Check Lowe's for KA dishwashers and the Lowe's extended warranties available. With the KitchenAid dishwashers, there are basic two types to choose between and you need to know which one you are buying. One has the built-in food grinder --- slightly noisier, no pre-wash in sink required. Just scrape, light rinse if you desire, and put in DW. (Just like my current 12 y/o Kenmore Elite) Other has a filter that has to be removed and cleaned out from time to time, YMMV regarding frequency. I would tend to want to rinse dishes more thoroughly with this type, even though others might say 'no need'. We're going with the built-in food grinder model in our new kitchen. I'm to old to be kneeling on the floor and reaching into the DW to remove a filter. Practical (orthopedic) ergonomics wins in our kitchen.

This is a new era of buying and selling after the real estate "bubble". Two years ago we sold a condo in Florida and a custom mountain lake home in Tennessee. Both buyers were obtaining mortgages, one being a jumbo mortgage. The Florida condo was appraised slightly below selling price. It was completely remodeled by us (new kitchen and two baths, etc.). The inspector told the young lady she would never find a condo in better condition. All new appliances, new water heater, new air conditioner. We owned it for two years, but decided even as snow birds we would rather have a house. But her Daddy told her not to pay over appraisal. The comps were condos in the same development that had never been upgraded or maintained. Many had been rented out. We sold it to someone else for our asking price. They didn't obtain a mortgage. The home in Tennessee was not on the market. A realtor showing another home in the neighborhood asked if they could see our house. They came back with an offer the next day, which was not the greatest offer We decided to accept the offer and move to the Florida house we had purchased two months before. It gets confusing, I know. :) The inspector was ruthless, but came back with nothing wrong in our new custom built home. The pest inspector came back with nothing (yup the bank required it). The appraiser on the other hand was a bit rude. When I said I wasn't too concerned about the appraisal price since the sell price was below tax appraisal value, he said, Oh, we often appraise homes below the tax app. value now. He told us our home was beautiful, but every home in the neighborhood probably had the same upgrades. No they did not. In the end they said there were really no comps, which wasn't true. But the most chilling experience I had was that the two appraisers used exactly the same words in two different states. It is beautiful, but this doesn't count. This is overkill, it doesn't count. Only the comps matter. Only square footage matters. I have bought and sold quite a few homes in my life. In a brand new builder developed area you get the basic house for the price of the model. Upgrades are paid for as an extra expense. Years ago we had no inspectors and no formal appraisals. It seems the banks do not want to pay for the upgrades, and are driving the prices. Now it has eroded into buyers with cash that look at comps and again do not want to pay for the upgrades. Even 11 years ago I sold a home in Ft. Lauderdale by myself (height of the market) and the buyer had an inspector, obtained a mortgage, but no appraiser came to my house. I sold my "model" for a higher price than anyone had ever sold for. Does anyone think that perhaps the banks are running the market??? Money makes the world go 'round.

Standard doors are 6" - are you suggesting not to upgrade to 8" ? We felt higher the door height, the easier it is to move furniture and stuff, of-course the width of the door isn't changing. I wouldn't bother with this. How often do you move "furniture and stuff" that's taller than 7'? Extended Lanai: Oh, I thought it'd be a deeper lanai ... I'd be less inclined to pay for a wider lanai. Wider isn't all that useful, and it means more rooms are shaded /have less natural light. Vent Hood/Microwave to Outside - If we don't choose, the smoke will stay indoors - the builder should have included this in the base price but it is what it is. I am really surprised that this isn't standard. I would do the oak riser steps instead of carpet. Yes overpriced but probably better now. Yes, if you don't do the oak risers now, you probably won't be able to do them later ... at all. If they do carpet stairs, they're going to use plywood /paint quality stuff under that carpet; thus, it won't be a matter of pulling up carpet later and staining /painting. It is easy to say walk away and build a custom home, but not everyone can afford to do that, nor does everyone want to go that route (even if they can afford to). True. Tara we all have to make compromises. For ourselves it's been a 2 year journey building our custom home, plus the hours and hours spent researching and finding even the smallest details. So I understand where you're coming from. Yup, no matter your circumstances, you're going to "give" somewhere. For us, we're taking the same route as CP describes above: The place where we're "giving" is time and personal effort.

Kountry Wood Products vs. Diamond I don't know Kountry Wood, but Diamond is good stuff. - 1/2 inch particleboard cabinet box sides Go with the strongest boxes you can get. These things are going to be around a long time, and -- as you say -- changing them is a lot of trouble and expense. They're going to be used and abused, stuffed full, leaned upon ... go with strong stuff to start with. - Standard overlay Standard overlay is usually called partial overlay. I'd definitely go with full overlay because it allows you better access to your cabinets -- I'd be willing to pay extra for this. With standard overlay, you get that "post in the middle". Something you didn't mention: Are you going with at least some all-drawer stacks instead of standard cabinets? Drawers give you better access to all your stuff. You also didn't mention whether you're using any specialized pull-outs. I don't think these are a very good bang for the buck. They cost $$$, but they only store a tiny bit. Consider: A similar cabinet concept: If you're using a Lazy Susan in the corner, but sure it's a Super Susan, not just a Lazy Susan ... the difference is that the Lazy Susan (left) is shelves supported by a central post, whereas the Super version (right) is wooden shelves supporting the turn-tables separately. - Flat drawer fronts This is a matter of style. No functional difference. - Solid wood drawer boxes with dovetail joints - Cheap epoxy coated side mount drawer slides - Thicker 3/4 inch shelves - Smooth bottom mount drawer slides with full extension and soft close Yes, pay extra for these things. When they're new, all drawers should work great -- you're paying extra so they'll continue to work well in years to come. I'd go so far as to say you should go with heavy-duty drawer slides on ALL your drawers. And be sure your drawers go allll the way to the back of your cabinet. I know, you'd assume they do ... but I have a 30" deep peninsula with two 20" deep drawers, which means I have about 10" of empty space behind those drawers that's going unused. The style we want is white shaker style. I don't think anyone's bought anything else for the last decade. The builder did say that the issues with the warped doors and loose center pieces can be fixed, but I'm skeptical about that and feel that brand new cabinets shouldn't need fixing I agree with you -- if they're not right on the day they're installed, they'll never be right. Is this the Kountry brand? If so, I'd avoid them. I was always amazed that these giant houses often had the lowest level of cabinets offered by this manufacturer. It might not be 100% ignorance. Don't we see plenty of people on this board building big-big houses, more than anyone needs? I do wonder if some of these people don't reach the finishing stages -- things like cabinets -- and realize that their finances force them to go with builder-basic items because they've already shot the budget. I would steer clear of any company that deliberately misspells their own name. Nothing good can come from that... :) My father's been dead almost three decades, but I can still hear him ranting about that very topic. I wish I could direct my potential clients to this thread when they try to tell me they can get cabinets that “look” just like the ones I’m selling for a much lower price. Yeah, but will those cheaper cabinets still "look" (and function) just like yours in a decade? We all know the answer to that question. I understand that cabinets are tremendously expensive, but this is an area where it makes sense to put in quality -- doing anything else is false economy. Our ceilings are also 9 ft. Our uppers used to be 42" tall with 12" of empty space above. Now our uppers are 46" tall (custom cabs) with 8" of molding above to meet the ceiling. Yes, I totally agree that cabinets-to-the-ceiling are expensive but worth the cost. You can achieve this by buying taller cabinets or by stacking two shorter cabinets.