Well, the choice has been made. Thanks to all for your great advice! We will be using TSP on all the other cabinets for sure, but because these cabinets won't fit the new appliances, they will be used in the garage and my potting shed. They will be replaced with new. The new cabinets have been chosen. We brought one of the whitish floor tiles to our contractor's showroom and chose a shaker style cabinet in a honey color from PCS. Disgusted with the prices of quartz and granite, we chose an amazing matte porcelain tile that looks and feels to me much like brown swede cowhide in a 13 x 20" offset with a Schlutered edge in brushed stainless and a diagonally placed 6" tile backsplash with a decorative band that includes oddly shaped tiles in a metallic swirl (picks up the stainless), a white (picks up the floor) tile, and a couple shades of the matte brown. The choices we made give us the rustic feel we wanted with a touch of bling! My husband's comment was "It will look more high-end than granite!" He said this gleefully, knowing the cost was about a third of the other two! I'm happy because it's a hard baked surface and will not stain or absorb. The grout will match the tile, be narrow and also treated to not stain or absorb. The decorative band ties it all together! I'll post photos once it's all in. I'm finally happy to be stuck with that white tile floor in the kitchen! Well, sort of....... Now I have to deal with it elsewhere in the house!! Suzi

The cabinets are already stripped and sanded, just in the process of staining and the match looks great. My husband planned to do the finish work while I took the kids out of town, but the stain/toner just arrived yesterday instead of the13th as scheduled. So, he's working on it now. Memorial weekend will be this project instead of going fishing... oh well. The only think we're waiting on is deciding the topcoat. I was going to use water based satin polycrylic, which I used on previous cabinets and is the same sheen as the manufacturer's, but I need to find exactly what the manufacturer uses... if they use oil-based, I'd like them to age at the same rate. I think they use shellac or laquer, but will have to verify. Citristrip is not an effective stripper in my opinion. Yes, it has a lovely orange scent, but it doesn't strip much and leaves such a waxy layer that it takes more work to clean it off than it does work to help. We used a nasty, toxic stripper that works well, even pulls out the stain... while outside wearing a respirator with lots of ventilation. The plan is the addition in 5 years... but things seem to always take a bit longer than planned, and I just couldn't stand the kitchen as is. The problem is that we plan to make the existing kitchen / dining area into a 2nd master. My husband doesn't want to do any tile type backsplash because it will ruin the walls. I think I would prefer the wavy glass with a painted back anyway, just because I don't really like cleaning grout, but I'm trying to figure out if I can get that in my small town. Also, we have breaks in our cabinets, with window over the sink and I'm not sure how to end the glass, then I was thinking, maybe I shoud just put a piece behind the stove (where I really need a backsplash for my splattering pots of pasta sauce), but maybe that wouldn't look very good. Still pondering this one. We saw the counters at the fabricators shop, and they look great, so I can't wait for those to go in. Yes, I think this will be enough of a change that I can live with it... I just couldn't work with the orange cabinets.

Etchings is a good wearable kitchen surface finish. Riverwash and Honed are a bit more questionable in a well used kitchen. They tend to be softer, scratch more, and show the scratches much more than the Etchings or Radiance finishes. Most people would never notice the scratches, but people on the Kitchen Forum here aren't most people! The Azul granite is a love it or hate it laminate color. It really doesn't look at all like Azul Bahia granite does in person. It's similar in coloration, but because of the constraints of the repeating pattern in laminate, it's a lot more uniform in appearance and it tends to look a lot more man made. And blue is a color that evokes intense feelings about it. I'd call up Formica and ask for a large sample before committing to it. You may love it in the 1 1/2" x 3" chip, but in the 5"x7" it may not speak to you. There's always the option of Azul Bahia granite tiles. I saw some on Stone Locator for around $100 per 12 x 12 tile. Do an island in that, and something less expensive for the perimeter.

You can also buy the formica in sheets, you can install it over old formica. I couldn't stand our original formica counters in the house we bought so I bought a few sheets of formica 180 (different pattern than above) and the contact cement for it and diy while I decide my kitchen layout. Biggest thing is making sure the surface you are glueing to is roughed up and not shiny. I went over the original counter with a belt sander since there were still shiny areas. Lowes was cheaper than Home Depot here in NJ. So far I am really impressed. I am not planning to keep it so I am not being extra careful and I am actually liking it. Dh has managed to set some hot things on it, my MIL cut sweet potatoes up on it before I had a chance to give her a cutting board and no damage to the formica. It has surprised me in a good way.