My kitchen is 13'x20', and there are 7 pages of photos linked. The photos go from original to new kitchen. If you'd like any of the KD's plans, let me know. I'll scan them and add them to the photo album. One end has the working end of the kitchen, the other has the dining area. There is an 8' archway into the family room on the dining end (it used to be a 6' sliding door to the outside patio), and a 45" square window over the sink that is now just an opening into the family room - used to be a glass window overlooking a very messy patio! DonnaR/CA Here is a link that might be useful: Donna's kitchen from start to finish

Hi there. I'm by no means a lighting expert, but I can tell you my experience and hope you can benefit from my mistake. As a result of a hasty design and no research, I placed my 6" cans in the wrong spot along my cabinets. If you put the cans behind the counter - like yours are placed in the design, you will get shadows on your counter top...very annoying shadows. I then did some research and discovered that the proper placement for the counter lighting is such that the light is centered over the counter's edge. This does indeed eliminate the shadows. As for distance between cans, the simple plan would be to place your 6" cans, 6 feet apart; 4" cans, 4 feet apart, etc. This is for a standard ceiling. A taller ceiling can have them closer, but I don't know the specifics. This leads me to my next mistake which was to place the 6" cans too close together. My kitchen was too bright and I was never able to find the right combination of bulbs to satisfy my lighting needs. Upon this recent remodel, I did better research and I'm now using 4" cans spaced properly and at the right depth (from the wall out to the counter) and the first round of bulbs (standard 9 watt CFL/50 watt equiv) were perfect. HTH.

Thanks everyone! Mellyc123--Here's a photo (sorry it's so blurry) of the family room from when we first moved in. We've added some accessories and lighting, but the sectional, rug and credenza are the same. You can see it's much more masculine and darker wood and colors than the kitchen.

Maybe it is the way I have drawn it, but there is actually no issue with the door and cabinetry clearance as drawn. That said, I would still love swinging doors! And Cabinet guy said he will specify a super hard finish for the shelving paint. He buys the paint from a company here in GA who can duplicate the formula of any paint brand but it is formulated for the kind off sprayer booth he has and in different hides. It's as good or better than any factory finished paint I've ever seen. (Cabinet guy is an owner operator who took over his father's shop about eight years ago. He has one FT and one PT employee and they do one kitchen at a time, filling in waiting times with small projects like mine.) So I a, going to go with the painted finish and try not to let any future dings bother me. I guess that makes the darker paint a better option?