On the whole, I don't think it looks cheap and unfinished, but from your comments I think that the contemporary look may not be for you. I don't know what to do about that. The "plain" doors *are* contemporary - anything else is less so. I don't know what the woods are but they seem quite refined - the dark cabinetry (walnut? mahogany) and the lighter (figured?, curly?) wood on the horizontal uppers. The woods are rich as is the backsplash tile - very nice. Specific fixes: the fridge cabinet fix is straightforward as it really ought to line up with *something* else in that room - I think that is what is throwing such a huge wrinkle in an otherwise nice space. It has an eye line all its own. An easy fix is to get sides and a couple of shelves to give it its built in look such that the top shelf lines up with the top of rest of the kitchen. I can appreciate what the PO was trying to do as I, too, don't like big blocky heaps of cabinetry rising up and dominating corners of rooms so she was probably trying to ease into the elevation. BUT without something to give that fridge block some symmetry, it just looks wrong. So, the elevated sides and shelves should fix it. Also, if you get some of the pro-style fridges, they will be taller than the Electrolux there and may immediately line up with the top of the cabs with a new side and the same top shelf already in existence. If you don't cook, why do you want a rangetop???? *puzzled* From a show only standpoint, a good unobstrusive cooktop or better yet, an induction unit is the way to go (actually, they are excellent for performance also, IMO). The rangetop will diminish some of the contemporary sleekness AND if you are talking cutting the installed granite etc. - opens up the possibility for things going wrong. I'm all about contemporary and I don't like the pendant either, so all blessings to change it out. :-) Never been a fan of islands constructed as you show but those can be put to excellent use. Take a look at Pharaoh's kitchen. A back-lit onyx tile or slab installed there will make the back of the island look absolutely awesome. Congratulations on the new house.

Yes you should take into account the height of the faucets. Normally a mirror would begin above them. (Think of what you want to reflect....lots of plumbing or the viewer?) You want to be low enough that a person who is 5' tall can easily see their entire face and chest. Typically that's going to be right above the faucet. My powder room mirror is pushing the height limits at 45" above the floor. You don't want people to have to stand on their toes to see their face and chest. Mine is 4" above the faucet (so it's not crowded since mine opens). I'm sitting in a hotel right now and the mirror is right at faucet height (you don't see the faucet reflected in the mirror). I'd say it's about 38" off the floor. It's quite comfortable to use. My higher mirror is a powder room mirror as well. I did a lot of research on the subject (suprising how much you can find on the internet) and the general concensus was that you should look to the short folks in society and cater to them for the bottom height, and the tall folks for the top height, so that someone 5' tall and someone else 6'4" will both feel comfortable in the room.

OK. I'm posting my updated drawing of the floor plan along with an old computerized one a designer did for me that has a lot of things off. Also, here's her picture of the main part of the kitchen. In the unpictured side of the kitchen, the current plan is to put a corner window bench and small table plus recessed shelving/cabinetry in the wall to the dining room (that gets complicated, but it's probably just important to know where that wall is - namely the surface facing the dining room is 12" to the right of the window; how thick that wall is depends on where it starts relative to the window in the kitchen, but it currently starts 7" to the right of it). *edited to add a rendering of the "unpictured" side of the kitchen where the recessed shelving is represented as pictures plus shelves because I'm not good with tedious things. I'll add that I don't like open floor plans and we close the doors so we have separate spaces for my son to do zoom classes and such almost every day.

Hi Everyone! My cup runneth over! Thank you! My gut told me not to paint them since they are 100% wood (hence, why we didn't immediately do it when we moved in), and a lot of you felt the same. We need to paint the walls, for sure. The agent who refreshed the house before the last homeowner painted the whole house that color with Antique White trim. God awful. We are slowly, but surely repainting each room, and the main living room and somewhat open kitchen is the last to tackle. A bit overwhelmed on that with cathedral ceilings, so are looking past the horrid brown for now. Well, we were looking past it, until we read all of your suggestions today. We went to our local Ace today and picked out some colors to, at least, repaint the kitchen based on our beautiful backsplash. That will probably help alleviate the problem, and the problem is probably not the cabinets. The problem, for now, is the color of the room. The full remodel can come later. We love our house and what we've done with it. We got overwhelmed by the kitchen, and it is probably because of the walls! Thanks, again!!! Stacy