Slab doors are veneered for grain match, and while they are durable enough for home use, I wouldn't trust them to stand up to careless renters. Ditto with paint. I love painted cabinets and plan to buy them for my kitchen, but paint can chip, stain cannot, and is therefore more durable in the long run. To sum up, my recommendation would be for stained maple with a traditional Shaker door style in a home that might be rented out. It should not be difficult to pick the door stain to compliment your floor stain - if you want help just post some images. To lighten things up choose a white granite and bs tile, and a light colored paint.

Thanks for the feedback. Dianalo, I didn't say that but that is what we were thinking. The Cache series has long decor's that we would start with along the perimiter and build up from their with the subways. We are looking at the sylvan accent strip. (And the maker is American Olean for the Cache. cannotwait - the island granite is Delicatus and the perimeter granite is Kodiak Brown in a suede finish. We also used that on the window sill. Our other dilema is where to end the tile at the window - lined up with the glass cabinets, at the edge of the window box, or wrapped into the window box. Any suggestions? Thanks so much!

Dear Busymom03, You’re very focused on Aesthetics and that’s important. But Great Kitchen Design includes both the aesthetic component, and the functional component. Your kitchen’s purpose is to provide food and beverage service for your home. Whether you cook or not doesn’t mean your kitchen shouldn’t. Your kitchen layout should produce a kitchen that is beautiful, beautifully efficient, and for the long haul. Unless you’re planning on re doing this kitchen in 8 to 12 years when your appliances start to fail? Aesthetically the large massing (pantry, Ovens, Ref/F) has become very popular among designers and the Kitchen Remodeling Industry is all about what’s trendy. Granted “It Looks Cool” but it’s performance aesthetically and functional are not the best option for you. When this Look Fades your kitchen’s aesthetic value will plummet to zero, because your kitchen will become dated (so 2010-2020) just like the 60’s, 70’s, 80s’, 90’s, etc. did and this trend will continue (unfortunitly for consumers). Be careful, use clasical elemets that are not treny and won't fall out of fashion, or you’ll end up where you started, with a kitchen that’s dated and dysfunctional and you'll want to replace. Functionally, I don’t know if you realize this but you have many functional problems built into this kitchen layout. Both your ovens and your refrigerator are in gathering space. That’s two of your four major appliances. The Ref/F you will be in and out of constantly. If there is seating on the island and it’s occupied getting into and out of your Ref/F may be more work than you’d like it to be. When you entertain your family and guests will be standing in front of your ovens and ref/f and you won’t easily be able to get into them. Which will make entertaining your own personal kitchen nightmare. There is no counter top to the left or right of the ovens with island seats occupied you won’t be able to turn and use the island top, and the cabinet adjacent to the range is about 21” wide when you’ll need 27” to 30” to stage what’s going into and coming out of your ovens. Also that counter may be occupied when using your range top. There is no counter to the left of your Ref door, and to use the counter to the right you’ll have to contend with Island seating while you have to back up after you take the items you need (just what you can carry) back up and kick the Ref door shut to get to that counter. Doing something simple like making a sandwich without counter top will be a lot more work and take more time. To use the island or counter to the right of the range top you’ll have the same problems as you have with your oven(s). I don’t think your intention is to live like this making your day to day life much more difficult than it has to be. Your range top (range) area seems to be fine. I don’t think you have large enough wall cabinets to hold all your dishes and glasses on your clean up wall. Unless you have dishes stored in drawers somewhere hopefully close to your sink. Overall design…not a fan of wall papering a kitchen with cabinetry (even though it’s in my best interest if I’m selling cabinetry). When the Wow New wears off it’s boring to look and see cabinetry everywhere. Closet pantries break up the monotony of cabinetry everywhere, give you an opportunity to bring in color, are less expensive to build. And you can store items floor to ceiling making them much more flexible than pantries built in cabinetry. How Does You Kitchen Work? “A Place For Everything & Everything In Its Place” Everyone should do this exercise to make certain their kitchen works. Make a Kitchen Item Inventory Checklist (or download ours) fill it in. Now with your interior elevations and layout handy, locate everything you own. By writing them on your plan and interior elevations, Following These Rules… There are 5 Basic Tasks every residential kitchen performs. Storage, Preparation, Cooking/Baking, Providing Service, & Clean Up. The Appliance Dictates the Task and its Location, The Task Dictates the Kitchen Items Required to perform the Task, The Kitchen Items Dictate the Cabinetry Configuration and Accessories best suited to Store & Retrieve those Items Efficiently. You’ll want to store the kitchen items you’ll use most as close to the appliance you’ use them at as possible. To increase efficiency, and if you do a good job your kitchen will work intuitively. As A Bonus: No More Slave To Your Kitchen because you’re the only one that knows where everything is, because you adapted to the kitchen you inherited when you moved in. Do this excercise and you will not have to adapt to another kitchen, or realize your mistakes after your kitchen is done. SIMPLE. Here is a form for you to use (it’s what we use) to tell how well your kitchen performs and if you have all of your bases covered. http://www.luxurykitcheninteriordesign.com/kitchen-design-monthly-17/ Also, another tool our Kitchen Design Functionality Test will help you with determining how efficiently your arrangement of appliances, cabinetry, and kitchen items works. And if not working well, in taking the test, you’ll discover how to improve its performance. http://www.luxurykitcheninteriordesign.com/kitchen-design-functionality-test-5/ Demand Better Performance Joe Brandao Kitchen Performance Consultant

Have you looked at Ikea for countertops?