Great idea. You should post this in the Pro to Pro area too.

Thanks for such detailed responses. I am learning a lot. Here is the bid the contractor sent. I am curious what others think of his construction details. Note, I specified I wanted Ben Moore Natura because of no VOC (it is what is used in the rest of our house). He says he only paints with a certain kind of spray on paint that is very fumy so he would leave them unpainted and have my house painter paint them instead. My house painter is meticulous, so I suppose that is fine. Also, I expressed a desire to have some of the weight transferred to the brick party walls so the floors are not taking all of the weight, hence his note at the bottom about lumber. Is this an appropriate solution? **** "Contractor will build and install one built-in bookcase third-floor 79”x91”x10” Contractor will manufacture bookcases unfinished without paint or stain. Bookcase bottoms, sides and tops will be constructed out of ¾” veneer core material. Back of bookcase will be constructed out of ½” veneer core material. All shelving will be straight flat ¾” veneer core material. Baseboard of bookcase will match existing baseboard throughout room. There will be three 3” fluted dividers placed on front of bookcase. One on each wall and one center. There will be one flat header piece tying front of bookcase to ceiling. This bookcase unit will be constructed wall to wall and ceiling to ceiling without any cracks or crevices. All wood products for this project are made in the United States. Contractor will attempt to hang bookcase with minimum weight partially bearing on to floor. Contractor will concrete bold 2 x 2 lumber onto brick party wall and fasten back of bookcases to 2 x 2 lumber.

A bit late on the response, but Provincial is always a good call. However, this obviously depends on the type of wood you are staining. In this photo, the stairs are Alder and the flooring is Hickory. They are both stained with Provincial, but the woods take stain VERY differently. These other rooms have the 5" Hickory with a great deal of variance for character. All stained with Provincial: Good luck with your project!

dchall_ in my opinion, when people buy houses they are always looking for a way to lower the offer, so kitchen cabinets (or lack thereof) are just one way to support a lower offer. I (and many others) love the more open kitchens. I personally find rows of upper cabinets very off-putting. I had a home with exceptionally few top cabinets that still sold at the best price per square foot in the area at that time. A great floorplan, tons of windows and natural light etc. For me anyways, there is so much more to a home beyond the kitchen. The overall floor plan is critical--- adding extra cabinets is exceptionally easy, but expensive and difficult to overcome an unfortunate floor plan. Personally, I really dislike buying a home where the kitchen has just been renovated or where the kitchen is huge. We actually do a lot of cooking, if I were guessing, way more than average but we just prefer the functional kitchen. And for reasons unknown to me, I just don't have a lot of grease flying around (thank goodness)... I put it down to not much deep frying and covering pans while cooking. Anyways, I just think that everyone has a different style, and none are wrong :) I appreciate nice designs, even though they may not be my personal "style."