Hello LoLauren-Hope you post photos of the finished project!I love a fireplace flanked by bookcases also.Beveled glass cabinets in a simple design would be gorgeous, but if you are trying to hide stored items then you could do wood cabinet doors with a darker antiqued glaze for interest as you have alot of wood. You didn't mention what your style is -white painted wood, rustic, traditional? Pamelak

chispa, Thanks for your comments. This is not the main TV area. There will be a man cave downstairs with a larger TV. We will put the TV in this great room on some sort of swivel arm so it can be angled towards the viewer. Not sure about speaker location as that is DH's job (and need) in our home too. He is talking about some ceiling speakers as well as some resting in the built-ins. Do you know what the correct spots are for speakers? Yes the depth of the deeper part of the built-ins is 16 inches. I will get DH to recheck that measurement and remind him about the space for plugs, etc. I appreciate the heads-up. bpahhome, Thanks for your help and kind words. The TV will go on a swivel/pullout arm of some sort. It would be great if the remote can work from most seats -- but that may not be possible. Too funny that you have those Danish plates too. I inherited a large collection of those blue plates plus hummel plates and figurines from my Mom. I am trying to find an attactive way to show them off in this new build. Your picture is lovely and a Tom Thomson to boot. Ours is an oil original, but not by such a famous painter. It was made by a Quebec painter some years ago and was also inherited from Mom. Carol Note the colour of the built-ins will be SW Alabaster and they will match the colour of the perimeter cabs in our kitchen. For those who are not familiar with SW Alabaster it is very, very close to BM White Dove (warm off white).

You really must have adjustable/removeable shelves, not permanently affixed ones. Why? First of all, it's far easier/less expensive to paint adjustable/removable shelves that permanent ones. Second, all shelves are usually not the same distance apart, depending on the height of the books or the objects being displayed in them. My daughter bought a house with permanent shelving, and ended up not painting the stained shelve unit when she had the rest of the room (knotty pine) painted. It would have cost $1000 for a very narrow wall (about 11-12ft). Oh, how she has wished over the 20 years she's lived in that house, that these shelves were adjustable!

Thanks for all the feedback... cpartist - I like the white kitchen with the wood stained fireplace. That's definitely something to consider. I think I need to wait till the cabinets are in and I can see the floor to determine stain. Plus we have some walnut accents in the kitchen. groveraxle - I also like this option with glass front cabinets. I could keep with the white but not worry about the style matching/not matching. As for the island layout, I considered turning it early on in the process. However, I decided on the way we have it because most of the seating won't have it's back to the family room but instead to the side. The cabinets are all sitting in my house waiting to be installed so too late to change. However, good points about the prep sink and although it's not drawn this way, we are doing a round prep sink with the faucet in the corner so that way it's easily accessible from either side of the island. damiarain - We moved the beverage fridge to the china cabinet area outside the kitchen and across from the dining room. I realized it would be harder to access by the pantry and I'd have more people walking through between range and fridge.