Okay, the whole KD thing is its own problem. There are KD's, some of whom are even part of this forum, who are qualified, professional designers, but there are "certified kitchen designers" who don't have any design training and really are, basically, order takers. The certification is by the company, not by ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) or any other such thing. I've had a lot of design training, and have worked as a designer in various capacities, but I am very careful not to call myself a "designer" because I feel that that implies a level of qualification I do not have. This is my feeling about it, and respect for those who are qualified ID's, not any legal distinction. There are some laws in some places that restrict who can call themselves designers, which have been pushed by the industry, but the word is just an English word, and it's very hard to restrict its use. I remember seeing a proposal for one of these laws that excepted Kitchen Designers because there was no way to get it past the big box stores' lobbyists without. So, yes, unfortunately, it's falling to you to suss out the details of the design and hold the guy's toes to the fire, but this doesn't tell us if he's a good contractor. He might be. He might not realize that whatever course he took to be a KD isn't what you thought he meant when he said he was one. All that said, if you're just not comfortable with the guy, you can cancel the contract. If it's already cost you big bucks in overruns I think you have cause (not a legal opinion, just sense). Rather than pulling the plug out of hand, you might offer to have him sign an addendum to the contract saying that you're willing to absorb $X of the overrun, but that he's responsible for everything above that. And if he doesn't want to sign that, offer to dissolve the contract. Even if you're on the hook for the cabinets (which you might not be if the order was just put in), you can still have someone else do the actual work. But he might be fine, if you give him a chance!! Why not start by inviting him over for coffee and danish (most contractors love sweets) and tell him every one of your concerns and hash them through. Start with your expectations about the details and how nervous he's making you. Get him to tell you how he's going to handle everything else that comes up. He might be a really good contractor but a lousy cabinet orderer. :) Good luck!!

I agree that stone under the bar wouldn't seem cohesive at this point. It also looks like a fairly shallow overhang as it is. I would worry about taking away even an inch or two of knee room for people sitting at the bar. I think that'd be uncomfortable, even without considering what stone against knee caps feels like. Also, don't forget that you can add interest and beauty to a room without installing permanent features like stone. Try hanging pictures. Try different furniture. Different paint colors. Swap out light fixtures. All of that is non-permanent and easily tweaked (since you like to tweak). You haven't decorated the living room at all, so try that first if your goal is to make the home more interesting. The trouble with installing permanent features is that they really do need to have a cohesive design across the house that is in-keeping with your home's architecture. Like, if you add crown molding to one room, that's weird. You should have crown molding in all your rooms or nowhere. If you want to add Spanish tile, you should also have other Spanish details throughout the house -- dark wood, arches, a courtyard etc. Similarly, if you add beams or stone or whatever other flair -- it has to relate to the architecture of the rest of the house and belong. Just randomly adding or removing architectural/permanent things where fancy strikes you is always going to look odd. If what you want to do is randomly add things when fancy strikes you, it looks better, costs less, and is easier to do it with non-permanent features because those don't have the same burden of being architecturally consistent.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I have to agree with the others. I've done 2 major full-scale kitchen renovations in 2 different houses (in the middle of the 2nd one now). The first house was a house we thought we'd live in forever. At that point, the cabinets were 12 years old, builder grade and made of particle board. They were literally falling apart. My husband purchased right angle brackets to hold the drawer fronts in place until we could afford to tear out and renovate. We lived in that kitchen (that was literally falling apart) for 6 years with our small kids. Literally 2 weeks after all the tile work was finished we found out my husband would be relocated. We built the house we are in now and the kitchen that the builder offered was crap. Not really customizeable and not at all what we wanted. We picked a standard kitchen with standard countertops and lived in that for 3 years until we could afford to put in the kitchen we wanted. My point in all of this is to live in it. Yes, it is not at all what you want. But neither are the crap cabinets from Cliq, which are quite expensive for what they are, imo. I agree with Lulu about Cliq, I've seen nothing but bad reviews on here about them. Live in your space. Take time to figure out what is working and what isn't. Take time to decide what you want in your new space. How your new space will flow, what style you like, etc. Take that $6k that you're willing to sink into crap cabinets and use that to start up your savings. I assure you that when you start tearing down walls and discover what's behind them you'll be thankful that you have that extra $6k.

Do you have actual project design documentation from which a contractor can quote the job? Floor layouts, elevations, cabinet choices, counter choices, backsplash choices and patterns, plumbing changes and products, under cabinet lighting, pendant lighting and locations locations? Wall paint and sheen? Flooring material and patterns? If you have 3/4 of all of that, they can give you an “allowance” aka, Guess, for the things you haven’t selected. But that’s how you go over budget! They always pick the cheapest guess possible, rather than what you really want. Here’s an Idea Book showing how some project documentation can be used to communicate what you want to your contractor. https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/105612493/list/project-documentation-samples Also, and please take this to heart, a contractor is not a designer. Neither are box store cabinet sellers for the most part. A contractor should never be suggesting materials beyond wiring, pipes, and insulation. Not if you care about the results! They select things that will make their job easier, not your project be better. The person who selects all of the materials and creates that whole design plan with all of those materials and space planning is your Kitchen Designer. If you choose to do that designing yourself, all of that still is part of the job, and your responsibility. Not the contractors! And not the clerk at the hardware store. Also remember that while cabinets are a large part of the renovation budget, they by no means are all of it. Many people forget all the other stuff that adds up.