Lazy Susan -- Tupperware might fall over if you whip the thing around, but I use mine for lesser used items. A super susan is better if you can get one -- no pole down the middle. I don't have a base pantry pullout. You'll have more storage in a 24" deep base pullout than a 12" deep upper. Symmetry is nice, but functionality is paramount. I do have drawers on both sides of my range, pots and pans on the right and baking dishes/casseroles on the left. What is ROTS? I'm guessing Rollout shelves? I like drawers better, with rollouts you have to open two doors all the way, THEN pull out the drawer. I have one regular cabinet (no drawers/rollouts) in my island, one under the sink, and a narrow one for trays. Everywhere else: drawers. I like your designer's idea for the fridge, assuming there is room, no barrier island issues, etc. I like longer runs of countertop and my fridge out of the way, so kids grazing stay out of MY way. :)

With Ikea, you get very sturdy cabinets that use excellent quality Blum hinges. You can get just about ANY type of Shaker or other style and color of door from Semihandmade or Scherr's, which are specially designed exactly for IKEA cabinets. You are not limited at all by Ikea's colors and styles. Ikea stands behind its products and if you search within Gardenweb for "Scherr's" and/or "Semihandmade," you will be surprised by how many very happy and satisfied customers with beautiful, functional kitchens, with all kinds of roll-out lowers, trash roll-outs, etc. All of IKEA's stuff is hack-able as well, with examples all over the internet. Finally, the IKEA planner, while not perfect, is fairly user-friendly, and you can work and design your kitchen online, play with the planner, and figure out the best configuration for your situation. People in the Kitchens forum (not this remodeling forum, most likely), are very adept and skilled and willing to help you with the design. They can even sometimes go into your design, online, and help you design. You'll see. It's a great budget way to go.

Yes, crispy brown comes from dry heat. There are a few ways of doing it, but as you surmise, it happens outside of the actual sous vide cook. The advantage is that it's cooked 100% through and through to the temperature of your choice while sous vide. There's no perfect sear with blue raw meat happening. For a steak, it's often sous vide cooked, all the way through, then removed from the pouch, juices dried off, then seared in a screaming hot pan. You don't have to hold back the searing temperature, because the meat is thoroughly cooked. This is how the famous "edge to edge" is achieved. There's the dark caramelized sear edge, but no ring of brown, dryer interior and pink center. Just the desired doneness, color and texture all the way. You can make red meat "well done" this way, as in killing pathogens, while still having the soft texture of medium rare. You can also cook it at a higher temperature if you want a firmer texture. It's the temperature setting you're cooking to, not the time, though, of course, higher temperatures still take a bit longer. For other uses you can also do "reverse", where you sear first and then seal sous vide and cook with the circulator. I forget when that is done. That wouldn't be for crisp, of course. You can use sous vide ("under vacuum") to hurry marinades. That's just sealing it in the bag with the vacuum machine, not cooking it. One of the catering joys of sous vide is that on Wednesday, when you receive your poultry order, you can prep Friday's skinless chicken breasts, including the flavorings and herbs, vacuum seal and refrigerate them, then put them in the circulator to cook a few hours before service. When you're approaching time to plate, you can remove them to a sheet pan and put them in the oven for five minutes to brown, or just plate them with a sauce. You're never going to get crisp skin sous vide. All the moisture is held inside, which is great for the flesh, but doesn't dry the skin, which is what makes it crisp. You're not going to get fond, either. There's no Maillard reaction. But you can also just roast off some trimmings and make a pan full of fond. This is where cooking sous vide at home parts with catering. There isn't enough fond in catering to do the job so you're making it anyway. At home, it's a side benefit. Other than to try recipes before serving to company, I don't bother with sous vide for just us. There's no point when I have so many other tools. If you go to the Anova website, you can find all kinds of recipes using their circulators that seem a bit ridiculous, like making cakes in mason jars. As experiments in what you can do, however, they're interesting, and could inform a decision later. The great thing about an immersion circulator that you use with your own vessel, like I have, is that you have an instant spare oven. But what if one kid has football practice, another has show choir, and the third has cub scouts. Besides screaming, you need to chauffeur them and feed them after the boys get home and before the girl leaves. There's drive thru. Ugh. Or crockpot. Or, if like me you have two circulators, you can set your chicken and potatoes to cook sous vide before the scout meeting and have your salad ready, and by the time coats are off and backpacks stowed, everybody's eating a wholesome, perfect temperature, dinner together, whenever you got home, and all your time going to eating it and talking to the kids, rather than fixing the meal up (even microwaving or other reheating takes time) and being late to choir. It's just a tool. There are other ways to achieve what you need to achieve, and people have been cooking for thousands of years without it. I think it was invented a bit over 200 years ago.

Just installed Mantra in our basement wet bar. Still waiting on countertops. I didn't want to install anything too high end in a basement. I was pleasantly surprised how nice they were. They will not be used on a daily basis as a kitchen would but they do appear to be well made for the price. My only complaint is the lack of accessories offered. In building a bar height ledge, there are no options to install a large panel in the front where the bar stools will be.