sugar - we have been told by several general contractors in our area that we have to go with engineered, rather than real wood, because of our constant weather and humidity changes. Engineered wood we were told can handle these changes, and humidity. I worry like you do about how busy acacia will be, but we have decided to do it, as it is dramatic, and we think beautiful. I looked at other wood that was suggested on this site, but going to stick with Acacia. They will install in a few weeks, and I can post pictures then. We really liked the Kentwood brand of wood (headquarters in Kent WA). The top layer is very thick, and we can sand a few times if needed. But we have been told, no one hardly ever sands the floors, by the time they need it, you usually are ready for a new updated change. Hope that helps.

i'm sure the flooring guys could tape off the toe kicks, but sanding off the current color with those in place would be more difficult. I know your cabinet guy wants to finish, but is it really that much of a hassle for him that he can't come back after the floors are done to install them? would you be willing to pay him a little extra for his time if he does come back? I can understand his side of it. he's already there and wants to finish. to come back another day means extra hours and a trip he has to schedule. so, compensate him for it if that's the only issue. You can also ask your flooring guys if having the toe-kick in place is a big deal. they would know the answer to that better than us. Is the wood red oak, white oak? have you sampled any other stain colors?

Hi Buehl, First I want to thank you for commenting. I was actually most excited to get your feedback as I love the deigns you have suggested for others. (no disrespect to other designers as I am impressed by all suggestions on this site - it is such an invaluable tool for home owners). I apologize for the lack of measurements and pictures. We just purchased the house but don't get the keys until mid-January. The lady that owned the house had lived there for about 25 years and because it was so full of her stuff no internal pictures were posted online. I have the kitchen and dining room dimensions of the existing setup which I will add below. Unfortunately I only have approximations for the windows. The kitchen window (smaller 2' window) is above the existing sink. The dining room window (4ft) is only about 3ft off the ground so counters probably wouldn't fit or would just touch. In terms of the about us part: I'll answer your suggested questions below: Please answer the following questions: What are your goals? Would prefer and island and breakfast nook but we are flexible. What is your family composition? 2 Adults with one 20 month daughter and planning for another. How many kitchen workers are there? My wife is the cooking fanatic but I love to take care of breakfast. We would love to bake with the kid(s) in the future. Do you or anyone in your home cook? We enjoy home cooked food and want a fully functional kitchen. How do you see your kitchen used? -- Just for cooking/cleaning up? YES -- Children doing homework while you cook? Great if breakfast nook could double as study area. -- Party place? We do entertain family gatherings about once every month or two typically 8-20) -- Something else? We want the kitchen and family room to function as the main heart of the house. Do you entertain a lot? Mainly informal entertaining. Do you want your kitchen to be a "hang out" place? We want it to be the main hangout spot. Do you have a separate DR? Do you use it frequently? Infrequently? We want the kitchen to be the main eating area and may add a small formal dining area to one end of our large living room if we require it. Would you like to open up the kitchen to adjacent areas? Yes we would like it to flow to the family room. Do you plan to merge two rooms/areas. Yes, ideally we want to use the existing dining to make the kitchen bigger and incorporate the eating area there. Do you have a basement under the Kitchen space? Crawl space. Where are you flexible? Ideally no external structural changes as the house is a beautiful tudor style home that has been well kept on the outside. Internally we are flexible. -- Can windows or doorways change size? Internal doorways can be changed. -- Can windows or doorways be moved or eliminated? Yes as required. -- Can windows be raised/lowered? Ideally, no. -- Does the sink have to be centered under a window? No. -- Does it have to be under a window at all? (Sinks under windows are an old paradigm left over from the pre-Dishwasher days. Today, we spend far, far less time cleaning up; in fact, the majority of our time spent working in the Kitchen today is spent prepping.) No we are flexible. My wife had made a small video clip of our tour of the house. It is extremely poor quality but if it helps I'll add it below.

Good question...That space is actually not that big in real life. We'll likely put the 2 chairs with a table in between that we have in the sunroom now. We may end up with a moveable island in the "butler's pantry" -- agree, it's more of an extended kitchen space. But we can reuse the same cabinets so it will be low cost and extra storage since we'll have less in the main kitchen area. Moving the bathroom was deemed to be more than $10k, and creates a lot more complexity in the project. I am intrigued by that idea, but I think that will actually make the house feel smaller since that will create more of a closed off hallway from our utility room.