There are lots of durable and functional cabinets out there. I looked at and liked Cliq Studios, if you want framed. Your existing cabs are a fairly common design, should be easy to find something very close. I agree you should start out at Home Depot or Lowe's. You may find just what you want in your budget. For your countertop, you should be able to come up with a sq. ft. amount of counter space, then you can compare prices per sq.ft. Home Depot has an online countertop calculator to estimate countertops, using their selection of materials and prices. I found it very useful. Be careful that a 25" wide countertop doesn't block your doorway even more, leave plenty of room to get around the counter and through the door. I personally wouldn't like the look of mixing acrylic backsplash with quartz. As to granite, I have been told that there is more permanent type sealer available now, doesn't need redoing every year. And, at least in my area, it can be very economical, far less than any acrylic (a limited choice of stone at that low end, though)

Donho- I'm NOT going to ask the obvious question that you're prolly SICK of getting asked... like in the scene from "Office Space" where the "Bobs" are interviewing Michael and they ask him... "So..... are ya related?"... HA! Anyways - back to topic... What YOU are experiencing is the exact reason why for almost a decade I was a crusader against doing honed Absolute Black - for that very reason. I did three kitchens all at the same time - for the same client. He built three spec homes, and we did honed AB in all three, and they had the same exact issue that you are having. In fact - I was on my way up to Scottsdale on a bright sunny Tuesday morning to look over the work and listen to his complaint when the meeting was postponed in light of the events that taken place earlier that morning in New York, Washington & Pennsylvania - the date that day - was September 11th, 2001... You always remember what you were doing and where you were when events like that happen - President Kennedy's assassination , Neil Armstrong on the Moon, Challenger Blowing up, President Reagan getting shot, etc - I was going to look at "what the heck my customer was supposed to do about ALL THREE of his kitchens that had honed AB in them" on the morning of 9/11.... Anyways - there IS good news for you on your problem - and in my opinion - NEITHER an enhancer nor a sealer is going to help you in this situation - I have tried both without a great deal of success on Honed AB...... HOWEVER................. You CAN use Method Daily Granite Polish - it is ALL NATURAL and you apply it every day for around two weeks - after which time - you will have built up a "patina" of coconut oil - the active ingredient that will help to prevent the natural oils in your fingers from showing up on the stone and creating the smudges... MANY people have found that Method Daily Granite Polish DOES work in this situation!!!! I learned about this technique right her on GW from some of the home owners that had the VERY SAME problem tha you have!!!! try it....... hth kevin

We had a honed marble backsplash installed in our new kitchen (5-1/2" square installed on diagonal). There were a lot of problems with the installer; he had to come back and redo some of his work...twice...due to crooked 45 degree angles and chipped tiles. The backsplash looked very pretty with the under cabinet lighting on, however, when the lights were out and daylight came in from the windows, you could see smudges and streaks all over the surface, which I believed was smeared grout. I tried cleaning it to no avail. The installer had sealed the tile immediately after installing...I think he should have made sure it was clean before he did that. We had a stone contractor here to try and clean it up. He spent three hours lightly scraping the backsplash with a razor blade (which produced a lot of powder on the countertops that I assumed was sealant and grout residue). Then he resealed. This improved the appearance, but did not take care of the problem totally. Is there some kind of product that will unseal the sealant so we can clean it again and then reseal/enchance? Also, the color of the tiles are bland (ranging from whiteish to light taupe). Is there a sealer/enchancer that will deepen the colors? The "repair" was done about a year ago and we haven't done anything since. Thank you all.

Just want to thank Old Time Carpenter and others here for all the good info on tile enhancing. I did mine by hand with a little paint brush, and using DuPont, which was all I could find locally. WOW. I cannot tell you what a difference it made in terms of depth and richness on the natural stone. It was so worth the effort. Again, this group of folks is invaluable. Time and again, I have been saved from making mistakes or not doing the right thing.