Dandylandy, I'm so sorry to hear about this mess. You unfortunately do need to talk to a lawyer now. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to file a lawsuit--sometimes a stern letter or three from a lawyer is all it takes. Also, depending on the value of this (what's the total cost of the cabinets?) you might find yourself in small claims court or in mandatory arbitration, which is a lot easier and cheaper than a full-on lawsuit. Where I live any dispute worth $25,000 or less goes into arbitration, which just means you and the contractor show up (with or without your lawyers, but obviously I'm going to recommend WITH, absolutely) and say your piece to a group of three local lawyers who volunteer as mediators, and that group of three lawyers decides how to resolve it. It's much cheaper and easier than an actual lawsuit. If you're in NY, perhaps the cap is higher than $25k. Anyway, what I'm saying is that you may not be looking at a lawsuit at all; that's not the only way the legal system has for resolving disputes like this. So, put plywood on your counters or some other temporary fix, DO NOT pay the guy another dime, talk to a few local lawyers who specialize in real estate or construction law (ask friends and your architect for recommendations) and pick the lawyer who seems best to you. The first step will probably be for him or her to write a mean letter to the contractor, and then you go from there. Oh, about this: **"Some of the things that really bother me could have been avoided with better communication - e.g. if they couldn't go to the ceiling with the cabinets b/c my ceiling isn't totally level (or something, I am just speculating), and they warned me about it, that would have been a lot better than telling me "Yes" and then not delivering."** I don't even see how that would be possible; if your ceiling's not totally level, then the cabinets would stop somewhere below the ceiling and it would be up to you to decide whether to build up the ceiling a little bit or put some moulding on to hide the gap. In other words I can't think of a legitimate reason that your ceiling would prevent you from having ceiling-height cabinets. I just mention this to cut through any BS you may have heard from the cabinet guy. Anyway, gather together everything you have in writing (including any drawings or mock-ups) and write down everything you remember saying to or hearing from the contractor. Have your architect forward you any emails she sent to or received from the contractor. Also go through your voicemail and see if he left you any voicemails that could be relevant. Then try and write up in one or two pages exactly what you understood he was supposed to build for you, in every detail (dimensions, materials, etc.), and then what he actually did build, and what problems that caused or will cause (e.g. plumbing messed up, plates won't fit, layout changed so cost increased). Also note any scheduling screwups that occurred. Go over it with your architect and your hubby (if any) in case they remember things you don't. Then send this write-up to the lawyer, along with a copy of your contract with the cabinet guy and any other really critical documents like emails where the contractor committed to something that wasn't clear in the original contract or where he said X but it later turned out he did Y. It will take less time (and thus cost you less money) for the lawyer to read this than for the lawyer to "interview" you to figure out what happened. Best of luck.

All right, I'll answer as a buyer. Assuming all else in the house was what we wanted and needed, I would buy it, with a couple changes. I would have the DR right there by the kitchen, as you do, and it would be elegant DR. I would have a couple wingback chairs at that DR table because if I were going to sit in there and watch TV (that is a TV at the head of the table?) I'd want to be in a comfy chair. The only thing is that in order to please me, the kitchen would have to look fairly fabulous since it is right there by my living space. The kitchen seems a little light on cabinets and counter space. Just two straight lines... can you do anything to make it very interesting? As I said, I'm different. In our last house we had the family room/kitchen as one big room. We remodeled the kitchen to be droolingly gorgeous and put our cherry DR set in the family room with two big wingback chairs, kicked all living room furniture out. Had the TV in there. It was the room in which we spent all our time and was a great room for parties as well. Warm, inviting, friendly. So, in a nutshell, if I liked the way everything looked, I like the idea, and I'd buy it. BUT, now, to be realistic, when we went to sell that house (and it was just over a year ago so was in the days of real estate decline), despite its gorgeous kitchen and the fact that the decorator had assured us that women would be begging their husbands to buy them the house because of it... nobody wanted it. We finally ended up selling it at a big loss to an investor. So, others are right when they say there are no guarantees, and there is no accounting for or being assured of other peoples' taste.

Several insects were introduced years ago as biological control for the tansy ragwort. They reduced the population immensely. Typically, some tansy ragwort will be present every year, more in some years than in others. That sort of activity is required for survival of the bio-control agents. Have you seen any purple & red "butterflies?" If so, they're cinnabar moths, the parents of the cinnabar caterpillars which do a stellar job of eating the tansy to nubs. See this http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nurspest/cinnabar_moth_clup7.html

The manufacturer is Harris. I think we might have a box or two left but we need to repair a water leak and used quite a bit of our reserve. I hated them from the beginning. They scratch very very easily and have a sheen that makes very tiny crumb visible. My husband went to the store where we got the flooring and they told him they can’t be refinished. Since the kitchen is the area that has the most damage we wanted have it ripped out and replaced with ceramic tile. Easier to clean and more functional. After reading ur comments I’m going to took for something completely different rather than trying to match up a wood like ceramic. As always ty for ur comments they really are much appreciated.