Isn't giving the KD the budget the same as walking on a car lot and telling a salesman "I've got $25,000 to spend, what can you sell me?" You know where that story is headed. Why is it not the other way around? I mean, why is the pricing so secretive? Well not giving them the price didn't turn out so well. It's not secretive, it's just not that easy. This comes up on here all the time. I wish I didn't have to spend 4-8 hours pricing out a job in two lines and nudging the details to see if I can bet it to fit the budget- life would be easier. In 15 years I can count the number of times someone has had more money to spend than what they want costs-exactly once someone said to me- "that's all? what else can I add" Allowances are even worse as noted- one in a hundred is adequate if a KD was not involved to begin with. Most just dump in a number on a "builder cabinet" with nothing in it to keep the total price down. Client gets to deal with it after they have the job. I have a few builder that I price things out for ahead of time- but those tend to be better builders. I use a simple approach- if I can get you what you want for what you want to spend (and you like me) you'll buy from me. That means I get paid. If not I don't get paid. Doesn't matter how good I am, how much time I spend, how much you like me...if it doesn't work for you then you will go somewhere else. No matter how you approach it you are in charge of the sale. I carry 4 brands- from middle of the road to top of the line. I can take the middle of the road cabinet and detail it so it looks like the top end. Details cost extra, not just the sexy bells and whistles everyone gets caught up in, the real details. How things are put together for install, how they fit-flush ends, extended stiles, extended top rails, how is the molding stacked, where do the counters land on talls....can be as little as 8% or as much as 18. Add to that that even though brand x costs 10% less than brand y for Mr. Peabody's kitchen brand y came out to 3% less. Your in charge until you sign- trust or not- same results. Years ago someone taught me something about trust that I use to this day. -Everyone will at some point fail the trust you give them. Question is at what point and how much do you get hurt. -Trust is given, it is NEVER won. -you get to decide when and how much to trust- or not -if you choose to trust you have the benefit of that until the point at which the trustee fails (remember they will fail at some point) -if you choose not to trust you don't have the benefit, they will still fail, just won't hurt as much. In the case of shopping for cabinets- assuming your shopping a few places, you have nothing to lose and the KDs do most of the work unless you insist on shopping for different plans at the same time (even then)

Again, I like last set of pics without the basket. The larger scale of the skirted table provides that balance, though something feels a bit off between the skirted table and the wing chair. I wouldn't worry too much about it now as I know you plan to swap out the wing chair at some point, just something to keep in mind when you get to the point of adding the club chair. Keep in mind, the Chloe chair is also sized on the small side. I do have mine paired with a drum table, but I think it's a tad smaller than your skirted table. The basket could go on other side of couch and fill in that corner. I was also wondering how the hexagon end table would look on the far end of sofa. Do you find a need to have lighting at that end and/or a place for guests to place drinks?

The fact that there is no 100 year old MDF furniture is a specious arguement, since it hasn't been in use 100 years. Sure, if you use screws, they won't hold well in MDF. That's because you're not supposed to use screws. Dowels, cam locks, confirmats, etc. are the right hardwre to use with MDF. Using reguar wood screws and then complaining they don't hold would be like using Elmer's white glue to join two pieces of fiberglass and then complainig that the fiberglass was junk. There are plenty of 60 yer old pieces of Danish Modern furniture out there that are veneered particle board, and they are still perfectly serviceable. And collectable. The manufactured wood industry has come a LONG way since then too. Higher pressures, better and more moisture resistant glues, and more precise machining tolerances all make today's high quality European or other manufactured furniture board boxes and MDF doors cabinetry a superior choice. Yes, there is a difference in the two products. Give me a well built high quality MDF painted door cabinet anyday, built by someone that knows what they are doing, over a slapped together ''solid wood'' piece made from chinese ply and a table saw in someone's backyard workshop, without a clean room and conversion finish products. But, prejudice is prejudice, and people will buy based on prejudice and emotion rather than facts and reason. And pay more for it! Cha-ching! And the cabinet companies laugh all the way to the bank.

Along with heated seats and mirrors, my Audi has a heated steering wheel option that I love. Both the seats and steering wheel heat almost instantaneously. Although it's not as cold here in the PNW as some places, I love having a warm steering wheel most days/mornings of the year. I also wanted a back up camera, as I'm always delivering and picking up my grandson from school and those little ones can be hard to see walking behind the car. One feature I hate about this car, though, is they placed the bright headlight indicator on the lower left side of the instrument panel and, even though I'm not particularly short, I cannot see it without raising myself up to peer over the steering wheel. Not the wheel, but the center spoke/bar of the wheel; it hides the indicator. My good fried with a newer Volvo SUV says the same is true in her car...she can't see the indicator without lifting herself up to see over the wheel spoke. It also has the radio controls on the center console, so if you bump it or set your purse on the digital station settings, it whacks everything up and you lose all your presets. It's obvious that men engineer all these vehicles as the features are often not female user friendly.