Sure it is my age - born in 1943 and my parents built their first house in 1951/52. I have very distinct memories of "Mid- century" and they're not fond ones! Very kitchy. I'm just not into kitchy and chrome breakfast room sets and scalloped wood trim. But if others are, go for it! I have similar cabinets - my kitchen guy says they're RTA and were assembled on site and are often all locked together. If mine had given me more flexibility, I would not be getting new cabinets in 2 weeks! i have been able to keep my new kitchen costs down dramatically due to the two upgrades we've done over 32 years (late husband was a teacher - no money). We spent money an the Corian countertops when we first remodeled 31 1/2 yrs ago. We also added a wall of cabinets and moved the sink at that time and put in a big bay window over it. Fast forward 19 years, and we again painted the cabinets, new wallpaper, new sink and faucet, and hardwood floors. At that time, we redid lighting - lots of pot lights in ceiling, and good undercabinet lighting. Made a huge difference. Then a few years later, I got my big Vent a Hood to put over my huge 1948 O'Keefe and Merritt stove. Also got a gorgeous stainless counter depth refrigerator. Finally, I'm getting new cabinets! But I'm able to re-use all appliances, sink, countertops, faucet etc. I added one more pot light, removed the hideous soffits, and am relocating the refrig. When ones does ugrades in the right order, it saves when it's time for the big ticket item - the cabinets. BTW, I've had red oak floors in a kitchen and they were fine, even with 2 children, 1 big dog and 1 small one.

My daughter and I get ants about once each year - usually in the spring. They come in somewhere near the kitchen door to the outside. But they stay in that part of the kitchen, only moving over to the kitchen sink. We've both tried ant traps on the kitchen counter - I think they consider them hors d'oeuvres. We both have pets - she has cats, I have a dog. We finally discovered that the only way to get rid of them was to use ant spray. We use it at night and just close off the kitchen to pets until we can wipe down the counter and floor in the morning. That always works. I've NEVER had ants get in my kitchen cabinets in the 33 years I've lived in this house! It has not happened at my daughter's, either. Now mice is a different story! We battled them in our bottom cabinets for years. We had moved the kitchen sink when we moved into the house and the builder did not cover the hole for the pipes at the back of the cabinet. There was a rail down the middle of the double sink cabinet, so access was difficult. We tried hardware cloth but could only "stuff" it into the 5" hole. We added steel wool and that helped for a while. I finally convinced my plumber that the dead-end pipe that had gone to the sink and now went nowhere, had to go, even though it had been capped off at the end. The mice got in the basement (no one ever knows how mice get in, but they can), climbed a pipe and walked across this one. That helped but still no cure. Finally, I hired my eldest grandson to come help me totally clean out these bottom cabinets, sanitize them and then put everything back inside. When he did this, he said, "Gram, did you know there is a hole in this cabinet?" I said of course I did - it was filled with hardware cloth and steel wool. "No", says he. "There is one on the bottom of the cabinet, too and the Contact paper had been eaten through." Apparently, when we did all the work on the kitchen after moving in 32 years earlier, I had just papered over that hole and not given it another thought. When the mice lost their previous entry place, they discovered this one. I went down the basement and found a thin piece of very hard, still plastic and we Gorilla-glued it to the bottom, covering that hole. No more mice! When we gutted the kitchen last year, we discovered multiple holes in around that area - ones in the walls as well. All were carefully covered so no mice in my bottom kitchen cabinets anymore!!!

Rita- I’ve been convinced on that. It would really stink to go to the trouble and expense and then always wish they were fuller. Thank you! sowkmom- thanks! Glad to hear you accomplished it. The pillow was a lot of fun, I hope the drapes are as well. becky- thank you! The bird isn’t my favorite part of the fabric, so I spent some time figuring how to cut around it and mainly feature the blue flowers. I love how it turned out!

Here's a pic of our new display without tops yet. These are the MDF standard construction. Anglophilia is right...they are very heavy! Really only person who benefits from the plywood upgrade is your installer...his back will thank you. :-) Photos below show MDF and also a couple of the drawer options: standard wood or laminate in a laminate gray metal finish.