Alina - we didn't do a careful job at all. I just asked a kinda slap-dash guy to throw together a bookshelf made of 3/4" pine I think. maybe even 5/8". I'm not recommending this, certainly not over what am actual cabinet maker constructs. Only, this is just not something I fussed about at all. Course, this happened early on in the experience when I knew -8b. I know more now and might be more careful about all this. And I'll show pictures because I want folks to see but ... it doesn't look very good in pictures, neither of my bathrooms does! The colors are wrong and you just can't get a sense of the feel of the room *at all*. One of my bathrooms I posted because of a problem with the vanity top and I got a little sub-enthusiasm because I know my "Style" is no way-no how GW's! I wish I *could* convey with a photo what the room actually looks like because I do really like both and think you-all would too if only I could depict it fairly! As well, over in kitchens I once set off a mild scandal-storm by showing a picture of another bathroom that contained wet footprints in it, and of my kitchen once all overflowing with a typical day's worth of chaos from a really, really busy household. I am just not living the GW life here. So - all those mea culpas aside, please understand that I do recognize my life style is perhaps a little shocking to some on this forum. As they say on the net, no one knows that you're a dog. All I can say is -- it works in person! So here's a closeup of the shelves that are smaller because of the room's configuration in one of the bathrooms. This is unfinished and unused, but we're getting closer! Darn it, I should have removed the offending personal items and put the toilet seat down for this photo, but it's now beyond a waking person's reach, if you follow: And here's an overview of the space if it helps. Please know this wall is no way so blue in reality. I'm thinking the glossiness might have caused the flash to bounce and change the color a lot? It is a little bit blue but in there it looks grey-blue: The serpentine in the niches was supposed to go on the floor, but when I went to order it, the warehouse said a hotel chain in Arizona had just bought hundreds of thousands of sqft of the stuff and it was now all gone. I was really disappointed! But I got to keep the sample and that's where it ended up. The replacement floor is more muted but it's OK, particularly given the top I was therefore able to "afford" (in the wild-stone expense account that is). For your interest, here's a shot of that wild-stone: And here's the shelf in the other bathroom. These shelves are bigger but obviously not being used to great affect at the moment. If you cared about use, appearance, efficiency, etc, you should just build the pony wall to a height that will give your bookshelves the height they want or you need. I didn't do that, just sort of fit them into a random height built to contain the tub. That was silly I suppose, but designing this was not on my mind at all at the time: Here's a shot of that space for reference: And because I posted about this problem sink of mine earlier and showed some shots of the bathroom at the time, I'll show the other wall and the new top to that problem vanity. The old problem sink is, sadly, gone (broken) and everything works *way* better. BTW, at the time someone (well-meaningly) criticized the diagonal tiling backsplash as not representing a angularity anywhere else in the room. That's not actually true, but you cannot really make it out in the photo; the entire white tiling behind the tub is on an angle and the spots are set in, therefore, at their junctions, also as an angle, a sort of "diamond on the side", as it were. What can I say -- I think it works in person. If you stare hard you can just make out the white-on-white diamond pattern of the tub. So that has white grout, the sink area blue to pick up the transluscent tiles. That luminescence also doesn't photograph well: And finally, because there was a discussion of "boob lights" elsewhere which I personally found just hilarious, I show here a shot of my decidedly not-boob lights. I can't get what they look like when turned on, they emit a slightly red and blue-green streaky white color -- it's pretty wild. Unanticipated, but really looks very cool. I picked them in large part because they worked to the *left* of the electrical box. Those got put in in the wrong place and I just didn't feel like moving them. Decorating-by-sloth. :) OK, please understand this all works better in person than in photos. I know it's a real faux pas around here to show traces of life-with-teens but I just don't have the energy to clean up behind them or for a photograph. Mea culpa!!!!

Thank you, thank you, kntryhuman and rhome! Waterlok'd seven drawers this afternoon. The others are at my neighbors - and have no idea when he'll be able to get back here to help. All who read this, please offer prayers for his wife Dee, who has been in Intensive Care for a week. She is improving but being kept on sedation and a ventilator. A most special person and wonderful neighbor. Having some things to do in the kitchen reno and reading, reading reading Kitchens Forums has been such a solace to me. Bless you one and all, Rosie, Sugar Hill, GA

Daisy_chain, join the 21st century. That said, Citristrip will take off all the layers of paint while you watch TV and eat bon bons. Or something. A 2nd coat will take any stain left out, and you can come down to beautiful, raw wood. No sanding, just sloughing off the goop with a plastic scraper. You probably won't need to scrape at all. I never do. And if you goop it into the corners, it'll bubble the old paint out of any detail on the piece. I always smooth it with a 220, since liquid raises the grain, but it's a smooth, not a grind to a new level of raw. As far as recoating or painting them, it's what you prefer. If you put away wet dishes, I'd coat raw wood with something. If you paint them, use a latex paint meant for cabinets such as Cabinet Coat. A finish doesn't have to be shiny. Paint base is a totally matte finish that doesn't need to be fussy. I use it on my stripped cabinets and even doors now, just to seal them and have them look unfinished. I'm fancy that way.

IMO you need an actual kitchen designer not your contractor for sure. I would remove all the overheads from the sink wall and put a range in the place of the oven with proper venting not a down draft . Posting an actual detailed floor plan of the whole space will get some better answers . What is the point of having the sink under the window if you use those light blocking shutters you might as well close up the window .