The top of the pantry cabinet should be at the same height as the top of your wall cabinets. The pantry cabinet will have legs underneath like the base cabinets, but both hang from rails. With 8' ceilings you will have only approximately 1.5 inches between the top of cabinets and the ceiling. That depends on the ceiling being perfect everywhere and also on the space you choose between bottom of wall cabinets and countertops. Yes, base cabinets are 30", but the legs (4.5") and countertop (1.5") will bring it to 36". It is really important that the installer does the math of where the railings should be before anything is installed. The railing for the pantry cabinet will be at the same height as the wall cabinets. Read this to figure out the measurements: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/pdf/buying_guides_fy15/sektion/SEKTION-Installation-guide-2015.pdf

The Kohler Whitehaven comes in a short apron and tall apron size - one of them would probably fit. The apron on the Whitehaven is self facing so your contractor does not need to make the perfect cut required of most farm sinks. It is also made of durable cast iron. I have one and love it. The Kohler Vault is stainless steel and also comes in a short apron and long apron style. Both come single bowl or uneven divide. I have the 36" Whitehaven in my 36" sink base cabinet. The sink is a bit under 36". It does come smaller. The Ikea Domsjo apron front sink does not have as tall an apron as most farm sinks - why you should check out the shorter apron styles in case your cabinet doors are too high for a standard farm sink. That is one thing you need to check on.

I would suggest you go for medium to medium-dark floors that make contrast of the floors and the cabinets. Find out more info about the flooring on www.aayersfloors.com We are based in Seattle/WA and our Display Dealers are located all over the US . You can ask your retailer for samples to view in your home, or order them yourself on our website. Any help you need please let us know. We are here to assist you. E-mail: marketing@aayersfloors.com

Laura H, something is going on with Houzz. I posted that post 4 days ago, but it never appeared. My keyboard will not let me hold down the delete key to delete more than one letter at a time. Sometimes, the first letter of a sentence will not appear. Then I cannot add the first letter and I cannot delete the word by highlighting and deleting. The only way to get rid of it is to either back out of the page or highlight the word and press ctrl X. Then it goes away. This only happens on Houzz. I think I will start a post about it. One other person is having the same problem. I like the original color of your paint (at least on my monitor). I may paint my house that color next time we paint. I think you should spend as little money on your kitchen as possible and fix other things. Old houses have hidden problems like electrical. I bet you are happy all the electrical is done. We had to also put two new furnaces/ac in. $12k. Ouch! If you do decide to do the kitchen floor, it will be a one time fix, unlike paint. I wonder if the square tiles go under your cabinets though. I am in the same boat. We are not planning on removing the bathroom marble floor tile, but we are getting new cabinets. We don't know if the tile goes under the cabinets or not. I hope so. I can't wait to see other pics of your 1908 house! A lot of work, but a lot of fun! We almost bought a house dated 1901 with curved glass windows, but decided against it when we found that the basement entrance (trap door) was in the center of the kitchen floor. Weird! Post some pics as you start working on other rooms, please.