I couldnt find my original post so starting a new one.

A brief reminder: we redid a bunch of things in the house including the kitchen. We hired GC separate from the cabinet people which turned out to be a mistake. The GC was great, the cabinet people, not so much.

We started demo november of 2017, cabinets were to take 5 weeks and the forecasted finish date was beginning of feb 2018.

When I moved the garbage drawer supposedly that caused a 5 week delay, taking us to feb 1 for delivery of cabinets. A few of the cabinets failed to arrive taking another month (around mar 1). When they did arrive, they were mdf not plywood. It took another month to get the right cabinets in. We elected to move into the house april 1 even though the kitchen was not done, since it was usable.

Fast forward to today and the cabinet people still arent done. The thing that was the most frustrating is while we were waiting for the correct cabinets they could have finished everything else. The cabinets that were missing/wrong were the peninsula which are not connected to any other cabinet group. The only thing that was delayed for that were the countertops.

Anyway, we still love the kitchen, we just wish they could finish. On the plus side as a concession for screwing up we were able to convert a bunch of the lower cabinets to drawer stacks (several of them were supposed to be drawers, but werent).

They still need to convert cabinets to drawers, put the paneling on much of the surfaces, but the pics can give you the overall feel.

As far as the function of the kitchen we love it except the vent hood

I had big debates with my GC about makeup air and the vent ducting. The hood is 1200 cfm and the spec is 10 inch ducts. My gc installed 8 inch ducts saying he has always done that and it is fine. The duct also has two right angles (one could have been eliminated) I warned him most people installing these likely dont actually cook. I also asked about makeup air and he said it has never been necessary. My kitchen designer and the appliance store all agreed. It is amazing how people who are specialists in their field are so ignorant.

I blackened steaks the other day and without the windows open there wasnt enough incoming airflow to clear the air and the kitchen filled with smoke. With the windows open there was plenty of airflow. On the plus side make up air is easy to add.

I love the wok grates on the blue star and bought a new carbon steel wok and seasoned it. It is great not to have any liquid coming out of the food.

Original kitchen. Except for the range top in the island and the barrier island I liked it and the cabinets were very high quality.

Picture during demo

Picture after (not quite across the finish line)

Summary of advice I got from houzz and how they worked out

1) everyone is 100% correct on cabinets vs drawers. Drawers are *much* better. I love the drawers we have

2) love the spice drawers, some ppl on houzz dont like them.

3) love the to the ceiling cabinets (still need molding installed)

4) love the bar height peninsula (can seat 7)

5) We went with 12 inch overhangs and none of us have even come close to kicking the cabinets. It has become our main family eating table which was the plan. Houzz said 12 inches was too shallow, but internet said for bar height it works, and it does work.

6) love the single bowl silgranit sink. The faucet we got angles slightly towards you instead of straight down and that is annoying. Would not get that style of faucet again.

7) moving the garbage drawer away from the dishwasher was key. To the left of the sink is amazing. Can peel eggs and veggies straight into the garbage

8) moving the island a touch so it isnt a barrier worked great. Excellent cooking triangle

9) narrow (24 inch) island works great, 39-40" aisles on both sides are fine. Does not accumulate crap and is a great prep space

10) movers didnt install refrigerator water line properly which caused the floors to cup. As soon as I can Im switching to a fridge without a water line. dont love wood in the kitchen.

11) 8 inch ducts and no makeup air were not sufficient, as correctly suggested by houzz. Opening the door/windows actually makes it almost sufficient so I think it is more the lack of makeup air vs duct size.

12) apparently metroquartz is made using the bretonstone process. I have gotten conflicting reports on this though. At $60/sq ft it was a good deal. One fabricator charged 80/sq ft and two charged $60.

13) eased edge got a tiny chip at the sink in the first month, I was ready for this because of houzz discussions.

14) french miter looks good, glad I learned about it here. Fabricator was going to make a straight cut 3 inches away from the corner between the sink and the corner.

15) dark floors do show a lot, warned my wife about it, but she was ok.

Still left to be done

1) convert lower cabinets to drawers

2) install molding

3) install microwave

4) finish cabinet fascia