The good news is that the kitchen designer is going to see about getting a beadboard panel to cover the whole cabinet side. We discussed putting on a chamford edge on the front side of the panel. To make sure it fits, she says that she'll order it slightly longer than required and then have someone scribe it in. We are hopeful that the new "someone" doing the scribing will be more skilled than the other people. Crossing fingers. Why did the 6 inch filler become necessary? Without guessing, I only know what I have been told: This cabinet and the cabinet to the right were ordered as a perimeter pair, attached to each other. My wall is not a straight wall, however. The wall sinks backwards 6 inches. So, the cabinets were placed 6 inches from the wall leaving a 6 inch gap behind both the loveseat and the left cabinet. A small wall (unplanned and unexpected, at least by me) about 21 inches high was built so that there would be something behind the loveseat and the other cabinet. There was still a gap. I was assured it would be taken care of. Finally, while the tile people were putting the tile down, the mismatched piece of 6 inch wide filler was placed and the tiling was completed in that spot very quickly. The tile job was another nightmare I won't recount here. So, that is how it happened. Why it doesn't match? I am told that it is a different batch of my paint finish and each batch can vary. Thankfully, this problem is hopefully going to be solved. I am really hopeful that everything goes as planned and the side of this cabinet is made to be presentable. Here are other pics of the cabinet area being discussed:

I have Maple veneer frameless Brookhaven cabinets in the kitchen. We went with slab fronted on some cabs and all the drawers, and glass fronted with reeded on the other cabinets. The Woodmode cabs were gorgeous. The edges are different than the Brookhaven. The Woodmode has a more rounded, finished looking edge. Also, if you want the grain to be all in the same direction, you have to go Woodmode. With our Brookhaven cabs, the maple grains on the doors are verticale and the drawers are horizontal. The sales person made that distinction clear to us. I realllly wanted them all in the same direction but the Woodmode costs a LOT more. We didn't get a quote on the Woodmode, though, cause we just knew we couldn't afford them and they weren't necessary for us. FWIT, we love the Brookhaven cabinets! We've had them in for exactly a year now. The light stain is even and a very nice shade, exactly what we had hoped for. The veneer doesn't look "fake" at all and is very soft to the touch. And it never bothers me that the grains don't don't go in the same direction from cabs to drawers. They are lovely cabinets and we'd get them again.

Our Brookhaven kitchen isn't finished yet but so far I love what I see. We chose a traditional look but did go frameless to maximize storage space. I had an initial discomfort with the cabinet face material that is only seen when the cabinets are opened. It is not an exact match for the color of my stained/glazed cherry wood. (Bookshelves and glass-fronted cabinet do exactly match though. Not sure if this is standard or because of the way my contractor placed the order.) I don't notice it anymore though. We did use the Brookhaven hardware. I don't think we chose the absolute highest priced stuff but I did learn that the hardware styles change regularly and some stuff gets discontinued. We got a couple of extra pieces our oil-rubbed bronze hardware and are using them on some built-in cabinets in our neighboring mudroom. jayne

Thank you. I'm in a HCOL area, so the cost is in line with the house value. To me they just felt and looked like what cabinets used to feel/look like years ago. I used to live in the northeast so I knew the good brands from that area, but most of them are not available here in CA. I should get a plan and elevations today and final pricing. Wood-mode is having a promotion ending 9/30 that gets you upgraded finishes, etc at no additional charge. Rita, as I mentioned I didn't find the brands I was used to and as far as what I saw here in CA, the other brands did not compare to WM, the boxes were similar specs, but the doors and the finishes looked so much nicer with WM. There are lots of small "custom" cabinet shops here in LA and they make decent products, but due to the CA regulations/bans on many paint/stain/varnish components they can't achieve the durability of the finishes from an out of state manufacturer.