Regarding earlier posts, I can't do 42" or even 39" cabinets really. I have 58.5" to work with. I don't think 1.5" of crown would look very good. I'm open to other opinions but I think 4.5" would fit the house much better and look much better proportion. I want to go as tall as possible, but I think 36" would look best in this case. 1) It sounds like most are against L-shape if not doing cabinets on other side of vent hood. I do have a preference there too but wife doesn't so it is helpful to hear others' thoughts so we cna make a decision. Neither of us feels super strongly, but there seems to be a consensus here. 2-3) We wouldn't do a light rail. I think ours are called full overlay, but I thought even with full overlay there is often a little bit of cabinet showing at the bottom of the uppers? But now that you question it, you may be right. I was looking at this example: Which is not full overlay, so that may have been where I was wrong. If we DID do lighting and there wasn't space under the cabinet, I wouldn't add a light rail, but would add space under the cabinet and a flush light rail and extend the doors past the flush light rail so it would look full overlay and you would open the doors but the shelf wouldn't start until a little higher up. I've seen this quite a bit here and it looks good. So for us the questions are still 1) L-shape? and 2) under-cab lighting? We also would like to do white subway tile instead of our 4" backsplash but that's another expense we may save for later (or never). This post was edited by adam211 on Wed, Sep 3, 14 at 12:40

As Livia mentioned, having cabinets go all the way to the ceiling is not recommended. Ceiling heights are rarely the same throughout the room and cabinets to the ceiling will highlight these issues - if they can even fit in all places! Instead, use a minimum of 2-piece molding with one piece "filler" (flat panel - no detail) that can be cut to fit and a piece for the top that is the same all around. We used 3-piece: . . The middle piece (Stock-S) is the "filler". Our ceiling height varied by an inch or so throughout the Kitchen. To handle this: Three pieces: -- Crown - top piece -- Stock-S - filler piece in the middle -- SoffitA - bottom piece The bottom piece ("SoffitA") was installed on top of the cabinets. It's the same size all over. The top piece ("Crown") was installed on top of the filler piece ("Stock-S") and is the same size all over. The middle filler piece ("Stock-S") was installed b/w the Crown & SoffitA. However, the height of the piece varies. It was cut to fit b/w the Crown and SoffitA to account for the varied ceiling height. The same can be done with two pieces - the equivalent of the "Crown" and "Stock-S" pieces. Doing this makes it look like the Kitchen's ceiling height is the same all over and makes the cabinets look customized for your space.

I wouldn't go to 42 in..with 8 ft ceiling. The max height wall cabinet I would think of is 33 in high....then when you get to your molding decisions you have a bit more wiggle room and you can maintain a decent backsplash height. typical backsplash height is 18 inches..between 15 to 18 in backsplash is fine. Above sinks people place a shorter cabinet for more clearance while working. Backsplashes can be as short as 14 inches. If you have various runs in the kitchen and you want a much taller cabinet-39 or 42 inches for extra storage I would pick a spot to the side or end or different run rather than main work triangle zones. The top shelves on extra tall cabinets are too high to be handy in day to day use. Pick a special spot for this extra high cabinet....stick to 30-33 in high cabinet for the most part, with 8 foot ceilings. In your project, storage as a whole would be addressed with your configuration/entire plan....it should be a goal from the start to improve storage with efficient types of cabinets/inserts, etc. A concern is that you feel a need to raise the height so much because storage may be lacking...in final stages of your plan. Has your plan been reviewed here or anywhere multiple times/revisions??

Demolition of the existing floor, $1-3 a square, depending on how easy it comes up. By the time you buy the good vinyl plank, you’re at $4-$6 a square and up. Floor prep to get it flat enough for the vinyl will cost you right at $1-$2 a square. Installation labor $2-$4 a square. Yeah, $10 a square might not be enough. 6K might get you quartz counters, but the national average expenditure for cabinets in a mid grade remodel is 20-25K. Sure, you can fonstock box store and laminate tops for that, no problem. You’ve got electrical, plumbing, and HVAC in those walls. You’ll need that rerouted in addition to any structural components and drywall repair. And the permits and inspections that you can’t do this without. Even if you choose budget components, and DIY all of the labor other than the structural and counters, you’re still looking at 30K to start. http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2018/