Hi, I started using Conestoga back in 2010 when Casey was about the only one here who had them. I was nervous but took the plunge. Love their RTAâÂÂs! In my last house my husband and I built this kitchen with full overlays. The finish was still perfect three years later when I sold. In the house IâÂÂm in now we are doing inset cabinetry in the master bath. One is not harder than the other to assemble. Although I buy my cabinets from Chad at Cabinetmakerschoice the cabinetjoint has the best Conestoga assembly videos.

1)You'll be fine on std. depth. 2)Most pre-built cabinets use standard(oft-outsourced)drawer boxes, so they'll just "park" deeper in the cabinet. Most lines have about 3" "deadspace" behind the drawers for plumbing, utilities,etc. You'll only have about 2.25" now. The 9" pantry roll-out is almost always outsourced, so no impact from inset. 3)You're on the right track w/ varying the color, or area for mixing w/ full-overlay.

I'm really liking the two tone look lately. I'm debating about it for my cabin's kitchen, so of course I had to search for some examples. Here are few I found. This one is my favorite! Here are a few from GW that did the wood fridge surround which I like. I'm not sure though if in a smaller kitchen whether or not it would be better for all the uppers to flow with the fridge surround??? Hopefully others will chime in. Here is one with white around fridge and oven stack. I like both! But I am leaning toward the wood surround myself. I really think it's more just personal preference though because both look nice. I would also consider how much natural light your kitchen has as that might make you lean toward white. If you could post pictures of your existing space that would help us give the best advice.

Main Line, thank you so much for your “critique” of my kitchen. What a shame I didn’t have you to design it...not! i am not a KD. I hired the best in my city. One has serious limitations when one is working with a 1948 house and no walls can come down. One is also limited in how one vents a hood in such a house. One is limited by budget. I had two choices: put the stove where the kitchen door to the outside is, or leave it were it’s been since 1984. If the stove were moved, there would now be no direct access to the outside. It would also mean turning the double window in the adjoining breakfast room into a door. Of course, that would entail removing the concrete flight of stairs from the existing place (they are tied into the foundation), and building new ones. NOT a good choice in SO many ways! Or I could have had my large bay window and sink removed and put it where the sink is, leaving me with a dark kitchen and a sink without a window over it on another wall, causing still more problems. Clearly, leaving the stove where it is works best. The hood is able to be vented through an HVAC closet on the 2nd floor and straight on out the roof. That works very well. In the future, if someone buys the house and wants a different stove, they can easily move it over a bit, leaving counter space at the end, and it can still vent the same way. The stove is a monster and has safely resided there now for 35 years. Having the space in the center (the griddle) in which to put a hot pan is useful, but only needed for things coming out of the oven. It’s never been a problem. Pot handles are always turned toward the griddle. Children and grandchildren were taught not to racer through the kitchen to go outside when someone is cooking. No one has ever been burned or knocked off a pot. Having cooked in this kitchen for decades, I knew what worked and what didn’t. The main reason to remodel was to get the refrigerator off the end of the stove counter run and to get drawers in the lower cabinets. I wanted a longer counter next to the stove for prep and for plating up dishes. I needed to open up that back corner to the hall. It made the kitchen feel cramped. Is it ideal to have the refrigerator at the opposite end of the kitchen than the sink? No...but in an older house compromises must be made and that was an easy one. When I cook, I get everything I need out before I start. I have a long counter run and my island cart on which to place things. Easy, peasy. What works brilliantly about this kitchen is that even only being 11 x 15, three people can be working in that kitchen at the same time, and a 4th can be carrying plates back and forth to the dining room, with no one ever having to say “excuse me” while dancing around another. The refrigerator placement actually facilitates this as one person can be preparing a salad or dessert on the long counter opposite the stove wall, and have easy access to the refrigerator. The person working at the stove can easily grab something quickly, all without being in the way of another. Someone can even enter from the back hall and grab more ice from the freezer for the bar, without getting in the way of those cooking. There is room at the sink for a clean-up person to have room to receive used plates, rinse and stack those needing hand-washing, and access to the DW without opening it being cumbersome. Not one of the kitchen you designed, works this well. I may may not be a KD, but I do cook (or used to do so before getting old). I know how a kitchen functions, whether it’s dinner for 1, 4 or a dinner party or holiday meal. I know where to place storage for the best ease of access. I bake and know that means needing to be able to spread things out - that long counter works a treat, and has mixing bowls and baking pans right beneath. Are the cabinets for plates as close the the DW as your “rules” might prefer? No, but they’re close enough and again the island cart and that long countertop provide a place to put things and then put them all away. Glassware is close - right next to the sink. i lived with this kitchen for 32 years prior to remodeling. I knew how it “worked” or didn’t work. I knew how I used it. And months were spent planning this remodel, I needed the KD for cabinet sizes to order, not to layout my kitchen, but he and I spent many hours problem solving and trying various placements. No prof KD could ever afford to give this kitchen the thought I did prior to doing the work. As a designer, I know the “rules” well enough that I know when they can be broken. And when remodeling, they often must be as most people, contrary to HGTV, are not removing load-bearing walls and putting in huge steel beams, nor are they gutting the house to the studs. A good designer can work with the structural limitations and use creativity to make things work. Only a very inexperienced designer or one lacking any creativity or imagination, allows herself to be hamstrung by “Rules”. In my experience, many, if not most, KD’s do not actually “cook” or do much home entertaining, probably because they work full time. My daughter is in the high end hospitality industry, and I know that every time they design a new hotel restaurant (and all are “destination“ restaurants, not just a place for hotel guests to eat), it’s the Executive chef who is hired BEFORE the kitchen is designed, who designs his kitchen. He knows how he runs his kitchen, and where things need to be. No KD on earth knows this. The thought he puts into this is the difference between a chef who cooks delicious things, and one who can do that AND run an efficient kitchen so his helpers are not tripping over one another, and things get to the table at the proper temp. No KD’s CAD skills can equal this knowledge. Of course commercial KD’s then come into play - building Codes, OSHA rules - it’s highly complicated. But the functioning design comes from the chef, and he chooses his equipment. There is a great interview online, with 3 star Michelin French Laundry chef, Michael Keller, telling how he designed the new kitchen at the French Laundry. Clearly, we have very different taste where the aesthetics of kitchen design are concerned. I don’t find the kitchens on your website to be very attractive. Of course, I heartily dislike “open concept” kitchens, and one would be awful in my very traditional home. The aesthetic of my kitchen is very harmonious with my house, filled with antiques and beautiful fabrics and wallpaper. It follows all the principles of good design - light, space, compatibility with adjoining rooms, and most importantly, it functions very, very well. It pleases me, and in the end, having a client pleased is very important. I hope you’re not as rude to your clients as you’ve been to me. I know many people who live or have lived on the Main Line, and I have never found them very tolerant of rudeness.