts, give me comparison prices to let me know if doing things the "hard" way is going to save me any money, keep a good sense of humor, give me expert advice, AND let me decide. He says, "you are paying for it. I'll do what you want." He enjoys my creativity instead of "humoring" me like many men in construction do. And he cleans and straightens at the end of every single day.

One idea I'd like to throw out there if you're trying to add visual interest. We are adding a curved valance, just because I think it looks more finished with the crown molding that is in our kitchen. We also have light fixtures in the room- no cans. In order to "disguise" the 2 fixtures over the sink (so it doesn't look like an excess of fixtures in the room) yet not block the light, we are just using wood to "frame" the valance and placing decorative glass inside this frame. If you have ever visited a glass shop- the kind that stained glass artisans visit, and the bigger the store the better the choices-you will be blown away by the beautiful options. You do not need to do a stained glass mosaic for this idea, you can just put in a large single piece of your choice. I was just there today and I have yet to make a final decision. It's a simple way to do something a bit unique.

Thanks Joseph. Also - the countertop installers - installed the marble countertop first and cut sink opening in place due to a very long run with an L at end also. They were worried about sink hole breaking in transit. Have you installed the Pete sink mount after countertop was installed and put sink in from underneath? I want to be sure this will still work well and we won’t have trouble since will differ from regular mounting method on Pete’s video. And installers haven’t used this mount before. I hope they can figure it out. I’m sure placement / height of mount will have to differ to allow to get sink inside after mounting metal? Thanks so much for your help and advice.

There are MANY good ideas for you here! When I first viewed your pictures, I felt that the room was very monochromatic; it is variations on brown and beige. So, I would choose a new backsplash with a WOW factor that includes some dramatic color. It appears that you have under-cabinet lighting, so it would really make a gorgeous backsplash stand out. Consider a vivid blue or bright red accent color, or a variety of product in one of these colorways. Then, I would address the pantry and the other walls. I would choose a deeper shade of paint and paint all the white on the pantry wall in that color, possibly the same as the bright color in the backsplash. Then, the paint on the other walls needs to be addressed. I would stay far away from anything with yellow in it, and choose something like Sherwin Williams Popular Gray, that has some beige and gray in it, but not the yellow tones. The drywall around the pantry could be popular gray, too, or a darker hue than Popular Gray Then, I would contact someone that does electrostatic painting, and have the appliances painted, unless you want to get new stainless ones. See if you can get a stainless look from the paint, and save some $$$. I had appliances painted, and never looked back. I also would either replace the tile floor, or i that is not an option, get some dramatic rugs that will add your colors and tie the floor in with the backsplash. I would also consider getting an updated dining set that doesn't have so much brown.