I can't comment on marble in the kitchen as I am going with soapstone, (though I do have honed marble in my bathroom--used to be a wall in the local hospital!--it's been there forever and while it is scratched and worn I think that just makes it look better--but then again I'm not eating and drinking in there!) but I will say in my opinion the white inset with your brick fireplace sounds lovely. I myself am doing a brick-look floor with off-white inset, and we also have a brick chimney we are hoping to uncover and restore in the kitchen as well. We don't really have kitchen designers in my area. Who is doing your cabinets? I have found that cabinet makers/companies often have "designers" who at least help with the layout and also can guide you on door styles, moldings, trims, etc. But if I had the opportunity, I might hire someone to help tie everything together--I have floor, backsplash, cabinets, counters--but I am stuck on paint color for the walls and don't even talk to me about lighting! LOL Good luck! I am also married to an Italian and he and our 3 boys do love to cook and make a mess in the kitchen; I am not worried about the white cabinets, just think we will all have to clean up after ourselves a little better! :-)

Make a list of everything you might want to know about how they work, what they offer, and differences in brands. Ask, don't be shy. Our job is to answer but please be direct. Just had a walk in today and still not sure what they wanted to know. Pretty sure they wanted something more but could not figure it out and they never asked. Just kept bouncing around a few times they seemed to get close. Want a layout or a few cabinets priced, up charges, to see a few sample jobs with prices, how we work. . Glad to, just ask. Otherwise we'll be guessing and cover what we think you should know. May not be what you want to know. May have lost a sale for me and they will bounce around till either someone guesses right or they wear out.

Hi Folks - appreciate the feedback. Couple notes: LiveWire, time will tell but I disagree on the playroom. We have an 18th month old and a 21 day old, and hope to have several more. That could mean we have toddlers for the next 5-6 years. Having a designated safe area within view of heavily used living areas seems pretty logical. Showplace - two things: 1) How about a full height trash by the clean-up sink (window) and a 10" high wastebasket in a 12" drawer on the prep island? Someone on another forum posted this idea, and it seems to make sense since a prep wastebasket would be for trimmings and other organic stuff that needs to go out frequently... 2) I think I get what you're talking about with the pantry idea, but do you happen to have a link you might point me to? Joanie: good points. We actually have a bonus room upstairs that will serve as the playroom when the kids get a bit older. At some point the playroom on the first floor will become an office. Til then we expect that most of the people we'll have over for dinner will also have kids of similar ages to ours, so our hope is that we can let the kids do their thing in the playroom or mingle in and out of the dining room/playroom while the parents enjoy dinner and some wine... Think that's realistic? KathyNY - to the right of the diagonal DW is our trash in this design. Perhaps we swap the placement of those two so it goes DW, sink, trash, DW. That would create a little more standing room b/t sink and DW....??? Sounds like we have some thinking/work to do, so I welcome additional comments!

I interviewed more KDs than I care to remember. At least 10. The one whose work was best also charged almost $50k for the cabinets. That was JUST for the cabinets. I kept asking for budgets so I wouldn't waste his time, but he wouldn't discuss budgets with me, just waved his arms saying "we'd get to that." Wonderful designer, perhaps just used to working with people with more cash than I had to devote to the kitchen. I learned alot from each designer though. Except for that one, the rest of them just had me sit with them at their desk in their cabinet showroom and design the kitchen with them in 'real-time.' They didn't work on my design or give it a second of thought outside that time we spent together and were mostly looking to me to drive the process. They knew about clearances and the fabled work triangle, but that was about it. I learned they were basically punching designs out like an assembly line and anything on my wish list that fell outside their experience just did not compute. In the end, I finally was so tired of it all I picked the guy whose numbers came in on budget. His design had one interesting feature -- an island with the right shape for our unusual space. I thought that meant he'd do everything else right. How wrong was I? I checked refs, asked all the supposedly right questions, and was the most conscientious person when the workers were here. Nevertheless, many many errors were made. If I had not been unemployed at the time being a SAHM, it would have been an untenable, atrocious, mess. Really. Basically, I essentially ended up GC'ing the project. Here's one of the mistakes I made: I didn't pin down who the guys on the job would be. The salesman glad handed me about the quality of their crews. I got two clowns, neither of whom spoke enough English to order a cup of coffee (or at least pretended not to!), who nodded me to death everytime I asked them something then continued doing what they were doing incorrectly. This company, which advertises that there's always someone in charge on site, is owned by a man who came by, sum total, about 7 times during our year long nightmare. What I realized is that picking the cabinets is the easy part. If you are going with a full service outfit, make sure you know who is doing the work. My project was NINE months late due to their lousy planning. I paid 60k for this. Oh, and the errors were not simple things. Some caused hazards in the house -- our electrical and mechanical inspections BOTH failed for things that were NOT minor issues! It wasn't until our local Code Enforcement people got involved (thank goodness I'd insisted on permits!) and told the contractor he'd be barred from working in my town (affluent and full of prospective clients to this company) because the quality of his work didn't meet code requirements, that the contractor paid any attention to me at all. A company that doesn't do what they're hired to do and paid to do unless they're having a gun held to their head? C'mon. It really did wreak havoc on my marriage and my family life. There should be something called Post Kitchen Traumatic Stress Disorder!!! But anyway, what to ask a potential KD? If I was hiring their company to do the work I'd want to know 1) who is the crew 2) do they speak English 3) how many kitchens have they built? 4) will a foreman be on the job regularly? Every week? Every day? 5) If I have problems with the work being done who do I communicate that too? 6) What kind of response should I anticipate? 7) What happens when the crew fails to show up on the agreed upon days? The agreed upon times? And I would try to build into the contract a financial penalty for project extensions due to the contractors failure to plan properly, failure to get parts/materials on a timely basis, and failure to show up on the job site on the agreed upon dates/times. Good luck!