Mike, Sorry to be ignorant - what are Chinese RTA cabinets? I just got Mid-continent natural maple cabinets. Not as expensive or fancy as some, but still very nice. Some knots and color variation are normal, but I wouldn't be happy if I were you, with so much irregularity and particularly the parts that appear unfinished. I didn't mind a few knots and minor variations (not as extreme as yours). I had two cabinet doors I was unhappy with . One had a mineral deposit; it was natural but looked like it was streaked with dirt. The second was a knot that went a third of the way up the inside corner of a door. Also several shelves were damaged in shipping. I took them to my KD and he was gracious about it and simply got me new ones - the replacements just came yesterday. As boxiebabe said, what are your options? If you have the option, ask that they take back the problem doors/drawers and replace them. It sounds like you're not going to be happy. I'm certainly not an expert, but I don't think you're being too "picky". Good luck, let us know what happens. Kevin

I am not an expert, but when my hood and pendants were installed, I wanted them only as high as they needed to be so I wouldn't bump my head. I didn't want the underbelly of either one to be visible when walking into the kitchen. I don't care for pendants hung so high that the bulbs can be seen glaring out the bottom while standing across the room. Likewise, I don't care for the vent grates under the hood to be so visible, either. I was home when my hood as installed, and I literally stood at the stove so they could measure how low it could go and still clear my head. For me, 32 inches above the stove was plenty--within the specs for installation, gives me head clearance, and the underside of the hood isn't as noticeable when I'm standing in the kitchen. The pendants are about 33 inches, and this works fine for the island space. The range and the island are not centered together, so it doesn't matter that the pendants are slightly higher. If you want the bottoms to match up, you may need to hang the pendants first because it looks like it has fixed pieces in the arm. However, be careful of the specs and code restrictions of where your hood must hang--there is usually a guideline that must be followed.

I also think a peninsula is the best choice. It should go here: You could keep the sink and stove and fridge where they are with a peninsula there, but I'd actually make the peninsula 30-36" deep and put the sink and dishwasher in the peninsula. This has a few benefits over leaving the sink under the window: 1) The most convenient place to have your main prep counter is between the sink and the stove. This is because you have access to both the sink and stove from the same stretch counter, which means you can wash, peel, chop, mix, and cook everything all while standing in the basically the same spot. The less you move around while cooking, the more efficient, and the less likely that anybody else will be in your way. If you put your sink on the peninsula, it would give you a nice long counter between the sink and stove. A counter with a view outside, no less. 2) If you don't move the sink, the peninsula counter to the left of the sink won't be used very much. It will always be more convenient to work between the sink and stove. However, if you have the sink and dishwasher on the peninsula, you will definitely be using the peninsula to do dishes and wash things. This means you'll actually get to enjoy the fact that working at the peninsula would mean you'd be facing the breakfast nook and the family room. 3) If the dishwasher is on the peninsula, it should be to the left of the sink (so that it's not between the sink and range where opening a DW would interrupt cooking/prepping activities). This means that the cabinetry on the wall with the fridge is ideally suited for dish storage, since you'd be able to unload the dishwasher directly into it that cabinetry. However, I can see why you'd be, like, "To hell with that. We don't mind this layout we already have, and I don't see the point of doing anything that is more bother than this layout if we don't hate this one." But as buehl said above, it is often the case that we just get used to things. People are used to a kitchen, and they don't realize how bad/frustrating it was till they work in a better kitchen, after which they could never go back. So what I would suggest is a free trial of a better kitchen. Since you were planning on tearing out your cabinets, why not tear out just the island first? Leave everything else in the kitchen as-is, but remove the island and mock up a peninsula with furniture or boxes or perhaps using parts of the island that you just took out. It would be especially great if your mock-up peninsula had a top you could work on to really see how you'd use a counter there. Live with the kitchen like that for, like, a month. Long enough that it stops feeling weird and new. If by the end of that period, you do not think a peninsula is an improvement on your current layout, then by all means, put in a new island.

You need a DW end panel and a filler attached to create an L shaped panel at the end of the DW (between it and the fridge) in order to support the counter. You also need filler between any of the cabinets adjacent to the wall so that they can actually open, and account for out of square walls. You need to account for those required fillers in the overall dimensions. I like to cut a standard 3" one in half in order to use both pieces. Stock cabinets aren't going to have refrigerator side panels or a microwave shelf. Even a cheap island hood starts at about $600. Goes up from there. Then there is the venting ductwork to be figured out. And it requires a more expensive slide in range rather than a standard range with a 48" backguard that is too high to use with a bar height counter. You easily have 2K in upgrades just from that peninsula cooking choice. Or more.