antss-I certainly appreciate what you are saying but I was looking for opinions from what I know are very knowledgable people on this forum. I can take all the comments and then make my own educated decision. By the way, are there any appliance specialists out there?? In my recent experiences at the local appliance stores, I know more than the sales people--it is very frustrating to get entirely different answers to the same questions. I did call both Diva and Thermador. Diva said that I could definitely place the warming drawer in the middle of the cabinet base. Thermador's exact words "You can put a warming drawer anywhere you want." Didn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence! pecanpie-thanks for your feedback. I want to place my drawer in the same place you have yours Can I ask what brand of induction you have? I am going with the Diva which is only about 4" deep so I think having the top drawer for ventilation will be fine.

I would worry about what the heat lamps were doing to the cabinets above...unless there were a few inches of air space b/w the lights & cabinets. Heat would still rise to them, but maybe with that air clearance it wouldn't be too much???? Instead of just putting items to be warmed on the counter, what about a shelf like the ones that come w/the hoods (like Vent-A-Hood)? Maybe you could install one of those rails on your backsplash that you could hang a shelf from...maybe only an inch or two above the counter.... Another couple of options... How about a warming "cabinet"? (It could be put away when not needed.) For example, Photo from Target.com BroilKing Warming Cabinet with Family-Size Warming Tray Or a warming lamp set? I handle the Snack Bar at my DS's high school and we have a setup for keeping the hot dogs & BBQ sandwiches warm...it's a stand w/two heat lamps + a commercial serving dish (in SS) that sits on the rack. It keeps the hot dogs & BBQ warm. (We also put the cinnamon buns there sometimes to warm them up...the kids like them warm!) It looks something like this: Photo from HeatLampWorld.Com Here is a link that might be useful: Display Warmers at Heat Lamp World

Thx everyone I agree and am livid especially knowing our cabinets could have started today. Our gc had weeks to get this done but his focus turned onto something else. He even has staining to do of a beam that is above our island and had planned on doing it a few weeks ago never got done. I seriously don't want workers on top of my island when they should have stained the beam. My husband was leaving him a note this am that nothing else is to be except the kitchen floor. We are very upset. He obviously is just delivering what he promised anymore as he has his focus on new projects. Anyways hopefully after this week it won't be too much longer. But thx for confirming that it isn't right my dh basically felt it was shoddy work and yep it is

To follow up, the Juno lights as installed look good so far (although my kitchen is flooded with natural light right now, so I won't know for sure until it's dark out) - I took a chance but I love that there's an off/switch on each of the 3 bars (2 24's and 1 12) on the left hand side and a dimmer dial on the right, plus the on/off switch on the wall for all 3 (which are connected), so we can very much customize the amount of light is on and off each time we turn the switch on and off on the wall. or we can leave the wall switch on and use the on-bar controls. It's a lot more versatility than any other LED light that I've seen. And when on full blast the lights are pretty bright, and when dimmed they are pretty dim, so far. What I might do to get around the problem of having reflections on the shiny (Zodiaq cloud white) countertop, is use the stick-on diffusers provided with the environmental lights package, and put those on the Junos and not return them to environmental lights. One thing re environmental lights - they know their stuff, were VERY helpful and I'd love to work with them. I just prefer a dimmer dial. And Juno's customer service is not 24/7 like some electrical support shops - it's just M-F, which I didn't like as much. And the dimmer-dial LEDs we used aren't even on its website, for whatever reason. I tried to call its customer service line today to ask why they aren't on the website and make sure they still support them before deciding which to install - but they aren't available today (a Sunday). For what it's worth, the Juno bars we installed have a 5 year warranty and the environmental lights have a 3 year warranty. I'm not sure why the difference and it wasn't a big factor in deciding, but worthy of note.