Your kitchen designer sounds like a person who does not see all roads leading to home meaning there are many different ways to achieve the same goal... Most semi custom cabinet companies that are limited to be more Henry Ford like in production do not offer the 12" high cabinets in each 3" width from 9" to 36" or wider. They tend to offer them for the sizes used over the appliances which use them the most. So 30, 33, and 36" would be commonly needed. Your kitchen plan normally has a lot of other widths used that are not those sizes. The companies that have the stacked cabinets pre made are generally 42" or higher. I have 5 cabinets lines I offer. 3 of the 5 do not have stacked cabinets in the book.... One of the 3 has 12" high cabinets starting 12" wide but does not have a corner cabinet less then 30" high.... They happen to offer custom cabinets on a quote by quote basis which is why I like them. But you should see my point... Your kitchen designer should have explained better the reason why they did not offer you what you were looking for. It is either they feel a 27" under a 12" with a 3" crown over that is not a good use of space or.... they do not have a company they can do it at all or for the price they are planning to present to you.... That discussion would have been much more meaning full.... I can for example use a stacked cabinet that is 42" having 2 open compartments, with Showplace and shrink it 3" if you want the molding as most would... I can also with them as was suggested above just build the door with a glass panel in the top section of it. They are # 4 out of my 5 as 5 being the highest price in general.... 18" is the general rule of thumb for recommended clearance to the countertop. 15" is considered as low as you should go and 21" is pushing the upper side of reasonability for most projects... The codes as noted above are concerned with being able to set fire to combustible wood cabinets having appliances that generate heat under them... You should be able to do what you are looking for. You just have to decide what look you like, crown or no crown, and find who can offer it to you at a price you can afford...

I think it might be good to wait until you have more of your things together -- or at least until you can gather samples of the materials, a photo where you color in the not yet complete details and can try to see everything together. I had to print a small photo of a light fixture, cut it out and tape it onto a drawing of our elevation that I had colored to reflect our finish choices for DH to "see" it. You do what you have to, but if lighting is part of the jewelry, you have to know what the outfit is to get it right. I looked at Potter Barn because I couldn't' remember if I had seen any wood fixtures in their catalog. I didn't find wood, but I did find some others that would work -- both chandy and pendant styles. They have some pendants in the $100 range that would work. The plain glass type with the Edison bulb has other maker options too -- we bought one for a dormer that was closer to $100 at a local lighting shop. HD and Lowe's each have one or two in the stores near us too. There are a mind-numbing number of choices out there. Take your time, keep a record of what you think you like and where you saw it and come back to them. Some will likely fall by the wayside as things that don't hold your interest over time, and others may fade as the rest of the kitchen comes together, but then you will have what's left to focus on and any of those are likely to be good choices. If the price range is still not right, at least you have the image of what you want it to look like and can stay focused on finding something similar.

I also like your 11/17 plan best, Mabel, although I haven't fallen in love with anything yet. You have a good size space, but because of the doorways all layouts have the kitchen scrunched up a bit. It'd be nice to unscrunch it somehow. Certainly no or minimal upper cabinets will help. In any case, I feel pretty sure that I would choose to keep the workspace opened up to the sitting room and breakfast nook so we could just get up and stroll into the kitchen and back. Regarding storage, I did my kitchen without uppers and would do it all over again. FWIW, it seems to me your initial layouts have pretty decent storage space, especially with the pantry there, and a basement or other closet for whatever only gets pulled out 2 or 3 times a year. Just musing. It sounds as if you like your pantry, but, if it's not a shed with a low ceiling, have you considered running the counter right on back into that space, gaining another more than 3 feet for...ovens, refrigerator...? That would definitely unscrunch that side of the room as it would simply keep going back there. I like that most of that corner would still not be on sight. A little mystery is good. Shallow storage could cover the opposite pantry wall. I have had 12" deep wall storage in 2 houses now and really like it. From this side of the screen, I'm liking having the refrigerator in the pantry more and more as I think about it. :). It would create a good work flow clockwise down the counter, with the island no longer a barrier. A negative, of course, would be having it that far from the dining room, but the breakfast area would have a straight line to it without crossing the stove area. Visually, getting the "elephant" out of the room would also be a very nice plus, furthering the open feeling of no uppers. That corner by the sitting room doorway could instead by occupied by a charming built in cabinet, bookcase, antique chest, extra dining chair... The ovens, of course, could go there, with the island to set on. Have you considered setting an extra oven into the island, itself, though, or? My one oven is set under the counter to the left of my stovetop, so the counter above is its landing spot. (Also, this isn't Maine. It's Georgia, and never having to work in front of it is a very good thing.) From another messy cook, talking about a sink on view in a peninsula or wherever, our sink was going just to the right of the main view line down the house. So I chose a single bowl sink 29" long and 9-1/2" deep after verifying that everything from a normal meal can disappear right into it, pots and pans included, with room to spare.

I have a first floor guest room that is not quite 9x12. It holds two twin beds, with a dressing table between them, under a window, that doubles as night stands with lights for the beds. There is also a tall chest on one wall, and a very small victorian rocker at the foot of one of the beds (must be moved in order to open one of the two closets in this room. It's just fine as a guest room, but would be very small if two children were sharing it. It would work fine for one child with only 1 twin bed. There are two window in this room, One could put a double bed in with one side against the wall, but it would be tight. Yes, these things are very relative in regard to location of the house. When I watch Escape to the Country on YouTube, I'm always astounded when the potential buyers look at a room that barely holds a double bed, with the ceiling sloping on both sides, and immediately declare that it is a "nice sized room"! We're spoilt in the US and expect most rooms to hold a queen or king size bed with plenty of room on both sides for tables, and no ducking for ceiling slopes!