Thanks for everyone's responses! KayceeeFL, thanks for the picture. It really was interesting to see the same cabinet both with and without crown molding. mtnrdredux, I kind of agree with you. Our current house is very simple and has low (less than 8' ceilings!) so the crown was a total no-go here. It's the 9' ceilings in the new place that have me wondering. Misstella and mcmjilly, we don't want to go to the ceiling. That's definitely too much for our style. artemis78, yeah, I hope we don't have that problem. But again, I don't think we want to go all the way up to the ceiling. I've asked the KD to let me know exactly what crown he was talking about and what the price is. It gets increased from "regular" pricing because we have that darn custom stain upcharge. I wish we didn't have it, but I hated every single color stain they had, and I wasn't willing to compromise on this. We're cutting back on flooring costs to cover the kitchen costs. We can always replace carpet in 5 or 6 years, but I'm not re-doing this darned kitchen! We'll make a decision after we hear the price and see the crown sample in person. Thanks everyone!

All of the building inspectors I run into want 18" clearance at the sides of the cooking area. They rely on the appliance mfg specs, some measure from the undercabinet molding. Most brands have the same number of shelves in a 39 as a 42,... 36's vary. I'll often work out positioning the first shelf reasonably low and order extra shelves (in 36" cabs) if need be as a way to maximize storage, maintain proportion and fit molding. Easier to reach too.

I think it does come down to the fact that I'm not 100% certain of his competency. We've had so many incompetent people involved in this remodel (costing us time and money) that I just don't want to take a chance on this. For example: --Contractor's assistant decided to cut drywall ON TOP of the piece of MARBLE we just had cut for the master bath shower bench (you can imagine the outcome of that) --Contractor's sub / electrician knocked holes in newly hung drywall in order to access what he wanted in order to avoid doing it the right way due to being "too much work." This same person also cracked/chipped about 8 slate floor tiles in the basement while working at the electrical panel. --Floor company took 3 weeks to complete hardwood staining/refinishing only to majorly screw up (I posted photos in another thread) the floor, leaving us to find another company to do it all over again. We've since been living in our basement for over 2 months. So...I could go on and on and on - those are just a few of many things. And so far we haven't asked our contractor to pay for even ONE thing he or his subs have screwed up. We simply want him to finish the job and GET OUT! Since everyone involved in our remodel seems to be having financial issues, we're lucky if anyone even shows up to work, much less have any idea when our "5-6 month" project which has stretched into 10 so far will be finished. Sigh....

I can't comment on the design or quality of cabinets but my old kitchen did have 15" above counters. I didn't realize this until I started remodeling when I actually measured the distance. I had a portion with no upper cabinets. The only thing that didn't fit under the cabinets was my Cuisinart coffee maker. which I kept on the counter which didn't have upper cabinets. The Cuisinart food processor didn't fit under the cabinets but I didn't keep it on the counter anyway so when I used it I would put it on the counter which didn't have uppers. My KA Mixer did fit under the cabinet except when the blade was raised so I kept it on the counter but slid it out when I was actually using it so I could raise the blades. I am short and I realized that the low height of the uppers actually made the upper cabinets more accessible. Another three inches of height and the highest shelf would have been completely inaccessible without a step stool. I was able to access most items on upper shelf by standing on tip toes. With my remodel I did opt for standard 18" height for upper cabinets although I did consider 15". I am having toe kick step stools built in to each cabinet which has uppers so I will be able to easily access top shelf so that solved the issue but I didn't find 15" to be problematic - in fact it was actually more functional than standard height would have been because I did have a run of counter with no uppers which enabled me to use tall appliances for prep in that area.