When you have me over for dinner...I will notice. And you'll notice every day. 1/2 an inch I might give...and in fact have in a couple areas, but several, nope that's bad design and needs to be fixed.

Don't settle....In my two year battle to finish my house I've considered giving up and just going with it despite the issues, but go home, drink some wine and think about the finish product. You want it right, and a few more weeks isn't going to kill you in the long run. By the way, they can rush order the items and have them there in two weeks if necessary, and sometimes overnight. Ask me how I know :O)

Of course, no one on this forum will ever know the whole story except you and your designer.
As a kitchen designer I can tell you that there are numerous reasons why something must be done this way or that. Perhaps it's a structural issue. Or perhaps your budget doesn't allow for the precision you want. It could be LOTS of things.
The final design should have been confirmed by you and your designer with you- the boss- signing off on it.
Have you asked why the cabinets don't allign as you anticipated? It doesn't sounds as if you did. Are your supplier and installer the same person? You said that on paper it looked fine but in person it is off. Could there be a problem with the installation? Are the cabs the right size?
What is the REAL issue here?

While I haven't reached i-chic's 2 years yet, our "little" kitchen fix-up went from being about a month's worth of work to 6 months and still counting. I haven't had a functional stove since December 22nd. No dishwasher or kitchen sink for most of that time as well.

Some of the delay is because we've changed scope but a significant portion of it is because we want it done right. Frankly, I'd *love* to have a delay of just a few weeks.

I know exactly how you feel--I was there about 2 days ago when I came home and found that my range hood cabinets didn't line up center over the base cabinets. The installer and KD tried to tell me I wouldn't notice it once the counters were installed but I persisted (along with backup from my decorator) and although they were clearly annoyed they did fix it. Thankfully it was something that was able to be fixed in about 5 minutes but I feared if they didn't fix it I would always find myself looking at that spot in the kitchen and knowing it was a bit off. Given the ridiculous amount of money that I'm spending on this kitchen I'm willing to be a bit obnoxious to get it done right. Good luck.

If things were measured, drawn, and constructed correctly, real life should match the drawings, no matter the homeowner's budget. Other people DO notice these things. It's not just you. Depending on the style of the hood and its distance from each window, it could be very obvious, and it will always make you grit your teeth. Fractions of an inch variance per cabinet are acceptable and normal, but not enough to total 2 and 3 inches by the center of your wall. Your KD should be explaining why what's going into your house doesn't match his drawn plans. Good for you for checking and comparing, and catching this early on.

Great questions. I really don't know what the real issue is.

No structural issues.

Budget is not an issue. These are not however, custom cabs and fillers are being used to make stock sizes work.

I signed off on the final design and the paper/computer design clearly looks centered. I did not however, measure and mark each cabinet along the wall to make certain that everything was centered correctly. I have made no changes to the original plan.

Design guy has no answer for why it's not centered. He seemed even more surprised than I was and then started the soft shoe and had to run to his next appointment, blah,blah,blah. He will return on Monday.

Designer and installer work for the same company.

I DK about the install or if the cabs are the sizes ordered. At the end of the day, the installers had several pull out shelves left over that did not belong to this order or fit in any of the cabs. All my pull outs and accecories arrived and were installed.

It's possible that one of the cabs is wider than ordered and that's how we are where we are.

I have no upper cabinets on this wall. The wood hood is coming from a different source, of course back-ordered.

I even opted out of the pendant lights over the island thing, to keep it clean and simple and let the hood be the focal point. And being off center between two windows is goofy.

I do not get emotional or rant and rave. This is a problem and it can be solved. You are all convincing me that "done right" is better than done, in the long run.

I am thrilled it's summer and can cook outside. It can always be worse.

Quick question ~ are the installed cabinets just along one wall or is there an L involved. The reason I'm asking is that cabinets that meet in a corner usually have extended stiles. If the installers don't overlap the stiles correctly, it will throw each run off by a couple of ".

If the cabinet installation does not match the drawings, make them do it over. Period.
The underlying axis (center of window, center of stove and hood) is absolutely crucial to the feeling of the room.
Make them. repeat, make them, do exactly what is on the drawings. It's their responsibility to mark the walls and center the cabinets.
This is not a small thing. If they think you will let them get away with this, who knows what kind of sloppiness you will get going forward.
Stand your ground.
I was in the design business for 15 years, and I assure you that you do not have to accept things that don't match what you signed off on.
Just smile, don't get angry, and say, I'm sorry, this is wrong, and you must fix it. When you get a song and dance, say, no, I'm sorry, you know and I know that this isn't right, and I must insist that you fix it. Do not pay another nickel until they do.
Hang in there. It's the underlying structure of your design. Make them center the sink cabinet on the window, if it is that way on the drawing. Don't live with it.
This kind of carelessness with clients' money and dreams just drives me up the wall!!
Good luck!!

First off, no "L" involved.

Measure tape in hand, the cook top is in dead center of the room which is not the mid point between the two windows.

My head hurts.

We had some issues like this come up, and they were all fixed, and not at our cost. Our sink was off center. Our KD explained that it would be off center, and he told us it had to be several times, so we accepted it, although we were not happy about it. Well, when the cabinets were actually installed, it became apparent that there was NO reason that the sink could not have been centered, and in fact everything could be shifted over to make it centered under the window. It required ordering a new cabinet, and wasting an existing one. It was done, and the KD ate the cost. I think a similar solution should be provided to you.

I agree with the KD above that you have to be very specific when designing your kitchen, and I wish we had been more specific about certain things. But I also believe that you hire a KD for their expertise, and that you cannot be expected to understand every little thing you see on those complicated drawings, or that you should know to ask every question. I think if you have a design that centers a hood between two windows, and the range will not be centered under the hood, that you should be stuck with that because it was on some drawing. The KD should explain it to you specifically, and get you to sign off on it specifically. You should not have to ask to make sure that the cooktop will be centered under the hood. It is reasonable to expect that it will be.

Does being off center a few inches matter?

yes. it matters very much. the whole 'feel' of a room can be thrown off-kilter when things aren't centered and lined up the way they should be.

when cabinets are being installed, they should be marked off on the walls first, and then checked so that any issues with centering will show up in sharpie marker before they show up with cabinets.

the fact that your installers and designer didn't do this indicates shoddy attention to detail. it's the designer's fault. with something as crucial to a cabinet install, the designer should be there to ensure that things are put the way they're supposed to be.

i designed my own kitchen and i took the day off of work for my cabinet install, and caught a number of potential screw-ups, including a centering issue.

this is what you're paying the designer to do. if they're not doing it correctly, don't let that slide. tell your designer that if you're going to live with that, you're going to need him/her to take some money off of your bill. otherwise, why would you pay someone? you half-ass it and i'll half-pay you.

if you need to order another cabinet, do so. tell your designer that you expect them to do everything in their power to get that piece to you as soon as possible, and you are NOT going to wait four weeks. the designer should also eat the cost of the box that isn't getting used.

also talk about the possibility of accomplishing the centering with fillers. it might be do-able.

i compromised on some things. i would not compromise on something this big, that will change the entire feel of the room.

The cook top is 36". The wood hood is 48", the focal point of the room. Given the hood is substantially larger, and assuming it is possible to center it between the two windows, not the center of the cook top, would this visually off set that the cook top is not dead center?

( I do realize how goofy this sounds , as I am keying this)

Were the windows already there or were they installed as part of the new kitchen? If the hood is centered on the windows, and the cooktop is not, that would make me crazy and I don't think it will look right. If I understand correctly, the hood will not be "centered" on the room, correct? How far off from being centered on the room is the cooktop. If anything(and I probably wouldn't be happy with this either), I'd rather have the cooktop centered under the range and SLIGHTYL off center from the wall then the cooktop not lined up with the range. Do you have any pics? How long of a cabinet run is this wall?

I am planning on centering a 48" hood between 2 windows with a 48" range underneath. It is my expectation that both of these elements will line up exactly and be centered between the windows.

I couldn't live with the focals of my kitchen not being centered to my liking. I would ask the designer for my options on how to get it fixed so visually everything looks right. I'd take the horrible inconvenience of 4-6 more weeks of a non-functioning kitchen to have it done right for the many years to come that you'll be using your kitchen everyday.

You've already had plenty of responses saying this but here's one more: you absolutely will notice if the sink is not centered dead nuts under the window and you absolutely have the right to insist that it should be. I am getting all upset just thinking about it --may-be anticipating having to go through something like this myself!

Over the length of a windowless wall a few inches off center might not show that much, since you look at things from different angles. But the windows really frame out this section and show it off, and will also highlight any inconsistency. As you stand at the cooktop, I think you'll feel the difference if the hood isn't centered above, and if the cooktop isn't centered between the windows. Get both centered between the windows, as your drawings/plans show. I don't think you'll be happy otherwise.

The design is very simple and almost the same as the one poster MALGOLD has posted, asking for opinions. My wall is, I think,longer than shown on that plan, at almost 17'.

At this point, as poster Miles suggested, I need to get to the bottom of this and find out what's really going on here. And yeah, I am really bothered that the designer went into the "no one notices" routine as he ran off to his next appointment.

Please forgive my whining. Are there pools where we can guess on each other's " done" dates?

Are the windows placed symmetrically with respect to the outer walls? Was the appliance centered on the walls, rather than on the windows? Could this account for why one is dead center and the other elements are not?

kitchendetective has a good point. My wall is a little over 16'. My KD has each window the same distance off each wall and then the range and hood centered off the windows. That's why I was asking if the windows were already there and aren't "centered" properly or was the KD in charge of placing the windows in the layout? If the windows were already there, KD should've informed you of a possible centering issue. If KD placed them, is it possible they were not installed in the right place and that's what's throwing everything off?

Plans show centered cooktop with hood above?
If you signed off on it it should be done that way.
Believe it or not sometimes an issue is easily solved.
Perhaps it's a matter of fillers not being cut to size as the design suggests
Your cooktop should be centered on your hood no question
Check the sizes of the fillers (this has happened on a job of mine, ridiculous as it may seem, the installer tried to blame me when all he had to do was follow the plan and cut the filler to the size specified)
Sometimes it's an install issue where the installer didn't read the plan correctly.
Most designers show up to the job first day to go over any issues with the installers
If the designer wants a referral from you, he should address the problem to your satisfaction
Let us know what happens

Since our issues began (see OT) I have been checking and re-checking our measurements. Seems like we would have been in the same situation if the plans our original KD (aka theif) had been implemented. I now see that our range was off centre to the hood by almost 6 inches. If I were you, I'd live with the extra few weeks of no kitchen and get it done right. If you don't, will you ever really be happy.

My kitchen is under construction and cabinets and counter are installed and now I see things that are "off". Just realized yesterday that the sink is off about an inch from the window. Too late though. It's things no one will notice and if they do I'm sure they won't mention it to me. With the exception of my OCD sister of course. LOL

The main thing I learned in building a house is you can't trust anything that is on paper!! I measured, marked and remeasured that darn kitchen and in the end things are still a little off. We didn't have custom cabinets so that had a little to do with the final outcome, but it's really not a big deal. Having my new house is far more important than a kitchen that is "off" a tad.

Those few inches here and there are not going to bother me, but than again I can't speak for how they will bother you.

I've learned that before I get totally freaked out over a small error, I ask myself, is this something I would notice in someone's else's house. If I wouldn't, I feel no one is really going to notice it in mine. As far as the sink being a bit off, I have so many other pretty things going on in my house, I really don't think the kitchen sink is going to be the focal point and focus of people who visit. Not unless they have a hankering to do dishes.

Good luck. I hope you can get this resolved to your satisfaction.

KD guy is MIA. GC came and could not explain how this happened other than the KD must have ignored the windows in the design. And so....

after reviewing many options, we both decided they will order one smaller end cabinet/filler and shuffle the whole deal left to where it is supposed to be. And so, the wait begins.

Being able to detach from the situation helped. This was a problem and together we decided on the best solution possible, under the circumstances, sort of, but not quite, a bonding moment.

glad to hear it's going to work out!! Please make sure to post finished pics.

I'm glad the solution is relatively simple. I think you will be much happier in the end. It's something that always would have bugged YOU, regardless of whether it's "noticeable" or not.

I have a much smaller version of this going on--my electrician did not properly center the ceiling fixture in my kitchen. What irks me is that my GC himself is downplaying the situation (unlike yours who helped you figure out a solution).