robinson Anything that is powered from your main electrical service - outlets, switches, and lights is best done (if you can afford it) when the house is under construction. For example, I added a "Christmas package" which turned out to be a set of outdoor outlets around the house on a 20 amp dedicated circuit that I can plug xmas lights into, that are all tied to a single switch in the garage (where I can put a timer on it) - no more long extension cords for me. Something like that is very easy to add now, very hard to add after the house is done. Another great example of something to do now is recessed lighting. Much less cost to do it now, more cost and a big mess after house is done. Items like wiring for phones, whole house audio, video , computer networks can be added now or later. I took the approach of only putting in wires where I knew on move in day (or shortly there after) that I would need a phone, computer, or TV. One exception was speaker wire and (even though whole house audio is at least a year away) because adding speakers later would require cutting drywall in the walls & ceilings and that was a mess I wanted to avoid. Everywhere else where I anticipated the need for connectivity , I used conduit (plastic tubes) so that I could run the wires later. If you have an unfinished basement and will have access to the floors above, you can put these tubes into the wall (like a speaker volume control box) , install plastic gang boxes upstairs, and run the tubes from those boxes to the basement. Once the tubes are in, it is very easy to pull wires later. The conduit is relatively cheap and gives you the flexibility to pull whatever wires you need, when you need them. For example, I have no TV, phone, or data cables in my 3 second story bedrooms. But I do have wall boxes (with blank plates on them right now) with a conduit tube (some rooms got 2 boxes and 2 tubes) that run from each bedroom all the way down to the basement. I will pull cable to those rooms down the road - no need for cables right now there. To do all of this right you need a plan. You have to layout where you want things now and think about your needs for the future. Then you can decide to whether it makes sense to pull cable or conduit. We ran into budget issues during our build - so I completely understand your dilema. When I got the proposed bill from the eletcrical contractor for all the adds I wanted, plus the bill for voice/data/security pre-wire, I almost fell over. I had to choose either to live without these things or find some other way to get it done. The only way I could get around it was to do some of the electrical work and all security/voice/data/phone myself. It was a lot of work since I had no helpers. By running cables only where I needed them on move in day and conduit everywhere else, I reduced the total time and cost to install. That was the only way I could get what I wanted and keep from...

Turning off the water and watching the meter won't tell you if you have a leak. Make sure all water is off in the house and then watch the meter for movement although a very small leak may take a while before it's reflected at the meter. You might want to do it before you go to bed (and make sure no one uses water overnight). Frankly, I'd suspect that the concrete wasn't sufficiently dry before the flooring was laid. Do you have any pipes that run through the concrete? Perhaps there is another issue unrelated to your ceiling leak?

Other things need to be considered as well, like light rail. If you use light rail, you might want to raise your upper cabinets an inch or so to allow your tallest appliance on the counter to fit. Standard height of cabinets: 34.5" Average thickness of counters: 1.5" Standard backsplash area*: 18" Light rail is usually 1" or so (if you use it) Then the rest is the distance to the ceiling. It's a good idea to leave several inches for crown molding to help conceal uneven ceilings and accommodate the lowest point in the room. Ceiling heights are rarely the same throughout a room. 2 or 3 piece crown molding will help make it look right. * Regarding backsplash height: It should be a minimum of the height of the tallest appliance you use on your counters (with top or bowl up/down...whatever makes it the tallest) + 1" E.g., if you have a 17" tall stand mixer or blender (at its tallest point), your backsplash height before the light rail would be 17" + 1" = 18" A good Kitchen Designer can help you with these details.

Natural wood goes with pretty much anything. And the floors will be THROUGHOUT the home...the kitchen will be in one area (I know...Captain Obvious needed a First Mate so I volunteered). The WHOLE HOME look is far more important than a single room. Most people have a 'dream' kitchen in their head. That dream will be modified by the house they find themselves in and the location and the lighting and the budget...but usually there is a COMMON theme going on in their heads. So my question becomes, "If you lived in a perfect world, what would you choose as your dream kitchen?" Is it white? Dark/Black? Fantastic counters or low-key? Is there colour or is it monochromatic? Mine would be either high-gloss red cabinets (no hardware) with CRISP white marble counters (I know...marble....but I love it and I don't care how it will look after spilling pasta sauce on it) and SS appliances with natural wood floors (propably a narrow plank birch). Or White (sleek and modern) with some stunning counter top with natural wood floors... Either way my choice is MODERN. And the colour will be dictated by availability of red cabs AND my budget. If I can't fit/find either, then white it is! So...what I'm trying to point out is this: figure out what you LOVE and move towards it. It will be modified many times but be OK with it. If you LOVE dark cabinets, then you will need to work with some sort of contrast (like light wood floors). If you love WHITE ON WHITE ON WHITE for a kitchen then perhaps a deeper coloured floor would work best (Provincial is stunning with white). And that brings me to my next point...if you are going to do piece-meal renovations, then make sure you take the time to put together a FINAL look for your home (kitchen decision re: colours schemes) and then work towards it. By putting together a story board for your home you will save yourself THOUSANDS of dollars of 'wrong' purchases (some people cannot give up a 'good deal'...which leads them to several 'bad choices' because they can't leave the 'deal' a the store). Make your plans FIRST and then purchase/install product.