@HU-75175020: "Seems its leaking, runs down door & then rust at bottom." No, neither Costco nor KitchenAid is going to fix your two-year old dishwasher. If it's leaking you need to fix it. Dishwasher: Why is my dishwasher leaking? If tub gasket is the problem, the "Tub and Frame Parts" diagram for the (example) KitchenAid KDTM604KPS shows Part #3 which is the tub gasket for $16.46.

A little clarification (I'll be the first to admit I'm going about this bassackwards...): Originally, I only planned on painting the existing cabinets and painting, re-laminating, or replacing the countertops. Just a face-lift, no overhaul. Then someone suggested I switch the cabinet & fridge to improve the kitchen's function, and I couldn't get the idea out of my head. So, once I was already finished painting the upper cabinets, we moved the lower cabinet. Prior to moving the cabinet, marti8a made a mockup of what it might look like, and though not quite to scale, it does at least show you where the microwave is intended to go: If I'd known how much hassle painting cabinets and removing countertops and trying to squeeze form & function out of the current set up would be, I probably would have ordered new, self-assemble cabinets. At this stage, however, I'm so happy with how my painted uppers turned out that completely scrapping them would just about kill me (given the work I put in and the waste factor). And since I had already started the project, I probably should have left the lower cabinet alone, but it really is nice to have the extra counterspace, even if it's a pain trying to tie it together. I'm really hoping the uppers are "done", aside from adding in the microwave and making it look like it belongs. The shallow cabinet idea came from discussions about message centers, like this one: And from the fact that I'm not crazy about boxing in the fridge just for the sake of boxing in the fridge. I'd like it to have a little more purpose. In theory, the wee cabinet would be just big enough to hold a can of food or a box of light bulbs, and not so big as to jut out into the hall. Neither the cabinet nor the fridge box, should we go that way, would jut into the hall, even though it can look that way from a certain angle. They would line up with the wall and elongate the hall.

Induction with knobs???? Is that form or function? I don't understand. I get the appeal of knobs on controls on vertical surfaces. On a horizontal, they seem like a liability - I love my wolf cooktop but the knobs are the weak link it seems to me as they are the part of the unit that become the hardest to clean. Not that I use it tons - but still. I also don't get beagles' point about form over function in a kitchen. I don't especially like to cook - sure I do use the kitchen but I'm no power user and I make do with salads and other healthy stuff (key reason I use my kitchen rather than all takeout all the time). Still, I only enter the kitchen when I have to. I don't get the point of a set-up kitchen if you don't care to use it. Waste of energy, dollars and real estate to me. Heck, if I "didn't cook", I honestly wouldn't put in a stove of any ilk. I'd put in a wine fridge and a wine cabinet, a power point for an electric kettle (for me tea) and a DW (to wash the tea cups and wine glasses) put paid to the rest of the kitchen! I don't get that advice.

Whether the mud job is good or not will depend on the materials used, and the skill of the installer. A true mud job involves lath and mortar (cement, coarse sand and water) packed in to the lath and then a second layer of mortar troweled over the top. Done well this will give a strong, flat and level floor. Cement backer boards have now largely taken the place of this labor intensive process. Lath and a thin layer of thinset is a "Jersey mud job". Thinset is made with fine sand and is not strong enough to form a strong base. When you have a solid floor you would ideally put down something like Ditra or a crack isolator membrane and then you would set the tiles in thinset. So to summarize: plywood, cement board (or a good mud job), membrane product and then tile. The use of OSB might also be an issue...plywood is recommended