Hi Asovey, How great that you're at the beginning of the process--it's a blast! Top of my list is an open, light, bright workspace that's beautiful--a place where I love to spend time and can easily work. Under this category fall an excellent KD and cabinetmaker, great lighting, natural light, and in my case white cabinets and white marble counters (personal taste...) Second is an excellent, quiet vent hood (I have the 54" Best by Broan with inline attic-mounter blower). I tore out an entire section of perfectly good kitchen in order to be able to install this with the custom wood hood around it. Third would be drawers, drawers, drawers. Deep pot drawers, plenty of drawers for utensils and wraps, etc. They're the best thing since sliced bread...literally :) ...in the kitchen. Fourth is a spacious, well-lit, easily accessible pantry. Fifth is pull-out sink faucets and a veggie sink in the island or main prep area. I love my new higher-end appliances, but I was pretty much just as happy with my Kenmore rangetop as I am with the new Wolf range, my Viking fridge is nothing to write home about--the previous Jenn-Air was just as good and quieter, and although I love my Miele DW, it's had so many problems that it was replaced by the company after 16 months. Never had a problem with the previous Kenmore. My point is that in my case and IMHO, form, storage space, layout, construction quality, and lighting are more important than my appliances. Have to agree with the 48" Wolf in the island being a potential problem. Your island would have to be massive to accommodate the range and still leave room for landing space and everything else that goes on around an island, that space could easily lose the intimate feel. I also hear people with in-island ranges complaining about splattering guests and family members while cooking, and always having a big mess in the main gathering area. It looks great for cooking shows, but ask around and see if people with that arrangement like it IRL. Personal choice, of course. Good luck, and enjoy the process!!

Try these only if you are a hot foods aficionado, because these bad boys will certainly light you up: 1. Sriracha, specifically the Huy Fong brand. It's a wonderfully capsicum-y hot sauce. Very hot, hotter than Tabasco but not nearly as vinegary as Tabasco. I prefer the American made Huy Fong brand to the Thai version. Available at most Asian groceries; my local Indian grocer sells a ton of it. 2. Smoked Spanish paprika, or pimenton. This comes in three hotnesses, from sweet to bittersweet to hot. The sweet has very little zing, but does add a smoky fullness to the dish. All are great on eggs and meats. --A related condiment is chipotle powder. Chipotle peppers are jalapeno peppers which are allowed to get red-ripe, then smoked over oak fires, then canned in sauce. The powdered version is a little more convenient to use than the canned chipotle peppers. Here is a link that might be useful: huy fong sriracha

Not long ago, I was at Old Time Pottery and got two very heavy high gloss square plates. They are big and different looking, I use them on our very square small table just for the two of us. They never bounce around in the dish washer either. Food looks so pretty on them. But when Linens & Things was clearing the shelves, I bought 2 plates of every color in their earthenware line, along with some all colored quilted place mats. With gold chargers and white salad plates sitting in them, they make the round traditional table in DH's cape dining room really cheerful. Those plates are heavy too. For DH, I have been collecting pieces of his mama's china, a bone color with a simple gold band, and that is used for family dinners at his house. Dishes are fun, and not a serious issue, but a chance to add color to a very white/black kitchen. I have a lot of Pfalzgraff Naturewood, but am gradually giving it to my DIL who still likes it. So many dishes, so little time!

If you haven't moved in yet ... If you truly don't like the kitchen as is ... Consider what you DO like most about it. Then decide what you do like LEAST about your new kitchen. Focus on saving the former and getting at least a temporary fix for the latter that is within your budget before you actually move in -- or at least before you move your kitchen items and appliances into the kitchen. Then wait a few months before doing anything else. Breaking your budget not increase the enjoyment of your new home; it will have h opposite effect. If you buy knobs and/or pulls, choose those you'd want to reuse in your dream kitchen -- or wait until your budget permits that. If you do actually like the wood "greenhouse" window, then WHY would you paint the wood trim on the cabinets intended to mimic that wood? If you only want to keep that one wood window, do that, but if you like the wood and just want to change all the rest of the colors, do that instead. There are even paints that will adhere to countertops but that require the countertop be "roughed" first. It may be that roughing the laminate will help as well to get you a temporary paint fix to the colors in your kitchen if that is the way you choose to go. Check You Tube to see if that is a fix you could live with until you can do the actual renno you truly want. There are paints that, applied in thin coats and permitted to dry fully between coats will actually adhere to plastic ... and laminate such as the 2x RustO'leum spray paints, provided the surface is totally clean -- you paint a greasy film or dust or dirt and it falls off, then the paint falls off. Before you move in, invest in the quality painter's tape and some plastic sheeting and cover what you don't want painted. Wearing clothes you don't care if you throw them away and with the window with painted frame and any doors open for ventilation paint what you want changed. If that is all the white laminate, paint it rather than tossing significant money at a temporary fix that you probably will not like and yet will likely cost enough to delay the real fix -- replacing the cabinets. What color do you want to be the dominant color in your future dream kitchen? You could paint the walls and the painted window frame near the stove that color as a test run to see how much you really do like the color as much as you thought -- for instance -- your favorite color is green, you could paint everything that is to be painted beneath the countertop level a darker green and everything that is to be painted above countertop level a lighter green. Congrats on the new home and good luck with your kitchen upgrade.