There are lots of durable and functional cabinets out there. I looked at and liked Cliq Studios, if you want framed. Your existing cabs are a fairly common design, should be easy to find something very close. I agree you should start out at Home Depot or Lowe's. You may find just what you want in your budget. For your countertop, you should be able to come up with a sq. ft. amount of counter space, then you can compare prices per sq.ft. Home Depot has an online countertop calculator to estimate countertops, using their selection of materials and prices. I found it very useful. Be careful that a 25" wide countertop doesn't block your doorway even more, leave plenty of room to get around the counter and through the door. I personally wouldn't like the look of mixing acrylic backsplash with quartz. As to granite, I have been told that there is more permanent type sealer available now, doesn't need redoing every year. And, at least in my area, it can be very economical, far less than any acrylic (a limited choice of stone at that low end, though)

Cute house! And YES, this is EXACTLY why people box in the fridge. DH and I actually built an entire extra wall in the kitchen in large part because I couldn't figure out how to solve this exact problem. In your case, I wouldn't extend it behind the fridge. If you were to do that, I would think you'd have to do it the entire height of the fridge. Otherwise you'd have an 18" strip of tile running behind the fridge, with paint above it and below it. To me, that would look like there used to be cabinets there and you pulled them out and stuck in the fridge. Is the sink or range on that wall, and if so, does the tile run higher behind the sink or the range? If so, consider running it horizontally to the end of the counter, then vertically (above the bottom of the upper cabinet) to the height also tiled behind the sink or range. I know that is a tiny little strip, but it would maintain the symmetry across the kitchen. Otherwise, whether you stop at the counter or at the upper cabinet would depend on your tile. Have you done a dry run on the layout of the tile to see if there is a natural ending place without having any awkward cuts? Are you using any sort of a trim/edge tile, or is it basically the field tile coming to a stop? Try some dry runs and see what works best.

I think you could do what Patti Bee did, and line up the marble tile to match the height of the tile under the window. This will give you more decorating options for that wall. You won't be limited to a small picture that has to hang up above the marble. If you extend the backsplash out, it may beg the question 'why didn't you make the cabinet wider?' If you have a shorter backsplash, it will look intentional.

Hi maryhay - it turned out very well. I just measured our 1/2 wall for you. From the very top of the half wall, including the quartz used on the top of the ledge, to the bottom of our floor tiles is 41". 48" in total would have been too tall for us. Good luck on your renovation!