Good, I'm glad you all seem to concur with my conclusion. I'd hate to give up precious counter space for another smaller sink. Seems like it wouldn't work in my kitchen. I do not like the setup of my frig/oven wall. I will have to work on that when we get to that point!

I think if you take the time to analyze the facts your answer will be a no brainer. Fact- A kitchen makeover is without question one of the largest and most expensive projects you can undertake in your home. Fact-The sink is without question the singular focal point of the kitchen. Almost every time you go in the kitchen, regardless of what the reason, you will ultimately end up at the sink if only to grab a glass of water. Fact- If you have your heart set o a 10" sink and settle for an 8" sink it will forever be a source of irritation and contention, one which you will confront dozens of times a day. Fact-If you are changing all the cabinets you will already have easy access to the wall and changing the drain line is no big deal. Fact-If you install the 8" sink now, then later decide you really want the 10" sink it could prove nearly cost prohibitive to make the necessary changes to the drain lines. Now let us consider what would be required to lower the drain while you have access to the wall. In a best case scenario when the fixture arm enters the wall it is connected to a vertical line by means of a sanitary tee. In that case it would be very easy to cut the line, lower the tee to the desired level and reconnect the line. In a worst case scenario the waste arm enters the wall then turns horizontal and runs through the wall to a point were it connects to a vertical stack. The question then becomes how far does the horizontal line travel through the wall? Under the IRC a kitchen sink drain line is an 1-1/2" line and it is allowed to run a maximum of 6' from the trap weir to the vent opening. Allowing that there is generally about 12" from the wall to the trap that means that the line could run up to 5' horizontally in the wall. Under the UPC we are required to use a 2" diameter drain line but the total developed length from trap weir to vent opening of a 2" fixture arm is limited to only 5' so we could anticipate a maximum of 4" horizontally in the wall. In all probability the portion of the wall that you would need to open up will most likely be covered by the cabinets when all done, therefore when you open the sheet rock it would only require a simple patch with one coat of mud & tape to prevent bugs from entering. Not a big deal here. The question then becomes how much should you lower the line? From your preliminary calculations you determined that you need approximately 2" however, from my experience it is much easier if we allow ourselves plenty of room, therefore I would lower the arm at least 4 or perhaps 5". Keep in mind that code will allow up to 12" vertical drop from the finished sink opening to the water level in the trap.

Before deciding on a batch feed disposer, you need to check one critical bit of plumbing configuration. Batch feed disposers are taller and therefore hang down lower under the sink than a typical switched (air-switch or wall-switch) disposer. Because of this, the drain outlet on the disposer is also lower. It is critical that the outlet on the disposer be higher than the drain line opening on the wall at the back of your cabinet. If it isn't, the disposer will not drain properly, and you will always have water sitting in the bottom of the grind chamber of your disposer. This will significantly shorten the life of any disposer and could result in rotting food debris remaining in the bottom of the disposer. CHECK YOUR DIMENSIONS CAREFULLY. Be sure that the drain outlet on the disposer will be above the height of the drain outlet on the back wall of your cabinet. I really like batch feed disposers, but if a batch feed disposer doesn't work because of your plumbing configuration, then you definitely want a disposer with a wall switch or an air switch. Having to deal with a switch under the sink is a minor nuisance, but over time, a major annoyance. You don't want to go there. Personally, I prefer a wall switch, but there are many people on this forum who swear by the air switch arrangement. Just keep in mind that an air switch means one more thing on your sink deck that you will need to wipe around as you clean up around the sink.

After not having a dishwasher for the first 28years of my life and spending 30+ minutes a day doing dishes (I cook a lot), I have been using my new dishwasher for 2 months and hope to never go without one again!! I am slightly confused about people's comments about the water/ice dispensers in fridges. Most of the standard fridge/freezers we looked at came w/ the dispensers, I feel like saying you don't want them would limit your options and/or cause you to buy a more expensive fridge (like the counter depth ones). Assuming you are getting a new one instead of an older one on craigslist etc. We did a lot of fancy custom things in our kitchen, but since we did a lot DIY we saved a lot of money. Some of the money saving choices we made were vinyl flooring (love this for comfort anyway), partially making our own cabinets, installing everything ourselves, getting a common granite (uba tuba), tiling our backsplash ourselves, and our island pendant lights. Some of our splurges were appliances (mainly- our 48" capital range), cabinet hardware, and lots of drawers, backsplash tile (although the tile we chose was reasonable, it was still more expensive than a painted wall), and stone underneath the island seating. I love seeing the choices different people make while still meeting their budget goals! :-)