I have talked to a couple of friends who looked "in real life" and a few who have seen the same pics that you have seen. And the verdict from people who know me is that while the tweed is certainly quite nice, the other is more "me". I do really really Iove the tweed and it feels amazing, but I am afraid that I have to agree. So, i have taken a couple of additional pics of two different sample which also show the wall color since it wasn't very visible in the others. I swear these are now the final two! Remember that they will be bound on the edges, so the one on the left would be brown, and on the right would be black. Votes please? So I can put this project to bed and move on to all the many others I have in mind! Maybe I should create a new thread for those who don't want to wade through tons of discarded options.

I don't think I was being brutal, I just wanted to state the technical details of why the overlays were wrong. However I see a few people disageed with me, I can assure you that I know what I am talking about when it comes to technical details of a kitchen, especially hinges. To do a full overlay with butt doors and face frame cabinets you would have to notch the frame out to 3/4" and use a frameless hinge to get the gap that you want. So as I was saying the cabinets should have been built differently(not your fault) If you cabinetmaker is buying hinges from home depot, he is not a cabinetmaker but a carpenter. No offense to any carpenters but a jack of all trades, master at none, is a pretty common theme. Yes the finish is subpar, and is probably the most difficult aspect of cabinetmaking. I know that I can spay a finish that is on par or above any factory finish. All in all the design looks good, to most people the cabinet quality and overlays would never enter their radar. As far as the finish goes, did he show you samples beforehand, I would have requested that so I could approve the color and quality. Most of these issues you have I think would be tough to fight in court because there is no documentation, however I am no expert in litigation, because my work does not lead to lawsuits. I also always try to steer people away from maple unless they are going natural with glaze, it is a very difficult wood to stain with consistency. The grain tends to show variation and looks "splotchy" Again another reason to see samples before you buy. When I hear about the horror stories on here it drives me crazy to see people paying good money for subpar work. I guess the point I am trying to make is that everyone has different expectations of quality you have to trust your judgement. To answer your question igloochic, your inset doors open with minimal gap because you cabinets use inset hinges, not facefame. You may have a concealed hinge but it is still designed to open with zero clearance, it is not designed to overlap a 1 1/2" frame, or you may have butt hinges, and obviously you can see how that would not give you an overlay on a face frame cabinet. I was not saying it was not possible to have full overlay on face frame cabinets, I was saying that it is more difficult, and I did not think this builder had that knowledge or skill.

KL, Your new kitchen is spectacular. Thank you so much for sharing in such detail. I am thinking I ought to do the same, as I am just at the planning stages of my project. I am wondering how your kitchen is holding up after 8 months. I am considering going with IKEA boxes and semi-handmade in my kitchen reno, but worry about the durability of the Ikea drawers, slides, and hinges. Are you still happy with them? Also I am curious about what cabinet material you chose. I am guessing that SemiHandmade in Flatsawn Walnut is a veneer, right? How is it looking 8 months on? I am trying to make my budget work and am tempted to save on cabinets because it's just such a big ticket item. Are you still happy with your choice? Also, how do you like the FP fridge?

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through these posts and to post advice and suggestions and constructive criticism. I am taking all of it into consideration and some of it was not what i wanted nor expected to hear, but what I needed to hear. I feel as if a little more explanation is needed. We found a builder that we really like and everyone that he has built for has been really happy. He had several plans that we could look at or if we had any plans he could build whatever we liked. He has a gentleman that could draw and customize a home for us. We thought it was architect at first and the price was so good because we were going through him and he would then be able to have our house plan to use in the future. Upon our first meeting with the gentleman that was going to draw up of dream home so we could make it a reality, we learned that he was not an architect, or designer. He's retired now from 40 years of experience woking on/building homes and is good with the software. He is very kind and has been very patient with the many changes we have made along the way. However, we soon discovered that he really has no design ideas or suggestions. He just draws whatever we ask him to or whatever I draw to send to him. If we wanted something a changed, the standard procedure was to just make part of the house bigger, we had gotten up to almost 4400 square feet! If we didn't like the way something worked and asked for a change, he would fix that issue and cause 2 more. I got so frustrated that we are trying to build our dream home and pretty much the only person I had for design help was myself. Uhm, I really want someone with much more skill and talented and better taste to design my home. I know what I want, I just do't know how to get there. We have been working on this for 8 months. I got so frustrated that I gave up for 3 months. Our neighbors are using the same builder and they had difficulties getting their design as well. However they had found a floor plan that they liked and just had him make changes to it and add a mother in law plan. I firmly believe that we are his first truly start from scratch home. Again, this is the guy the builder sent us to to have plans drawn, not our builder. Giving him credit he has taking my very very basic sketches and turned them into something the builder can build from, but pretty much the design is about 99% me, not that I wanted it that way. Here is where I'm at, so you can see that he is doing all the builder type stuff. We don't want to be difficult, but we want a good design. We don't want the builder to think that we are difficult or indecisive because we just can't get there with his guy. I'm at a loss! Several people wanted to know the lot dimensions. So here they are: It is at the top of a ridge, has some slope to it and has a nice open are in the middle. Of course we want the house to sit about at the arrows part of the lot. There is an utility easement of 20 feet on the right side of the lot, but the utility poles are more like 30 feet inside the property. I really do appreciate all of your insight. It has been eye opening. I'll make another post addressing questions and comments. Sorry to be so long winded.