I love your kitchen and layout. Quick question: I am thinking of ordering the Amana panel ready fridge and noticed that you placed custom handles. The salesperson told me that we couldn't change the handles. How did you do it? Or maybe you could provide me with the model number. That would be very much appreciated.

I'm going to urge you to steer clear of polyshades. It's just too hard to get color control with it. Even more aggravating if you're not accustomed to working with stain or poly. But that's just my .02. Pine does need to be condition before staining. That helps stain to absorb evenly. Otherwise, you'll have a blotchy mess. I do think emagineer's idea is an excellent one. I would go to an independent dealer or someone like Ace (my local Ace carries some great exterior stains) because you're apt to get better advice than a big box store. My Ace carries some outstanding stains, including Cabot's and Sikkens. (They are the only Sikkens dealer I've seen in the area, haven't used it yet, but you should see the Sikkens samples on wood, absolutely stunning! Costly tho.) I've used several brands of exterior stains on our deck, privacy and picket fence. Behr is OK. I like Olympic (it held well on picket.) Cabot makes a good product, and their semi-solid exterior stains might just do the trick. The semi-solid will hide more of the wood grain (but not all of it) but allows texture to remain. They sell small sample cans, too, and have a good color selection. You don't have to worry about a lot of 'extra' feature of exterior stains such as UV protection or water repel because it's an interior job. And it will need to be covered with a protective top coat. Keep in mind oil-based polyurethane can 'amber up' over time, taking on a golden hue. There are other alternatives, such as water based. (Minwax site has a forum as well as lots of info on product types.) I've linked below to a good book, it covers a multitude of ways to finish wood ;) Here is a link that might be useful: Great Wood Finishes: A step-by-step guide

This is great advice, BUT...what if you and your spouse aren't on same page or timetable. My husband is all about the nuts and bolts of construction, but I am trying to be proactive and get some other decisions made about what he deems more "decorator/cosmetic" type stuff...i.e., cabinetry and interior trim/casing, etc. I tried to tell him the cabinets could have a lengthy lead time depending on what we pick, and that BEFORE we can decide on cabinetry, we have to make a decision on appliances. In other words, we can't plan cabinetry around the 25 year old refrigerator he doesn't want to get rid of until it croaks... We should "plan" for the refrigerator we "want" rather than what we "have". I also want a 36 inch rangetop instead of a 30 inch gas cooktop, and that too has go into the planning. I know he's thinking we'll take a wait and see approach - meaning what we have left $$$-wise and then make appliance decisions, but in the real world it doesn't work that way. I've just run into the same issue with the siding on the house - the plans were drawn with hardie board & batten siding to give the project a fresher mountain farmhouse look. Our GC assumed that meant we wanted to paint the siding after installation because my husband really didn't listen to me when I talked about using a rustic prefinished hardie siding. He thought the "rustic" could just be painted on afterwards, and now is crazed because the GC is telling him the local company that prefinishes the hardie has a 3 month lead time due to their volumes, and the other company that does that type of prefinishing is in Canada and the Pacific Northwest and we'll have high(er) freight charges. It goes back to thinking that "painting" is just "painting" and is a cosmetic thing...

Love that SW raisin! The cedar on the siding stain and deck would look great as long as it is opaque enough to cover what it already in existence. The paint experts at your local SW store could recommend the right products. Good job!