"There was no excuse not to do that. " yes, i agree. especially since it was in the contract. i got a bit bullied at the end because he got behind and stressed out...another thing would be to call him and try to make him fulfill the contract, but i'm afraid he would say it isn't possible (what he said last year, after he agreed to do it.) removing the entire ceiling, installing all new drywall and finishing it seems really overwhelming and expensive and horrible since this ceiling is less than a year old (and i did all the finishing myself which was a lot of work) thus my attempt to find another solution - like blown in insulation, venting, or roof coating. everyone agrees that these aren't real options and that removing the whole ceiling is the only way to insulate it? one last gasp: would a vent in the pitch like my drawing help at all?

We have a Thermador FD and I absolutely love it. I love having the freezer on the bottom most of all, so you could have the same thing with a single door on top. I'll never have a top freezer again. I love that I can look down into the freezer and see what is in there, and can easily move things around, to see what is on the bottom without a frozen steak falling out on my foot. The Thermador also has a top drawer in the freezer that that slides out and that is where I keep things I use most frequently. That is also where the ice maker is. I love that also because it is so easly to scoope ice out and my kids can reach it easily and get their own ice. I had a side by side when we moved into this house and I despised it. Never again. As for the french door vs. single door on top -- I like the FD. We would have clearance issues with a big door opening into a fairly narrow aisle so the FD works better. And I have the fridge paneled with cabinetry. I think the FD has more of a furniture look than a single door. The Thermador is also fully integrated. It is totally flush and doesn't stick out at all, and I love that. But the shelves in the fridge are pretty high up, and if you are short, it might be an issue. And my kids can't really reach into the fridge yet, although they will soon. And I do mostly open both doors every time I open the fridge, but it is more a habit than a necessity, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Interesting that you consider #65 a bit busy - it's the same as your #3 pic but the dividers are brought a little closer together - more like a take-off of a classic. Your kitchen is not classic - it will be timeless because of the elements that you have chosen - but it has enough of your personality (I'm assuming here - the pearls) and original ideas and design elements that I wouldn't define it has classic. Hopefully that comment isn't throwing something askew in your mind wrt your kitchen. So why start going classic with the pantry door? About designing your own door - I found a company B.C. Doors - who had a couple that I liked but I wanted to do a combination of two of them, add some glass in a couple of the panels and I also wanted to change the shape of the edges of the cut-outs. The edges were slanted and I wanted them to be straight (like a true shaker). All the pieces were available but it was how they were put together that I wanted to customize. If your door guy has a manufacturer who will do that for you then come up with a couple of ideas and present them. (back in a sec gotta check my banana-blueberry bread - silly - like you would know that I had left) For eg - if you like your #3 choice but want to put a vertical divider in the middle of the door joining the middle 2 horizontal dividers then you ask to have it done. That may not be a standard configuration that is available but they have all the parts to do that design. I hope that makes sense.

AlabamaTreeHugger --- The attic above the garage has the same ventilation as the rest of the house -- there's a brand new Gerard Stone Coated Steel (Canyon Shake) roof installed on counter battens. The new roof, in and of itself, should keep the house and, therefore, the garage cooler. We are NOT going to cut any holes in the new roof for any reason. Yes, there is a window in the east wall of the garage, and it does open. There is a window in the pedestrian door on the west wall of the garage, but that window does not open.