You have a wonderful lot of storage. I also don't find your cabinets objectionable. I think the builder grade oak cabinets are the ones that have given oak such a bad name. There are some very nice, different style oak cabinets like yours that are quite lovely. I agree with the lighting. I would say holes in the drywall would be better than such a terribly dated, dirty looking (nothing personal, I think all those of that style look dirty) box light. It just cannot be your style! I have a hard time speaking to color online, given different monitor resolutions. Green to gray would probably be lovely with your countertop, but gray to me wouldn't compliment what I'm seeing color-wise of your cabs. Green? As long as it didn't have a yellow base. You've got lots of potential there! :)

Sorry to hijack, aloha. Hope it's ok. flwrs: We were almost as pleased with our GC as our cabinet maker and I would use him again in a flash. Compared to some of the horror stories I read here, it was smooth sailing for us. But there were some issues, as I suppose every major remodel encounters, but they were smallish. Our GC was Tim Floyd (Home office 303-425-7351 cell 303-881-4104). He has subs for electrical, plumbing, granite/counter tops, and flooring. The subs bid separately directly to you and you pay them, rather than Tim paying them. I liked this arrangement because I preferred to deal directly with them for questions, changes, etc. I loved his electrical and plumbing subs, counter tops was fine and went to great lengths to help me find my granite. I used my own flooring company and that caused some problems with scheduling - they insisted on doing things in a different order than Tim is used to (for example, IIRC, they insisted on a few days between texturing the walls and floor finishing due to the high moisture environment during texturing. They were also concerned about spills during texturing). Tim did not appreciate this and I ended up having to schedule their work myself. I wasn't that happy with them in the end, so if I was to do it over again, I would consider using Tim's flooring sub. Tim insists on pulling permits even for small remodeling jobs. He says it's the rare job that doesn't require it. I interviewed 5 GCs, and 2 said we didn't need permits ("we never pull permits for a job like this") and one said we might be able to get away without permits. We clearly needed permits. We didn't change the layout a whole lot, but we raised the ceiling (and with 2 bathrooms above the kitchen there was a lot of pipe re-jiggering to do!) and of course there was a fair amount of electrical work required on our 1975 house. As far as issues that came up with Tim, the biggest one was the OTR microwave. My DH and I took it out of the box, carefully measured the height at the sides, gave that measurement to the cabinet maker so that the MW sides would be even with the wall cabinets on either side. Then when Tim installed it, he put a piece of filler above the MW so it wasn't even. He had his reasons for doing it, but we went back and forth on removing the filler, and in the end he wouldn't do it. I gave in on that and I find the whole confrontation thing quite stressful, so I didn't feel good about it. Of course, I don't even notice it anymore. Then there was the day he brought a guy with specifically to install the pulls and knobs. This was before the cabinet installation was totally complete. I had bought various sizes with lots of extra pulls because I wasn't sure what I was going to use. So I told him that he would have to wait a day to install them. If you look closely at the picture I posted, there is one crooked pull (left side of frigde, middle drawer, left pull). I didn't notice this until the kitchen work was complete. That's what I get for delaying the pull installation - his brother ended up doing it instead of the guy that he brought specifically for that work. We weren't completely happy with the backsplash installation. The mesh backing shows through on some of the glass pieces. I had told him of this concern before he installed it, and he said that he's using the recommended white thinset (which he did). If my DH and I had done it, we would have cut the backing off of the glass pieces. Also, we had him replace some of the glass pieces with a different color and it doesn't seem random to us. But, as I said, I would use him again. He was excellent at getting back to me promptly when I contacted him, and correcting the things that I pointed out (with the exceptions that I noted). His carpentry work is beautiful. The cabinet guy was really worried about that since they had never worked together before, but after they were installed he told me that Tim did a really beautiful job. And we have had some construction types over since then and they say the same. He took so many calls during the day that I was amazed that anything ever got done, but it did. Also, he wasn't great about telling me if anyone would be at the house (or who would be), and there were days when no one would be, but I think that's normal. I got his name from the cabinet store that I almost ordered cabs from. That is how he usually works (he installs/GCs for several cabinet stores), and that is how he prefers it. I was an unusual case - when he originally bid, I was getting cabs from the store. He told me that I could give his name out but he wasn't sure that he would take non-cabinet store jobs. It depends on how busy he is. He's in Longmont and I'm in the tech center, so sometimes he was late in the morning because of traffic (we tended to meet in the morning to discuss things). He would always call me to let me know if he was delayed. He was really patient with me when I put a stop to the cabinet installation because I was concerned that an aisleway was too narrow. In the end he and the cabinet maker (and a friend that I called over in a panic!) convinced me that the aisle was ok. I agree that the GC decision is a very difficult one. Hope your remodel goes smoothly!

Not sure I should step back into these waters but after a lot of time, decision making, holdups with other parts of my house-my Ikea cabinets are currently being installed. They should measure for the (non Ikea) countertops later this week so we are close. The delay did allow me to take advantage of the Spring sale and save about $1000. Because I'm far from a store and had problems using the design software. I used a local service to design and deliver which has been horrible. Rude, missing pieces, wrong things ordered. But my contractor and I are slowly figuring out. We've removed EVERYTHING from the backsplash which will be slab marble-all of the lighting will be under cabinet and the outlets, plug mold. We also ended up removing the window as it was small and would have needed to be rebuilt because of leaks. The only decision I have left concerns a peninsula overhang which I'm leaning away from. Hopefully I will be able to post a picture of the completed soon.

bbtrix, You're right about what I left out. I should have included the opposite wall in my posted layout but idk how to indicate a stud-bay pantry and pull-down table in floorplanner. I guess I could just put in a couple of lines with a note. We were still planning to do something like that, although maybe a narrow table with a stool underneath instead of a pull-down table (even though it would technically be in the way of traffic, we can deal with something that protrudes 12" or so). We probably can't do an under-cab MW just yet, as my youngest would probably spill stuff/burn himself, but in a couple years we could do that. I do want a few hooks and a place to put a couple pairs of shoes, but our front is our "main" entrance, or at least it's where we store more stuff. When we come in the back door, we are supposed to bring our shoes to the front, although we don't always do that (me too, not just the kids). We also have a closet and storage baskets in the front, so everything is *supposed* to be carried there. What hangs in the back is my apron and a few fleeces/windbreakers (and snow pants to drip/dry when we have snow but that's been sparse lately). So we need a little space for that, but not a ton. Sometimes I hang my purse in there out of reach of the cat, who finds the leather straps just right for chewing. That said, I am intrigued by the idea of the wall table on that *back wall* under the window in the next plan. If we did that, we could then use the space next to the stud-bay pantry for coats & shoes. And I didn't even know that Ikea made a fold-down table. I like the sound of a $40 table a lot better than a custom one. I wonder if I could put some fun contact paper on it so the whites wouldn't clash. That second layout is close to what I thought was The One, but several people here talked me out of having the fridge along that opposite wall next to the DR door. Even one of the people who originally suggested it changed her mind. Strong words were used. lol. I think I have officially abandoned that one. But this definitely gives me more to think about. Thank you so much!