desert, I plan to get out to some showrooms this week to see what's there and I'm really hoping that will help move me forward a lot more. When we built this house, we hooked up a trailer and drove to Dalton GA and came back with all the flooring needed to do the entire house. It was easier to make choices when we were looking at the entire roll and not just small samples. We got terrific deals and then just paid the labor to have everything installed by a friend of DH. For the majority of other items we spent hours at Lowes. lanval, I plan to give the island a new top along with whatever we choose for the countertops and I know that will help spruce it up more. Originally we were told there was no room for an island at all, but our cabinet guy designed the funky shape to fit one in. I wish we had space to redesign it to allow more of a rectangle shape with an overhang to fit a couple of stools, but there is just not enough space around the u-design of my current layout. Anne, DH is assigned the reno to his brother. He doesn't have time to get involved in the work itself. That's probably a good thing since we end up disagreeing on details most of the time. I've learned we just see things from different perspectives because I'm considering details he thinks are not important. And since the kitchen is not really his domain, I don't want to get into a power struggle over the choices I make. I tried to discuss the timing with him yesterday and he sees no problem moving ahead with the April schedule. I pointed out the events coming up that will coincide with the time the kitchen is torn apart, and his basic outlook/comment is "it's no big deal"...he's just a 'get'r done' kinda guy. I tried to remind him this is not one of his empty houses that is unoccupied and the fact there is more involved than just slapping on a countertop and being done. Maybe I'm just thinking too hard, but I can see the entire kitchen torn apart and me being stressed enough over that while trying to juggle our spring busy season and my DD's precious time left living at home knowing the activities associated with that. Plus the responsibilities of finishing up our eoy business details is difficult enough alone, and now I'm sposed to be doing research/legwork to plan a kitchen reno. I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but when I say 'overwhelmed' I'm not exaggerating. If I could just put everything else in my life on hold right now, it might be no problem, but everything else is not going to just stop. I'm glad you see what I'm feeling about the timing of my DD last days at home. Just last year when she wanted to have her after-prom party here, I had some mini meltdowns feeling overwhelmed with my regular daily workload and then adding more to it. This year isn't looking much better... Anyway, to clarify some of the questions you asked: I broke the measurements into 2 sections since the bar seems to separate it into 2 areas. The nook area is 13'x9'8". The kitchen area is 9'5"x13'2" but that is only the actual floor space. The cabinets are 25" deep so you could add that to the width of 9.5 for a size of the actual room. The garage is on the other end of the house. There is door to the backyard patio in the nook area. The original plan called for columns and a more open floorplan. DH chose to change it to large c.o. I posted pics from different angles to try to show this. I measured everything you asked to help clarify; fridge is 35"Dx35"W - cab depth is 25" - MW cab is 29"D - raised bar is 12"D. I checked the face frame of cabs and it appears the only ones sharing is the section to the right of the sink where the raised bar is. The rest are chopped up due to the DW, stove, and corner that leads to the MW cab. I'm trying to visualize the changes you suggested...I guess I need to sketch it out to understand it completely. Since his brother is doing the reno, it actually gives me more comfort b/c I know is fully capable of any little details I bring up. At this point...right now...I'm in panic mode after talking with DH last night and he totally doesn't get my lack of enthusiasm about the schedule. He makes it sound so easy. The ct can be done in one day, the floor can be done in one day... what's the problem??? Arrggh!! happy, Glad to hear of your wp sucess, painted and stripped. I hung every bit of the paper in this house and have 3 baths of wp also facing stripping.

Well, I know it has been a while, but I realized I forgot to post an update! We finished everything in Dec '11, and have really enjoyed it. The house went on the market this weekend, so we got a little over a year in our 'new' kitchen. We got a full price offer today, and our home is priced higher than anything in our neighborhood (the house 2 doors down in 500 sf larger, and priced $5k cheaper). I think it was worth it - total cost was right around $7K. Granite: NVG light Gel Stain: Java (General) - 3 coats Tile: Home Depot Backsplash: Home Depot Here is a link that might be useful: More Kitchen Remodel Pics This post was edited by leightx on Tue, Apr 23, 13 at 12:40

I find the cabinets being very nice looking, but boy that layout would make me re-work the kitchen asap if I had the money. Are the cabinets built as one piece or are they each separate individual cabinets? If individual you can probably move the stove into another spot and re-use the cabinets. You'd likely have to replace at least part of the granite to do this, but it is possible you could work it out without having to do so too. Since we can't see the whole kitchen it is hard to make suggestions that are more specific when it comes to the layout part. I agree with Nelly Bluth that the tones of everything isn't working together. However on my monitor the granite works better with the floor than the wall-color does and the wall color doesn't work well at all with either. Undertones are very tricky to work with and I think you'd need a warmer gray to work with the tile if you decide to keep it. That said on me liking the cabinets. It doesn't matter at all if you don't like them. If you'd be happier to paint them then do so. You are the one living there. We have painted bath cabinets that have never chipped in the last 10 years - no matter how I wish that they would have so I could convince DH to change them out. They were painted with oil paint though I've used latex in other houses and they were fine too, just need to do the proper prep work to avoid any issues.

cdgalo,,,when looking at slabs, bring one of your cabinet doors with you. (if you have a spare floor tile, bring that too). Try to view them in natural light (sometimes the indoor stone places have very blue florescent lighting, so keep that in mind) You want to lean on the warmer tone side rather than icy cool blues/grays. thisis TajMajal quartzite, but some of them have a lot more gray. this one is warm look at some of the quartz options. these are all warm tones from Caesarstone: see if you can find any of the Cielo quartzite. (true quartzite will not stain/etch and it's stronger than granite) see how the tones in your cabs/flooring mesh better w/the warmer choices? And the reason kitchens are dark is lack of lighting. so if you want a brighter kitchen, bring in more light. check out porcelain. this was at my stone place and I thought it was real marble. it's porcelain that looks like Calacatta. was beautiful. (porcelain countertops are set in full thinset just like they would lay a floor tile. it has to be completely covered on the back w/mortar . if done correctly, it's perfectly fine and strong. no staining and you don't have to seal) AND, this entire slab was only about $2200. Quartz. Silestone Daria Looks like this w/your similar color cabinets: (ignore this backsplash) I actually like this choice w/your kitchen. then you could bring in a cool backsplash tile. Daria^ and Stellar Snow