Thank you, logic. Also, just to respond to your questions and comments you are posing regarding the insurance coverage for K&T...we bought our house 3 1/2 years ago. We're in FL. Our homeowners provider would not insure K&T and we were told that no insurance provider would cover K&T. I feel like a K&T hazard expert after this ordeal. You are absolutely correct that splicing into K&T is not the only hazard. K&T was used decades ago - in our case, in 1924 - therefore, over time rodents and other factors have eaten away at the wiring insulation which poses a serious hazard. Also, as you pointed out, we had a lot of K&T in our attic and recently added insulation (before we knew there was K&T still in the attic). Serious hazard! It's almost a given that since K&T hasn't been used in decades that it has either been spliced into at some point or some of the insulation has eroded and/or been compromised by rodents.

Agreed. Door panels to finish the island make a big difference. Don't worry about the faucet (you don't have a choice anyway), you'll be looking at the finished door panels! Pet peeve of mine: When they measure for the door panels, have the panels on the long side cover the edges of the panels on the short sides. Example, if the island is 60" wide, and the panels are 3/4", have the panels total 61 1/2" and have the 24" side panels 24 3/4" to cover the edge of the cabinet doors on the business side of the island. That's if you're doing frameless cabinets. I didn't read the whole thread - if you're doing inset, the sizes are different.

Choosing who will make your cabinets may take you longer than any other single decision, and while it's frustrating not to be able to get a simple comparison chart of the top 5 brands, in the end you will have more confidence in your decision. When you say sophisticated designs with some choices, what are you looking for? We lucked out because we looked at four or five semi-custom lines, and the one we liked the door style on the most was the most affordable. Ours are made by Pacific Crest Industries, and the door style is Bellmont (their semicustom line) although the interiors of the cabinets are Amero (their lower price point line). We live in northern California, and the company is in Washington State. We have a nutmeg cherry finish that we like, and there were several other options. Pacific Crest a family business, which is no guarantee in terms of the company's reliability, but they worked with us when we had damage to two cabinets that came in our main shipment. Many cabinet makers are only available in the region around them, and not nationally, which makes it hard to get information about them on the web. If you post a message like "looking for quality cabinets in Arizona" or Texas or whatever, you might get more specific suggestions. There are people on these forums who will advise finding a local cabinetmaker to design and install custom cabinets. They claim it can be more affordable. It also should have the benefit that you can get exactly the door style that you want. We didn't look into it because I was worried about how long it would take to get the work done. My fear may have been unfounded, though! You would not want a contractor to do this for you -- you'd want to find someone who does finish woodworking all the time, and can get you in to see some of their finished kitchens in customers' homes. For the organization options, don't assume that you have to spec all that out before you order your cabinets -- it may be cheaper to order some things yourself. Check out Rev-a-Shelf. We put a lot of organization things into our drawers that would have cost at least twice as much if we had ordered them with our cabinets -- and they were *exactly* the same things. Trash pullout, knife drawer insert, bread drawer... spice racks, etc. Also, ask on here about specific needs, because there are a number of creative budget conscious people who share their ideas. Finally -- welcome to the kitchen forum! Keep asking questions, and I guarantee you'll get plenty of help.

I would not go side by side unless it was columns at least 30” each. We had the conventional SxS for 23 years and despite being 36” wide wide, 36” deep, free standing, and huge, it never had enough space. it died before our kitchen remodel began. We now have a temporary counter depth 36” wide Beko french door top with freeze drawer bottom and althugh the thing is far smaller than the behemouth fridge we had before, it is far more spacious as you can see everything, and it is wider so things fit! it will be moved to rec room and we will be installing a 30” SZ bottom freezer drawer - just one, as we are now empty nesters and the kitchen is smallish. After practicing with the Beko we know we can manage with the slightly smaller Subzero. With that said, i definitly prefer bottom freezer, and drawer, over hinged side opening. Easier to reach down and dig rather than crouch down to reach in. We also have a massive freezer in our garage so can keep kitchen freezer organized. Anyway, my $ .02.