I'm not sure which line we have, but our kitchen cabinets are almost 4 years old and we've had no issues. There are two places with some tiny chips in the paint, but that's due to our carelessness not any kind of defect. (They provided touch up paint I just haven't take the time to use it.) Everything still looks good and feels very solid. That includes the large lower drawer where we store our cookware. We even have some cast iron in there and the drawer isn't sagging and opens/closes smoothly. I know 4 years isn't that old, but I've been very pleased so far.

So I read this about the 10-20% suggestion -- "The suggested numbers will be skewed at both the low end and the high end. It's really hard to do anything less than a 15K kitchen in a 50K house, as even rental grade components still cost a certain amount. It's the same with the upper end homes in areas where the market hasn't crashed too badly. When you live in a 1950's 1400 square foot box close inside the beltway in DC, you're not likely to spend 100K on a kitchen, even if your home is valued at that 1M. Most of the value is in the land, not the home." I was thinking "holy moly" until I read the qualifier -- five bedroom house in Arlington way inside the beltway (closer to 4k feet than 1.5) and we never ever pondered 100-200k when we were updating our kitchen. With respect to cabinets, we went the other way when updating (not remodeling -- and not gutting and rebuilding) our kitchen. When we bought the house a little over 13 years ago, it had a newly updated kitchen. White Shrock cabinets -- no solid wood was harmed in their construction. We never loved them, but we never hated them either. They're still fine. Heavy use from a family of five (well, 5 for the past 9 years) and they're still fine. Some little issues here and there, but they are not falling apart or listing or coming off the walls. When updating the kitchen early this year we started with the cooking facilities -- a 36" range and proper hood, with adequate ventilation. Added a new floor, because it really was time, a new matching pantry (which does have some solid wood inside), and small things, such as pot racks. We elected not to replace the cabinets because the old ones basically still work for us and the basic white looks fine to us -- not beautiful or lovely or awesome, but fine. Lovely cabinets are lovely, but it's a big kitchen, and the extra 30k or more we might have spent on substantially nicer cabinets was money we chose to keep. Similarly, we kept our granite counters -- not our favorite pattern, but a decent neutral tone, decent counter space, and they've held up just dandy to everything -- hot pans, you name it. I've nothing at all against the up-market cabinet suggestions. Paying for quality materials and workmanship absolutely makes sense if it's in-budget and appreciated. I'm just adding the perspective of somebody who has found a more budget oriented option to hold up fine. For me, the kitchen is about cooking. Storage is necessary, but I start with the cooking equipment -- range or top plus oven(s), ventilation, and prep space. For me -- just my perspective -- the boxes come somewhere down towards last. For free, I'd swap them in a heartbeat, but it's not free.

I can't imagine that putting a door to the DR would be very expensive--it's a DIY project if ANYONE in the family could do it in a weekend. The two houses I've dealt with that had pass thrus to the DR drove me nuts. It would be so much nicer to have a door there! That, and having a 1/2 bath would be absolutely top priorities for me, but the 1/2 bath could add more cost than she might be able to pay for. If you use a small corner sink, the pocket door will be fine. Since she wants electric, I would STRONGLY encourage her to look at the positives of induction, and get a range with an induction top. It is SO much better than regular electric--easier to clean, much safer, absolute and immediate control of temperature, boils water faster, doesn't heat up kitchen, it's energy efficient, etc. My induction cooktop is by far our favorite feature of our kitchen! Even though it cost more than we'd planned on, it was definitely worth it. It's not that difficult to learn how to use. (I'm only a few years younger than she is, and I don't usually like learning how to use new stuff, but this was easy.) Of course, that might mean new pans, but maybe the family could go together for a present of one of the more inexpensive sets that works with induction. Also, you may have the extra expense of running electrical to accommodate the induction, but from a safety standpoint alone, it might be worth it to have the induction. It seems like plan #8 might work best, especially if you switch the double sink with the prep sink. That way, your mother could also use the prep sink (make it a large one) to work with her plants easily, since it would be right by the back door. Also, this end of the kitchen could have her tea materials, beverage cups and glasses for the rest of the family, the MW, toaster oven, and she'd have the large window view and lots of natural light to do these pleasant daily tasks. The double sink under the smaller window would put it, the DW, and the dishes closer to the DR. If she wants more storage, I'd get rid of the curved upper shelves (in one of your plans) by the smaller window, and add 3-6" to each upper cabinet, unless she has lots of knick-knacks that she wants to reach up and dust as she gets older. Obviously, an island would give her more storage than a table. If you make the island 36" w x 48" l, you could have two 24" wide cabinets opposite the range, and a 12" deep "table" overhang on the dog dish side. Anne

I don't think I want to swap the kitchen and nook. Mama goose - that first pic is pretty much what I was thinking. As for the pinch point in the kitchen, I do not want to shorten the island at all. What do you think about moving the nook wall back into the master a bit so it would be flush with the kitchen cabinets? Then we could move the island closer to the cabinets (looks like he has way too much room there anyway) and have a better flow around the eating side of the island. I have thought about turning the island or making it more of an L, but I don't think I want to do either. As for the overhang, I think he just drew it funny. I am actually having the cabinet maker do the kitchen design and I'm not sure my builder has the island placement or overhang drawn correctly. There will be just one row of cabinets and I know we discussed overhang measurement, especially if we decide to do granite on the island.