While LED certainly consumes less power it has other drawbacks. Many are not dimmable, but they may have pre-set power levels (hi, lo, off). Like CFL's the tend to put out whitish/blueish light. Even the warm light versions are not what you are used to with incandescent and the warm light LEDs put out less light. Bare LEDs are very bright as point sources, if you have dark granite you are going to get reflections in the countertops. If you have a sample of your granite I'd take it with you when you shop for lights. If you spend a ton on a nice multi-color granite and then wash it out with 'blue' LED lights you may not like the results. I'm struggling too between LED and Xenon. I like the light qualities of Xenon but want the efficiency of lED. I just think LED is not quite there yet. Maybe in another year or two the quality of light and price will be better. Meanwhile I need lights now. I may go with 12v Xenon for now and see if I can 'upgrade' in a few years to LED. I found the mini track lighting from Juno. It runs on 12v (or 24v) and they have both Xenon and LED fixtures which can be placed anywhere on the track. The problem is to convert from Xenon to LED may need a different dimmer or transformer. If the wiring is no different than I can handle that. Once the backsplash goes up I don't want to be changing the wiring! I'm still reseaching exactly what I'd need to install this and later upgrade to better LED fixtures. But this is looking promising and while I have the old backsplash torn out it makes wiring much easier. Other companies sell this type of lighting normally called linear lighting. The other advantage is that you can put fixtures anywhere along the track as long as you don't exceed the power or min spacing limits. Here is a link that might be useful: Juno Trac 12

You said that 2 of you often work in the kitchen at once...What do you each do? With the sink, dw, and stove so close and in the same aisle, you have potential conflict issues with doors and with people trying to use and stand/walk in the same areas. That's what side-by-side task areas with an open island, or, even better, the 2-sink plans, were trying to avoid. The open island, or island with prep sink would allow prepping/chopping at the island as you visit, rather than cleanup chores and dirty dishes gathering in front of your guests. Do you get dirty dish pileup, and other things sitting around your sink (soap, dish detergent, sponges and rags, water glasses)? We do, so having the main sink in the island will put those constantly on display to the other room..But maybe you're neater. I'm not trying to argue the main sink in the island, but trying to point out possible downsides for this particular plan...So you don't say "Why didn't anyone tell me?" If we point them out and you decide they're things you want to live with over other options, then you won't have regrets or 2nd guessing later. In any of my plans, the oven and micro could be stacked again...I'd just wanted to suggest the counter space, but there is room for them to go back up. If you did them next to the fridge (As in adjusted plans 2 or 3), I'd avoid the corner cave-like counter by bringing the rest of the uppers down to the counter for pantry space. With windows only under the upper cabs, you're only concerned about lighting on the counter and not more natural light for the room, in general, or the view out? I think I speak for more than just me when I say we'd still rather see your plan on graph paper, because I can't tell for certain what's going on with your cabinet sizes/configuration or aisle widths.

I'm having a hard time picking out and deciding on light/mirror placement for the master bath his/her vanities. The "his" side will have the mother of pearl wall soon, but the electrical needs to be done ASAP. I was going to do a bigger mirror on the her side but I like these mirrors (in pic) and think it covers less of the mother of pearl. My other option is pivot mirrors. What do I do with the lights to make it symmetrical? My thought was 2 light sconce on my side and single light on his side (see pics) OR make the mirror larger on my side and have the same lights everywhere...? We had these swing arm lights picked bu now I am getting cold feet as I think they might be too busy/tight on smaller "his" side vanity! Thoughts, ideas are appreciated!!!

Good plan for keeping to the budget. A couple comments: 1- The dishwasher may have to go next to the stove (not on the sink wall) because its door has to open all the way- 26 inches or more is typical. Check the opening measurements on the dishwasher you choose and allow a bit extra for how it fits under the counter. Of course before you finalize your cabinet plan, you could try scooting the stove over a few inches to see if you can get a dishwasher to open on the sink wall with enough clearance. 2- To retrain yourselves to go in the front door, use concrete parking stops or plain trash cans to make it impossible to drive all the way up to the kitchen door. It's the kind of structure discipline designed to control crowd movement in amusement parks.