I do want to thank everyone for the great feedback and ideas. maureeninmd... yes I do love how cute my kitchen is and I know how close my cabs are to your old ones as I saw your pictures. And thank you for clearly stating my options and scenarios and the warnings about demolition issues. hestia_flames..yes I know all about that. I actually did the blue paint job that is on them now and whereever it chips which is especially on the edges of the interior shelves it freaks me because I don't doubt there is lead paint involved...I am sure it is on the plaster of my walls too. The chipping and repainting issues do make me want to demo the sink run, uppers and lowers. bmorepanic... I am coming round more and more to your point of view. Yes, I agree about keeping the range as far away as possible from the dining room. Right now my wall oven door opens down direclty in front of the dining room entrance and I always feel I am cooking right in the dining room. That is really awful when I have guests and they get to see all the last minute panics in the oven area. I have only about 63" to play with and so a single cabinet to the right of the range would be good. growlery...I am glad you like my blue box.. I could never demo that I am so attached to it! Yes, the rest of my house is simple but I think on the elegant side...I do love the simple kitchen look and right now I don't feel it is NOT country looking which I like. BTW I did not do the blue tile - it was there and I did the cabinets blue to tie in. The more I think about all this the more I think that I will not be happy really unless I demo all the cabinets except the blue box and install new. Now I need to figure out what to replace them with! I love the all white look but cannot run to inset doors. I also like the look of the shaker style doors that are not full overly and also have the lipped inset. I wonder if I could do something like those. I am not sure I would want to get quarter sawn oak uppers... too heavy and too mission looking for me. I want to keep the feel of what I have now but with new cabinets! I feel scope creep coming on but thank you all for you advice. Tina

Cabinet hardware, to a certain extent, is driven by the style of your cabinets & kitchen as well as the color family (silver/gold/copper/etc.) you're using for other components. There area a lot of different styles. Have you gone to a major home improvement store or several kitchen show places to see what's available? Look at styles first, then color family or other composition. In my experience, most styles can be found in various finishes & at various price points (often an indicator of composition & finish quality...but not always!) So... What style are your cabinets? Your kitchen in general? The rest of your home (particularly if your kitchen is open to the other rooms)? What color family are your appliances and other fixtures...faucet/soap dispenser/air switch, sink, hinges (if not hidden), lights, etc.? What color is your countertop (e.g.. if black, often silver-family items look better...but not always.) Cabinet color? Note: As with all decorating, these are guidelines to make it easier, but they are by no means "rules"! You certainly can mix color families, etc., but when you have no idea what to do sometimes this type of advice helps. In my case, I have a transitional kitchen. My color family is silver...pewter pendants, antique iron hardware, satin nickel faucets/soap dispensers/air switch. Black countertops. Cherry cabinets w/mandarin orange stain & coffee glaze. While my sink & appliances are all SS and certainly fit in the silver-family, I think they're neutral enough that they will also fit with most other color families as well. I put knobs on all doors & the 6" pullouts flanking my cooktop. I put drawer pulls on all drawers & the trash pullout. The knobs are spaced 1" in from the side and on the upper cabinets 3" up from the bottom edge, while on the base cabinets 3" down from the top edge. For the drawers, I put one pull on drawers = 30" wide. The pulls are centered vertically. Horizontally, when there's one pull, it's centered; where there are two knobs, they vary...the ones on the 36" drawers are 8" from the edge, on the 33" drawers they're 7-1/2" from the edge, on the 30" drawers they're 7" from the edge. "Birdcage" Knob: "Birdcage" Drawer Pull (4" on center): 36" drawer spacing: Knob spacing: Overviews (they're a little dark, but hopefully you can get a good idea of what they look like.)

Hey folks! So here's the update: I ordered latches from House of Antique Hardware and contractor installed over range and fridge. They look great! Function, ugh. Yes, I have to turn the knob to open them...but also they won't push closed so I have to turn the knob to close them! I have some in my dining room from Rejuvenation that you can push closed, so I ordered some of those in ORB. They're very similar, but slightly different shape and darker finish than the HOAH (Rejuvenation is top and HOAH is bottom). The size seems just off enough that the holes won't line up to easily change out the latches already installed. Now what to install where? Definitely want less latches than I thought, but I need to add some to go with the ones over range and fridge. Laundry area: pulls on the lowers, then Rejuvenation latches on top (I don't think will be noticeable that they're different): Fridge wall: Pulls on the appliance garage and lower pantry doors. OK to do pull on upper pantry door? I think the door above microwave needs a latch to go with the fridge--does it need to be the HOAH? Or do you think the Rejuvenation one is a close enough match (and would be easier to use)? Range wall for reference, though the drawers are all going to be pulls Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone- thanks for the advices. I'm sorry I didn't call me back earlier to this thread but we had a very busy weekend with my 7y old breaking her leg! She is fine now, but is proving to be a little tyrant:) I don't have brass anywhere else in the house, although I'm considering getting a brass/blow glass pendant for my dining room, which opens into the kitchen. I read some material online about how to mix hardware finishes successfully and the designer said something along the lines of keeping the mixture restricted to different eye levels. I think If I had bought a faucet in stainless steel finish AND if the brass in my pendant were more golden, I could have the hardware I like best. However, at the lower eye level I have already mixed two different finishes: stainless for the appliances and polished nickel for the faucets. i definitely do NOT want stainless for the cabinets hardware. I'm considering polished nickel (or brushed) for it. What do you think? do you think it would be too clinical and cold? The backsplash is a warm white as is the paint (feather dove by BM). The floor is wood which also brings some warmth... And finally, I will add two open wood shelves either in walnut stain or the same stain of the floor (provincial). The hardware for the shelves will be dark, similar to the pendant's. do you think nickel hardware would work in this context?