Another advantage to the V cut out is that it is significantly easier to remove heavy items. The rotated shelf protrudes OUTSIDE the cabinet and lifting heavy items up through that clearance is much easier, especially with items on the bottom shelf. i just measured. The rotated shelf protrudes nearly six inches beyond the inside corner of the cabinet top. A big help when lifting a food processor. A susan built for a single door, (D shaped) will also protrude when rotated, but much less. Suggestion: Take some newspapers, tape them together to make large enough sheets, and make mock-ups of the shelf space you can have. Then compare what you gain or lose with the two kinds of doors. If your cabinet maker will custom build the susans, you can usually make them significantly larger than the ready-made ones which sometimes leave way too much dead space. You don't need more than an inch between the edge of the susan and the cabinet walls.

rockybird, I would love to hear what your architect says. I thought $2K was really high too. We went to IKEA to see if we could customize Pax doors this weekend and I think it's possible, but it was so crowded, couldn't find a sales associate that could help us and we were too hungry to deal with it. So we left. I usually can't deal with IKEA unless it's on a random Tuesday morning and no one is there. justgotabeme, that site is awesome! I've bookmarked that for our exterior doors, when we change out. I love some of their designs! We are going back and forth over the doors and the current plan is just to get plan birch panel doors (like the above photo ineffablespace posted), drop a similar header and just call it a day. That would run us about half of the price of those glass IKEA-esque doors, including labor/installation. And it would provide some warmth and wood tones in an otherwise very white hallway. The ventilation will be in the header. Too many decisions, too many decisions. I still need to start my Christmas shopping!! :)

Teal is a very beautiful 50s color, and it's also very current. I am a native Texan, and I am here to tell you that orange looks very very hot in the summer LOL. Teal would lower the temperature a bit.

Thank you! It was a heck of a find and a long few months trying to close, but I’m in love already!! Yes, all of the brown trim will be black as well as all the new door and window trim. The driveway and exterior in general is going to be a beast to tackle. We are built into the side of a small mountain so it’s steep and limited as it is. Then of course we find the septic tank is buried right next to it, so we don’t have a whole lot of wiggle room. I’ll post my “design reference” dropbox link as well so you can get an idea of the property. It’s on over 4 acres but it’s BIG and sits right at the front of the property, so that’s really limited some things.