I have experience with both Kraftmaid(1 kitchen) and Omega (2 bathrooms).Omega is Lexus and Kraftmaid is Chevrolet.So we would expect Omega to be better designed, better materials, better built, and be higher cost. As far as quality within their price points Omega was much better. My experience with Kraftmaid. I selected Kraftmaid for a kitchen remodel because Kraftmaid finish and door style best matched some existing custom cabinets that I was not replacing. With Kraftmaid you have to be your own Quality Control. By that I mean you have to inspect each piece for defects. The uniformity in finish was poor. In some cases panels and molding was poorly applied, hardware was missing, functioning was poor, etc. Both Home Depot and Kraftmaid were willing to correct all problems and quickly ship new when required.It appears that they were happy to operate in this mode. They did not even ask for the defective components or cabinets to be returned. When I requested a missing part they would send me a box full. I ended up with a very nice kitchen. So if you are willing to put up with this hassle you will end up with nice cabinets. This experience was about 6 years ago during the height of the building and remodeling frenzy so things may be better now. With Omega, about 2 years ago, everything, including custom pieces, were delivered to my satisfaction.

I know it's discouraging when your picks get criticized. And the last thing I want is for someone's vision for their kitchen to get nitpicked down into the lowest common denominator of "safe" choices. So before I say what I think, I want to ask, what is YOUR vision for this kitchen? I don't mean specific choices, but what kind of overall look you want to achieve. Can you post some inspiration pics? I ask this, because I really can't tell where you are going based on your choices. The floor is quite rustic, the cabinets are solidly transitional, and I would probably put the counter in that category as well. Both backsplashes, this one and the one in the previous thread, are quite modern. I think you can choose two of the three (modern, transitional, rustic), but trying to include all three is to make your kitchen elements fight with each other. I think that is why people's reactions have been negative. It's not that they don't like the individual elements, its that they don't pull together for a cohesive design. I liked the backsplash in your previous thread much better than this one. Mosaic tile, in my opinion based on about a zillion pictures of kitchen that have them, are really hard to get right. They have so much going on that they don't brook any competition from the other elements in the kitchen. You need a very low-pattern counter, and they are better with slab-front cabinets. With your choices, all three of the cabinet, counter, and floor will fight with the mosaic to some extent. In the previous thread, Anglophilia was the odd-person out for calling out your cabinet choice as the problem. If you really want a modern looking backspash, then I'm going to agree. Replace the orange-toned shaker with a slab door with a cooler, darker stain that plays well with the floor color and I think it could work with the old backsplash choice. If you want to keep the floors and cabinets, I'd still tone down the orange in the cabinet a bit to work better with the floor (or warm up the color of the floor to play better with the cabinet), but I'd choose a rustic or transitional backsplash. Both of your counter choices look fine with the floor and the cabinets, and with the earlier backsplash. I don't like either with the current backsplash choice because the mosaic tile works best with a solid-color (or close to it) counter. Try not to get discouraged!

Of the proposed layouts, I prefer this one ... it avoids the double island thing (which I generally dislike), yet keeps the "riff raff" seated where you want them -- out of your space ... while still allowing you direct access to the sliding door, which I think is of primary importance. To further complicate matters, you can also opt for a pass-through to the DR, if you put the sink on the bottom wall. ;)I like the one below the least. It creates a little rat's maze for the cook, who will always be walking around that island-crammed-into-a-U. Too many steps around the peninsula to reach the slider. If you do go with this one, I'd insist upon the pass-through window suggested above.

Debbi nailed it - if you don't have somewhere where a distinct change in the flooring materials makes sense, then it will look odd. The inside wall with the wall ovens and cabinets extends further into your living space than the cabinets on the outside wall do - so no, it doesn't line up. Quarter sawn white oak with a walnut stain should be reasonably sturdy; it's considerably harder than walnut. It will get the odd dent when things get dropped etc. but the good thing about oak is that the grain will tend to help hide blemishes. We have maple in our house, including the kitchen, and yeah - after a year, there are some dings. But it's warmer, easier on your feet and will make your main floor flow nicely. Note: the most important thing you can do to protect your floors from damage is take your outdoor shoes OFF in the house. (not looking to open that silly shoes off/shoes on debate from a philosophical view again - but grit and dirt from outdoors is the enemy of hardwood flooring.) We wear slippers in the house. And my kitchen floor is just as clean as any tile floor - it's natural maple, so it's pretty obvious when it needs mopping. I don't think tile is intrinsically any cleaner than hardwood. ;)