I searched for a well-made, well-priced cabinet for months and I know how hard it is to finally make a decision. If you are going through a similar tug of war trying to find quality and a good price, you might stumble across a company called Choice Cabinets. DO NOT buy from this company. I was told by the Chicago distributor that I had to fully pay in advance in order to get the best discount (major mistake by me). Amazingly, the next day, I was told that some of the cabinets were back ordered. I didn't get the last one until almost 3 months after I paid. Funny thing is that on their website they talk about quick delivery being one of their benefits. BUT, OH DOES IT GET WORSE! One of the cabinets was stained wrong. The Chicago distributor told me I could re-stain it with a stain pen. When I did it looked terrible. The distributor�s solution? He made me buy a new one. OH DOES IT GET WORSE. The local distributor actually measured my kitchen (or input the figures) wrong and my cabinets didn't fit. Yep, you guessed it. I was told that I signed the contract and I needed to pay for the new cabinets even though I had their blueprint with the wrong measurements. OH DOES IT GET WORSE. After having nothing but trouble with our local distributor, I wrote the owner of the company (based in Cleveland). He emailed me back saying that they don't talk to or communicate with customers. I needed to work things out with my distributor. When I told him that wasn't possible, he never responded back to me. Can you imagine a company that gladly takes your money, but won't take your call or email??? YOU DO NOT WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY. Almost NOTHING they said was true and I greatly regret giving them my money. During this same period, I have spent $50,000 getting new flooring, window treatments, 2 bathrooms re-done, painting, new fireplace, etc and not had one problem. Choice Cabinets is the worst customer service company I've dealt with in a long time. Stay away.

I must be the oddball, I'm willing to overlook a bad floor plan, if the space, location, view is good, I'll remodel the interior. To me, bad layout is one of the deal breakers, if it cant be fixed/changed. That would bug me forever. What did you see from the floor plans that eliminated the homes? One of my dealbreakers is running into the stairs when you open the front door (crowds the foyer too much). This can be shown in photos, but often is not. Layout would show it and save a trip. Example 1: A house had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and I think 3 living areas mentioned. Upon viewing, the bedrooms were tiny and the living areas were oversized, and the layout was such that you couldn't carve from the living areas to make another bedroom. Example 2: A house had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and living and family rooms. But the 2nd bath was a tiny powder room off the master bedroom, and expanding it would have meant cutting into the kitchen. In both cases, a floor plan would have let me play with remodeling options, and I would have been able to quickly figure out that it wasn't feasible. And no, the room sizes in and of themselves aren't sufficient info. Because we moved walls to right-size rooms before. But until you see the floor plan, you don't know if walls can be moved.

Mark took responsibility for his minor mistakes and had a good experience. He ended up feeling good and believing he had made a good decision. He had done a lot of research before deciding to work with VOVO. He is pleased with his new kitchen, in the way a balanced individual is pleased. Notably, he didn't say it was the best business decision he had ever made in his life. He would have sounded overly-excitable and discredited himself if he had said that. Why did Mark have a good experience whereas a client who ordered from VOVO after learning of his success here on this page did not? There are many possibilities. He didn't blame VIVO for things that weren't their fault. He took control of his installation and was able to make adjustments as needed when the unexpected occurred. He maintained a positive relationship with VOVO from start to finish. I believe that I can have a good experience with the company, similar to Mark's.

Great thread title. I'm coming in late, but here are my thoughts: - I understand that at this point the size is what the size is, and I think you've made improvements to the layout over the course of this thread. I like the suggestions that bring your "major players" closer together so you'll have essentially a strong core work area ... and your secondary items pushed to the edges. - The single best idea is moving the clean up sink to the left wall so it's more convenient to the two table areas. The original layout seemed designed to maximize your steps /maximize drips on the floor /maximize chances for dishes to be dropped and broken. - Given that you have the other over-sized high-function sink for prep, any basic 36" sink would work fine for cleanup. No need to go with a ledge sink (and extra cost) for clean up. - Do you have adequate disk storage near the dishwasher AND near the tables? Again, I'm thinking about unnecessary steps. - Ideally storage would all be close together -- your pantry, refrigerator, freezer. Spreading these things out across the kitchen makes for more work when you bring groceries home, and it makes for more steps when you're cooking. - At some point you mentioned buffet space. Where is that space now? I'd think you'd want it near the dining room since you'd probably want it for when you have guests. - I'm not sure whether the main work aisle width has changed since the original layout or not, but be sure you're not making it too wide. I have a galley kitchen with an aisle of just over 5' ... and the two sides are 1-2 steps too far apart. The two portions don't "play nicely together". Be careful with this! Too much space is just as bad as too little space. - I like the original pantry + L-shaped desk, though I don't like that you have to cross the whole kitchen to reach the pantry. Other people have said desks aren't needed anymore, and I do hate the desk in my kitchen, but I hate it because it's smack-dab in the middle of the room. This one is large and tucked away nicely in a corner ... it'd be an ideal pocket office, though I would want to extend the windows down from the cleanup sink area /bring in some natural light to the desk. And be sure you include plenty of electrical outlets. - You say you cook only "moderately". As such, I think you're vastly over-applianced. Why does a family that cooks moderately need three sinks, three dishwashers, an oversized cooktop area, and I'm not sure how many ovens? I think you've seen things and thought, "Ooh, this would be nice, and we have space!" rather than asking, "What will we really use?" The space exists ... but I'd suggest you think twice about all these appliances. - You say aesthetics and function are equally important ... with this size kitchen and a window only on the narrow end, I'd suggest you go with light colors to brighten up the place.