slightly off topic, but still connected with ergonomics... 1) I am unhappy with "farm" sinks that have a cold front panel to lean into when doing dishes or washing veggies. I find myself holding back, which makes the lean forward an even bigger back-killer, plus I'm not relaxed because I'm worried about touching that cold sink front. I decided to put in a regular sink, not a self-front-panel one. 2) I have a popup camper trailer with built-in countertops of a sort, but they are very low, as low as the camper bottom section. In order to work in it, I bought two folding bed trays, the kind for breakfast in bed. They were in a department store, cheap but useful. I elevate the dishpan, the cutting surface, whatever. Very handy and it might help someone with similar issues in a house kitchen. 3) I read somewhere that the new deeper sink trend is a response to people's desire to camouflage dirty dishes in an open-architecture kitchen. If you are embarrassed to have a working kitchen, build a wall between it and your table. Don't compromise your back!

I like partial overlay. In my last home, I had partial overlay in my kitchen, living room built-ins and office cabinetry. They were all custom cabinets. The house was a tiny (880 s.f.) 1960's box near the beach. There wasn't much dictating style for the neighborhood (we had a flat roof and our neighbors were in an 1800's Victorian), so we just did what we wanted. In my current home, we have inset cabinets in the kitchen, which I love, but I think if we didn't have a budget for the inset I would have gone with partial overlay again. I just like the look. I think the above examples are beautiful. Here are a few examples from my previous home of partial overlay (sorry, only one kitchen example). This was our living room. We installed the fireplace and surrounding cabinets which were partial overlay. This was a Tuff Shed that we turned into a detached office. Our lot size was only 2200 s.f. so space was tight! The previous owners had installed the shed, but when I was pregnant with our daughter, we turned the shed into our office with custom partial overlay cabinets. Here is the partial overlay kitchen cabinetry (and laundry room beyond) that was installed by the previous owner.

There are gorgeous kitchens (Shaker) that are quite "plain," and there are also lovely kitchens that have more decorative elements. Also there were certain period design conventions --combinations of things that went together. Most recently, there was a great blog by Willow Decor identifying the "elements" of a Christopher Peacock kitchen -- which seems to have evolved as a "period" design in its own right (though it uses conventions from many other periods). In addition to the Willow Decor blog -- great tutorial --You might want to check out the kitchens that are organized by style on the Crown Point website. It's also a good tutorial. If you look at the Shaker kitchens you'll see that they're inset with hinges showing, but usually no bead or trim. They're flat panel and usually stained wood. The Victorian kitchens tended to have more design detail -- beaded inset, with a curved design on the toekick, and usually some glass in the cabinets. There are both painted and stained (and mixed). Both the Shaker and the Victorian kitchens are wonderful. It's not necessary, or course, to adhere strictly to any of these combinations of design elements that make up a period look. Third, the book "The New Bungalow Kitchen" does a good job of pointing out elements that work together. If you study all the photos you will start to see that certain elements look nice together. And it will help you figure out what you like.

Our lighting is bad (at some point we will put in a few more recessed lights) so it's hard to see our coloring. Pick your cabinets first, get a sample (i.e. tiny size drawer door) and then countertop shop. We picked Silesstone and I ran to the Silesstone installer (they don't sell directly) who gave me the 12x12 tile and when I got home I hated it. So, that began our great granite search. Ours has whites, off whites, and lots of other browns and some black (not in the original plan to have black). In the initial stages, my husband wanted granite and I wanted Silesstone so I won but in the end, he did as I hated my first choice (which would have looked nice too). And, I never would have guessed I'd pick an granite with movement, but we have a small kitchen so we figured we'd go for it. In person it looks really nice - it would look nicer if we ever finished it. Oh, we still haven't cleaned the grooves well so you can see it doesn't show that much but if you look up close you can see some dust. I tease my husband with that and the windows - I only design, buy and install, I don't clean.