I splurged and went with the brass. The wait won't be that big of a deal since everything else is so behind schedule anyway! Next round of questions: Should I do a small backsplash in butcher block? Our countertops will be exclusively butcher block and the backsplash white shiplap. I quite like the look of the wood back splashes in the DeVol and Plain English kitchens shown here. Yay or nay? If you like them, how tall and how thick should they be? Also in this one photo attached the backsplash is installed behind the counter rather than on top which is how I'd imagine doing it. Any idea which is preferable? I was going to do IKEA solid oak counters but have accepted that it really can't be a DIY job since I chose an undermount sink with curved corners and don't have the skill to confidently make that cut. We'll spend a bit more on having them and and finished, ready to install. I'm leaning toward Eastern Maple because it's hard and quite pale. That's a better choice than very old reclaimed fir I'd imagine, even if it has a cool backstory.

@Sonya M, I ended up doing Venetian plaster throughout the kitchen. I did not want the walls to be very shiny, so the plasterer kept it relatively matte. She applied a special wax behind the stove, which makes it wipeable, but also gives that wall a little more sheen. So far it's working pretty well. We have splattered hot oil and tomato sauce on the wall, and it mostly wipes right off. The only issue we've run into is that she missed a few spots when she applied the wax, so we'll occasionally find a spot where the plaster stains. She's coming back to finish some other things, so I'm going to ask her to apply another coat of wax. I think if she hits the areas she missed on the first round, we'll be very happy with it. I designed the kitchen, but I did hire a kitchen design company because they had a relationship with a good custom cabinet manufacturer near me. I couldn't order cabinets directly through the manufacturer on my own. The kitchen designers had some very helpful suggestions, so I was happy I worked with them.

To make sure you get ” what you want“ you first have to know exactly what it is that you want an be able to communicate that to who ever is diong the work. Part of that is deciding how close to the ”deVOL” look you want to get and what budget you are willing to commit to to achive that. To me their cabinets are inset shaker cabinets with a few details that distinguish their brand. One would be the porpotions meaning the width of the stiles and rails on the doors themselves, running the vertical face frame members to the ground to create a ”leg” effect, the color palette they use which is also brush-painted and things like oak dove-tail drawers and trim moldings. I have done the ”Chalon” Eniglish kitchen which is more difficult than this because of their unique ”chipped paint finish” but it‘s about being able to find someone willing to go that litte extra and you being able to let them know what that is. There are so many cabinet people here in LA but most will only want to do what they do or be seriously overpriced.

@Maria We just signed the contract for our new painted, Brookhaven frameless cabinets and there a a lot of them. Fridge and DW panels, island panels, two trash pullouts, all drawer bases (9 of them), pantry with rollouts, wall oven cabinet with inserts and 6 15" uppers, one with glass doors. Cost around $50K with very little customization. I did a significantly larger kitchen than this 5 years ago at our beach house with the same cabinets and the price was the same so things have gone up in price quite a bit. We did a much smaller, custom kitchen in our previous house 14 years ago which had cabinets made by Kennebec Company in Maine, period style for our old house. Inset, some glass, 15" uppers (3), all drawer bases (4, one highly customized), two pullouts, one for trash, one for cans, wall oven cabinet with inserts, fridge, freezer and DW panel, crown mold and furniture style toe kick trim, penisnula panels, quartersawn oak, hand painted interiors (even drawers) and they cost $55K. This is a long way of saying that $40K does sound low for high quality full custom painted inset cabinets. I might add that while my Kennebec cabinets were beautiful, like fine furniture, I hated myself for spending so much money on them which is why I chose mid range for my new kitchen. The joy/price ratio just wasn't high enough for me. LOL.