RE: declawing . . .when my husband's cats started ruining everything (we had plenty of acceptable things for them to scratch), we talked to a cat clinic about declawing. We said we would abide by what they said regarding whether or not to do it. They said it as long as the pain management was good, it was fine. Our cats didn't change AT ALL. They were just as perfect as always. I've read plenty of sad stories on a cat forum I was on where cats where having behavioral issues . . .and they were not declawed. However, as a compromise, I now only adopt cats that are already declawed. I'd be willing to get one intact, but DH is not. It really limits your options this way, though. I would rather just walk into a shelter and pick out a friend vs. pick among the ones w/o claws (front). My friend, a vet, says if someone is going to declaw, she thinks it should be done early in life. She says cats can start with destructive behavior at any point, too. One of my friend's cats was like this-- she only started destroying things when she was about 9! Our cats have never had litterbox or behavior issues. Temperament seems to be key in that department, along with health.

Our "remodel" wasn't really a choice- had a water leak. We replaced some things, left others. I did change out an OTR micro to a real vent hood. Never even thought about the cabinets banging- until I went to open the corner upper I keep spices in. That's filled to the brim, has an extra storage mounted on the door AND has a lazy susan (moved up high enough that I can put bottles underneath the bottom lazy susan shelf), Did I mention it's packed? And I have nowhere else to put any of that stuff? Currently using those clear rubber bumpers. What we (meaning me, haven't told DH) PLAN to do is have that cabinet door cut in half and made into a bifold that opens the opposite direction. Flipping just the door won't work for us- it would hit the hood and not even come close to opening. Does the idea thrill me? no, but it's getting really old really fast not being able to open the door all the way.

I was just going to suggest what heimert did--hinges with a limited swing. My cabinet guy had installed all wide-swing hinges in my kitchen when we discovered that the pantry doors were hitting the corner of the soapstone counter next to them. Even after just a couple of weeks, my cabinet doors were slightly marred. He replaced those hinges with 90-degree hinges and the problem was solved. The doors could no longer open wide enough to hit anything.

We just had our cabinets installed and we're having the same problem (the handles haven't even been installed yet!!). Funny you mentioned about the silicone dots because we were thinking of doing the same thing. I will have to look into the 90 degree hinges...hopefully that will solve the problem. Our broom closet is a big concern right now but I think I will ask the contractors to remove the door and have it open the other way.