Is it possible to pick a white for cabinets and trim without knowing your wall color yet?! My countertops are Caesarstone Nougat and my appliances are white! Yes. The countertops and appliances are major components in the overall "envelope" of the space you're creating. Use those as the benchmarks for choosing a color of white for the cabinets and trim throughout the whole house. To make it easier, just use the same color on the cabinets and trim. I'd use the countertops for the #1 component to determine which color of white is the right one. Appliances second most important. Becuase odds are the appliances will be replaced way before the countertops. The cabinet color/countertop color relationship is more important and more permanent. If you have a well-color-coordinated envelope of major/permanent elements, it will be a harmonious foundation to build on and it will also inform your furniture and decor choices going forward.

Sounds like a better quality build with the larger home. Cheaper builds will not have individual room returns. By negating the return in the room it is much harder to provide that room with 'better' comfort. In a room that has no return ( a place for air to leave the room) will force air out thru cracks and crevices. The room gets blown up like a balloon with the door closed. Remember air takes the path of least resistance. This probably won't seem that detrimental to you as the consequences vary. It falls under the premise of building science and what occurs to building pressure under certain conditions when the HVAC system is running. In some cases the home without the return ducting to each room can undergo areas of the home under negative air pressure. The premise is that air added to a room takes up space that is occupied by air already there, that air has to go somewhere. Hard to comprehend, because this is invisible to the human eye. If the home without the air return to each individual room just left the door open to the room in question there is no problem that way because air has a place to escape the room. Other options are what is called 'jumper ducts' or 'poor man's return' -- these are just merely a duct (typically over head) with a grill attached, no filter as the air escapes the room to an area outside the room to another duct with grill over it -- usually these are joined by other jumper ducts led to the area near a filtered return. The filtered return has a draw to it when the HVAC system turns on, by having the jumper duct / poor man's return ducting near by this relieves the air pressure of the HVAC system when the system turns on. It's all about reducing 'pressure' and creating a more comfortable home. This pressure is invisible. A home with a single return - depending on the size of the system can have an effect like that of a wind tunnel. Many times these single filter returns are placed down a hall way. Standing there with the system on you can feel the rush of air being pulled back. That is what I mean by 'pressure'. Pressure causes less comfort, more wear and tear, higher electric bills. These are all gradual things. Over time they all add up. If you're in a more moderate climate not so cold and not so hot doing anything about it may not prove to be that big of a deal.

Go to my comments on another thread : ) I'm lighting exhausted lol. You need to provide your ceiling height, and the dining table dimensions, before anyone can advise. Check it out ........you'll need a bit of scrolling but will help you. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6036423/recommendations-on-kitchen-backsplash-w-tajal-mahal-quartzite-counter#26320988

I've seen plenty of this over years of growing Japanese and Korean lilacs. The general agreement among the people I've talked to is that it's freeze damage occurring sometime during the late fall to early spring. An opportunistic canker may have increased the severity of the injury as well. The wound doesn't present itself until the healthy part of the trunk has grown and the bark in the damaged area has dried out and started to curl back and/or slough off. So you usually won't notice it until mid-summer or later. Worth noting, I have only seen this so far on lilac trees planted in heavier soils. This could suggest that the afflicted trees have been possibly over-saturated heading into winter. From what I have witnessed, your tree should heal over as the top looks quite healthy despite the wound. It's basically wait-and-see now. The trees I've seen succumb to rot from this usually weren't very vigorous or healthy to begin with. This sort of injury also happens frequently on Norway maple and less commonly on sugar maple here in zone 4 Minnesota.