One thing with a 10" overhang is that you're not saving aisle space because stool legs splay wider than the seats for stability. Your real usable aisle space is from the stool feet over, regardless of whether they're covered by counter or not. On the plus side, maybe you might as well create an overhang generous enough to tuck them all the way under? It'd not only be more comfortable but look a lot better and be safer. Of course, it also means you need to choose and measure stools before making your decision. These tradeoffs are all very personal decisions, but, knowing how much even shallow storage holds, mine would be to look to the cabinets for the extra inches needed to make this work. I purchased ready-made Ikea 12" drawers for the top row of a line of 12" deep bottoms, with shelves below, so I would imagine drawer and sliding shelf mechanisms are available in a number of depths. If needed, I'd also plan storage for the Christmas dishes and the 3-element slow cooker used maybe twice a year, or whatever as needed, somewhere else in the house. This post was edited by rosie on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 8:13

@carii thank you for sharing your lovely kitchen, I would never have found Space.Theory without this thread! We're now getting a quote from them, too. I am also in Marin County and we're going through this same process of pricing out all our options for a very similar look to your kitchen. Would you mind sharing the information of the custom cabinet maker you got your quote from with the Shinnoki veneers? Thank you! Jess

We love Swiss Coffee and Natural Cream, and with that tone of wood, you can’t go wrong with either. And honestly, the slab you choose for your counters and the type of backsplash you choose can greatly impact your cabinets. White kitchens aren’t ever going out of style, but choosing the right paint can feel overwhelming, especially when white wasn’t on your shortlist for cabinet colors. We have a post with our favorite white kitchen cabinet paint colors if that helps you narrow down your choice, but in the meantime, rest assured that any of those samples you have will be a beautiful white for your kitchen cabinets.

Hi Heather! As others have noted, getting specific quotes for your project is the best. We just finished up our kitchen refresh last month, and went with Omega for the perimeter cabinetry; white painted maple. Your layout sounds quite different from mine, so a cost comparison wouldn't match up; but I can say that I'm very pleased with the results from a quality standpoint - build and finish are both excellent. We don't plan to remodel this kitchen at this level more than once :) , so it was worth it for me to make an investment in what I saw as the most foundational element in the room.