@Joseph - good news! I spoke to Dani about the Axiom translucent white. I have a question about filling in the joints. There are some minor ragged edges where the fabricator cut the quartz countertop. This is where it meets the wall. Will the translucent white silicone hide these? I know it's not clear colored, but wondering if it will fill in and mask some minor cracks?

I am turning the entire back of the dining area into storage by effectively extending the kitchen but it will have more of a furniture look with glass doors on the upper middle cabinets with glass shelves and lighting. blondanonima - I do think you are right that somehow a flat counter seems forced into a kitchen area that wasn't meant to have one level expanse. I've only seen one unit in which it seemed as though the one level unit was meant to be in that space and that person took down all the soffits - and since those soffits contain HVAC ducts, that is a bridge too far for me :-). I am incorporating the soffits into the design of the kitchen which now has a standard hideous dropped ceiling with fluorescent lights above with a coved ceiling. The soffits will be reworked with lighting both up to accent the ceiling and ambient for good lighting. I will also have under counter lighting. dtrivino - I am pretty sure of my eclectic taste :-) and much as I would love a pink refrigerator from Big Chill, it's just one of many design elements I love but have to forego such as recycled glass concrete counters - again amazing but would like ridiculous. aziline The stove (along with other elements of my current kitchen hovel was difficult to replace as each element taken out would have required something else to be done - the stove would have required new cabinetry and the people who installed my old wood floor had installed the wood in front of part of it. There was so much dysfunction that I had to wait until it could be gutted because fixing or replacing one element was too difficult. I did replace the DW because those are all standard 24" openings. The stove served me very well in terms of function as I really honed my cooking and baking skills over the years and there really isn't anything that I didn't make - about the only thing it couldn't do was really high heat wok cooking but I don't think any non-professional stove without at least a wok burner has that capability. I'm attaching pictures of the proposed design of the new kitchen. As you can see the "stove/oven" wall will be one wall of cabinets. Because it extends into the dining area, I want it to have somewhat more of a look of furniture which is why I think I will go with inset doors with very discreet hinges. Cabinets will be frameless so that my drawers can maximize interior space. Those upper cabinets with inset doors would not be a big issue in terms of storage as I currently have framed boxes and just fit plates or whatever behind the frames somewhat so that the interior interior space is used. And the design of that thing over the sink is NOT the design I would opt for. It's just there as a place keeper. If you look at the picture of the short china cabinet, I have the same type of visual demarcation using an old stained glass window I rescued years ago. This is my floor plan This is floor plan WITHOUT the cabinet replacing the bar space This is my approved design for cabinets which shows the cabinets extending into the dining area. This is the approved cabinet design for the "sink" wall showing an elevated ledge and backsplash. I am having a paneled French door refrigerator installed - the KA or equivalent Jennair which is 72" instead of the standard 69". More storage interior and if I ever swap refrigerators, the shorter one would fit into the higher space anyway. Slightly off topic but the design now has the French Door Refrigerator abutting a wall which frames the entrance from the foyer of the apartment to the kitchen. I am concerned about it opening adequately. It requires 10" of clearance to open 125º and 3" to open 90º which would enable all drawers to be pulled out. I am thinking of having the wall cut down so that there is no obstruction at all for the refrigerator door as there would be a much wider opening and no wall. Structurally this is fine as my interior walls are non-load bearing and are just there to create enclosed areas. Again, that decorative thing is NOT the design at all but just put in as a place marker to indicate something will go there that is not a wall but still somewhat blocks the kitchen visually.

I think we are moving in the direction to do the island, perimeter counters and backs splash (all the way up the wall) in the same White Santorini Quartzite. Any feedback on this? Im sensitive to adding too many different materials into the mix. Is this too much of one thing?

Is the Taj Mahal installed in your kitchen yet? If so, if you post a photo of your kitchen, you will get the best help. We need to see it in your space with the white cabinet color, flooring, wall color, etc… If it isn’t installed yet, wait and then post the photos. You can bring home sample tiles to see in your lighting. When I was searching for my backsplash, I would get a sample tile at the store and think it was going to look great. But once I saw it at home in my lighting, it would look totally different.