Wow, great prices. You must live in the Midwest or South. Surely not New England or the west coast with those prices! I like how the vanities tie in with the doors and trim - are you going to put wainscoting in the bathrooms, or tall baseboards? But vanity prices are crazy. I don't even want to know what we paid for the ones the builder installed in our house (modular house, package deal, no breakouts given, just "upgrade" costs when I picked better than their basic, and I don't even remember what those costs were). But I was looking for 24" vanities online, I can't believe $500 - $800! Don't look like anything special (those did include stone or quartz countertops at the high end). I know the big box stores here have some on special for $200-$300 with a china sink, but I'm just really suspicious of MDF. I know it's more stable than solid wood in high humidity, so it's fine for the general bath with DS taking steamy showers, but after seeing the junk that was in our old houses (this is number 3) and apartments I tried to pick better for this house, and a PR should be fine with a nice solid piece of wood furniture (though the top and the top drawer's curved front look to be veneer). The vanities in the 2.5 baths in our last house were literally falling apart - even the tiny PR vanity, and the house wasn't that old. I think it was built in 1988, we bought in '94 and after fixing the roof, putting in a driveway, and bringing in loam and reseeding the lawn, we immediately gutted the master bath and remodeled it (I think it was 1997). Forget what we paid for the 60" vanity (solid oak face frame and doors) then but it probably wasn't over $500, put a laminate countertop on it. The custom oak tub surround my step-uncle built was much less expensive, but the unfinished raised panel doors I bought to put on it (providing access to plumbing) were pretty expensive. I wanted to do the same (but with maple - cherry is too expensive) in this house but I'm sure the doors would be out of my budget. Oh, and the best thing - this washstand was free! My mom gave it to us for a dresser when DD was born, she doesn't want it back. It's been (sort of) refinished, the door is missing and so is original hardware, but that's why I don't mind cutting into it. The left front corner of the top looks like someone sanded through the veneer, but the veneer isn't lifting. It's still full of dark old scratches and gouges and the top is blotchy, but the worst of it will be cut out and I figure the rest just gives it "character". Need a little of that in a brand-new fake farmhouse Colonial with bright shiny cabinetry in the other rooms. I don't like painted wood or white kitchens, so went with oak, but maybe when DD is out of college (in 14 yrs) we can update the kitchen and the main bath - they might need it after 19 yrs!

Not to beat a dead horse...is that the right expression? Ick, it sounds terrible. Not to drag this on, but Teresa, I looked at your post and responded to it. I kind of get why you felt the way you did - because your kitchen is gorgeous and if I were you, I'd probably wonder why nobody responded. But to you - and to others who commented that they did not get any responses to their finished kitchen post - I'd say don't get dismayed and don't take it personally. It could be the time of day or time of year. It could be the number of competing "finished kitchens" that were posted around the same time. It could be that people look but don't comment - because there was nothing they had any questions on. I also know that people who tended to post BEFORE their kitchen is done, with questions and requests for help - tend to get more responses because others feel like they contributed to the poster's success. And it makes others excited to see the finished result. There's more of a "relationship" there for lack of a better word. Anyway, I'm not really sure how to go on about this. Just that it bugs me and I'm not sure why. I wish I could make you and others feel better about it.

It's 36" to the top of the vanity and nearly 41" to the top of the sink. Our upstairs "normal" vanity is 33". We needed to cut off some of the legs to bring it to that height. It worked out well because my husband is quite tall and he appreciates every little bit. I'm short and it's okay for me too. The dreaded finishing question... Prior to the project I had anticipated using a marine varnish on the top, I wanted a really hard, almost bar-top finish. I purchased the bureau on eBay and the finish wasn't very good, I sanded it to smoothe it out and went to our local unfinished furniture store to look at stains. There I got talked into gelstain and a poly gel finish. They insisted it would be hard enough to withstand the water. Well, yes and no. Like newhomebuilder, if I did it again I'd go with stone on top. The sides of the bureau took the stain and poly very well--actually the top did too. I clean it with hot water and a microfiber cloth and dry it with a microfiber cloth. It looks fine but has dulled a bit. In the better picture you can see the edge where it's worn a bit--not as dramatic as in the photo. This happened in another place and it was certainly easy to fix with sanding and reapplication. The woodworking forum has lots of good advice. I'd suggest you troll through the posts before asking your own question. There are at least two members who are very generous with their professional advice but they end up answering the same questions over and over again. They display admirable patience! I'm pretty sure that what I did wouldn't be what the experts would recommend but I do have to say that it was rather simple and the results have been satisfactory.

My DH gladly handed most of the decision making and planning to me - just not his thing and I do nearly all of the cooking. I did narrow choices down to a couple and ask for his input before making any decisions, but he was pretty accomodating. Early on I did ask him for things he would like in the new kitchen. All he wanted was a fridge with ice and water thru the door. Easy-peasy. Curiously, my DS (about 10 during the reno) really got into the whole process from helping with the layout, to picking paint and finish colors. We learned a lot about kitchen design together, and although I never let him over-rule my choices he did play a big part in some of the finish choices. Last summer we redid his bedroom and he lead the "design team" with some guidance from me. Now he has a room that suits a teenager (the "man-cave", lol) and a great deal of pride in showing off his bold choices.