I agree that it would look better to have less stuff behind a small sink, but I am willing to sacrifice that for function. It makes more sense to have the instant hot/filtered water where the prep takes place. We do plan to have a batch feed disposal on the big sink, but I am not sure that we will have enough space UNDER the prep sink to have a disposal there. The cabinet measures only 19" wide and we also need to fit the instant hot and RO filter units in there. In our area there is a code requirement of not more than one garbage disposal per kitchen. Don't ask me to explain the logic of this! We may try to sneak a second disposal in later, but the batch feed disposals are bigger than the non-batch feeds, unfortunately.

I agree about always using a cutting board for chopping, and as long as you have an area that is smooth and cool for working dough, whatever it is made of is just personal preference. However, I do have a question about cutting boards for the faithful users. Do you think there is any difference on the wear of your knives if you use a wooden board or a synthetic one? I have several of both, but my favorite wooden one (very old) split at a seam recently. I purchased good knives not long ago and would like them to last for many years. Do you think it matters which type someone uses, or is this also just a preference thing?

Hi, thanks everyone! I apologize for not explaining what would be cut on-site. The main rep, who was there for the templating, said they'd cut the faucet hole on site. The sink would be cut at the fabricator. The sink is an undermount sink, and the cabinet is a basic sink base (no tip out, just two doors). So there are no glides or anything under where the faucet hole will be cut, just the door hinges. Just to let you know, I had not asked them if they used a vacuum for the on-site drilling. Our GC recommended this countertop vendor because they usually work with them, and I had thought that would mean the cost/quality would be in line with the other subs that our GC had. Which is why I didn't do my research in GW as thoroughly for what to cover with the guy as I did for my cabinets. Now, I did ask them to get things tight to the walls, so I'm hoping they won't have to drill along the wall sides of the stone to make it fit. At templating, hey did not use a laser for like badgergal's team did, so in 20:20 hindsight, I don't know if that means they'll have to do some cutting along the back edge to get it right. breezygirl, thanks for the link to the other thread! And for the good luck wishes too. :-) I'll definitely be posting pictures. --Lee

Here are a some pics and my dilemma. Keep in mind this is my old fridge...new one comes today! Here is how we ended up with this: I have never had an enclosed fridge so didn't think about the peninsula dying into panels or how deep panels were going to be. I "semi" designed the new footprint and took it to Lowe's where the KD took over. (yes---I know......) Bought Schuler plywood with maple fronts cabinets. Although the kitchen designer had the model number of the fridge we were buying, which is a full-size, she designed the kitchen with 24" deep panels. She knew I was trying to have the look of an enclosed fridge. Being that I've never had an enclosed fridge, it was something I just didn't think of until the install started. Evidently she put a counter-depth in the design program because the elevation sketches she gave me showed an enclosed fridge. "Luckily" the panels actually came in wrong and were cut at only 23" for some strange reason and the installer caught it right away when looking over everything. Otherwise he probably would have installed them and I would be stuck. So called Lowe's to reorder the panels and somehow in all this it suddenly dawned on me that a full size fridge was going to be deeper and require deeper panels. I thought "no problem! Yay I can order them at 30!" By this time the KD had quit her job due to the pandemic. The other KD didn't know what was going on so we called in the Schuler rep. She was the one who immediately told me that those 30" panels would be sticking out in front of the peninsula. She asked if we could move the peninsula forward since the other side is an overhang for seating, but we couldn't since it would bottleneck the entrance into the kitchen down to under 36" and getting rid of an existing bottleneck was one of the reasons for the re-design to start with. So we had a dilemma. We cannot go down to a counter depth fridge which was the other option. What I decided was to split the difference and order 27" refrigerator panels. The fridge without doors is 29.5" so I will have about 3" of the side of the fridge sticking out which I don't like, but while I want my kitchen to look beautiful, I value the functionality too. The old fridge that you see in the pic sticks out a total of 32" The new fridge will stick out 34 with doors but without handles (4.5" of that is doors that would stick out anyway) Here's the really complicated part....we will be installing decorative panels on the end of the fridge as we have them on all the cabinets. This is how you enter the kitchen and I don't want that big blank space there next to the peninsula. The panels should be installed with just 1/4" reveal. I posted a photo below of how the panels look that are already installed on the side of the pantry that adjoins to a 17" high window seat. Luckily those face the opposite way from the fridge panels so you will never see both at the same time. I also posted photos of us holding up panels on the side of the fridge (they are NOT the right size panels...we have to order those still---we just used these to look at the right edge as to how wide to make the panels.) Also keep in mind we can remove the quartz backsplash piece if that would look better. That was not originally planned...the panels were going to sit directly on top of the countertop. So do we order the panels with just the 1/4" reveal to match the panels in the rest of the kitchen? Or, as the Schuler rep recommended, order the panels so they are the same width with the countertop, leaving about 1 3/4" reveal on the right side, but then your eye follows the countertop all the way up. I asked the countertop templater guy if I should just lengthen the overhang on the kitchen side of the peninsula to 2.5" to bring it out to within 1/4" of the fridge panel but he said no....I'm now thinking I should have insisted on it. Especially since we have full overlay cabinets that already make the overlay look very small since the 1.5" planned overhang is measured from the box, not the front of the drawers. Note how small the overhang looks to the drawers. And then of course, they had templated for a 1.5" overhang and I only got 1.25" UGH! Every quarter inch there would have made the reveal on the side of the fridge less. Suggestions appreciated! I'm hoping that I will eventually make peace in my mind with this issue and won't notice it but it is driving me crazy right now. I think of all the things that screwed up just because of this one error by the KD that I didn't catch and I am beating myself up for it!