Self cleaning ovens generate a great deal of heat. Heat can and will scorch wood, mdf, and paint. To prevent that heat from building up, it is recommended to open the doors and drawers adjacent to an oven while it is in the self cleaning cycle. If you don't and your cabinets scorch, yes, that is abuse and would not be covered under warrant. By any cabinet company. Wood expands and contracts over the seasonal moisture cycle. Just as you will get a gap in your crown molding in winter because it's dry, and a door will stick in summer because it's moist, cabinets will do the same thing. Although top coatings are meant to have a certain amount of flex to them, they do not have enough flex to not get hairline breaks in the finish where you have two pieces lf wood joining. That is 100% normal. You cannot expect wood to not behave like wood. This is normal. Cabinets do get wet occasionally, yes. But you are expected to not let them stay that way. You are expected to dry them, as part of a normal care routine just as you would any other furniture in your home. And you are expected to not constantly slop water onto the cabinet below the sink base, and to teach your children to do the same. And not let the dog jump on them and scratch them with his nails. That is not normal wear and tear. That IS abuse that will result in guaranteed damage that will not be covered by any cabinet warranty. If you feel that you cannot properly care for your kitchen furniture investment, then there are cabinets that will stand up to a more continual water presence and searing heat. You find them in commercial kitchens everywhere. They are stainless steel.

IIRC, Nikki had mentioned on the previous thread that she might eventually give cooking demonstrations on the island, so I believe buehl put the DW in that location to keep it out of the island prep zone--one could turn and load to the open DW, without the risk of tripping over the door if it was directly behind. I would leave the prep sink on the left side, as you face the island, but you could move the MW drawer over to match the offset of the ovens on the right, which would leave more room between the table and island. It would also push the sink a few inches closer to the cooktop, and you wouldn't need the clipped corner. I generally like clipped/diagonal corners, but I think the island should be symmetrical.

I wanted to follow up with our choices - BM Old Navy with BM AF-290 Caliente for the door. It’s not as dark as I expected, but it’s a true navy. I’m still adjusting to having such a colorful house! Our project isn’t quite done yet - we moved back in only to have a sewer pipe break on day one. I hadn’t quite appreciated that the star lantern might make it look patriotic, but I can live with that. All in all though we love the end result and I’m so grateful to all the help I got (and am still getting) on this forum!

$26K is just the price of the cabinets and I double checked the quote that it includes full overlay doors, full extension drawers, all plywood construction. The pantries and several of the base cabinets include the roll out trays. We are renovating the whole house with our GC and have already been at it for months so there’s really no going back as far as that selection. Since we’re removing a load baring wall, vaulting the ceiling and reconfiguring the layout, the cost is about $16K for labor and building materials. The counters will be around $11-13K as I want a full height backsplash and waterfall on the end of the peninsula. The kitchen project won’t be for months as cabinets are currently all 6 months out and we haven’t placed the order yet because we’ve been indecisive. I added some pics of the room the kitchen will be opening up to. We’ll be removing that whole wall between the kitchen and dining area and adding bar seating on the peninsula. We are also removing the railing and raising that “pit” to be level with the rest of the dining area so it will be much more open. The view from the dining room is out into the trees and it’s very green most of the year (this picture was from last winter when we bought the house so you don’t get the full affect). Also the whole interior of the house is painted a yellowy beige and we’re going to have it repainted to eggshell white as we feel it looks rather dingy as is. We like the green b/c we are surrounded by trees and have dark wood trim. We liked the idea of bringing some of the color inside and not adding more wood. Originally we wanted dark navy but decided the green went with the spirit of the house more. The house was built in ‘77 so not truly MCM, but has that vibe. I do like the kitchens posted above, but I’m not sure about adding more dark wood even though it would fit the house. It is something to think on though.