First you get the layout perfect . All the applinces should be on hand before even starting the layout. I say this because appliance deivery is still up in the air. IMO the appliances are the most important thing to choose. Do not be tempted to do a package deal ther eis no maker that makes everything well. Choose plain old stainless then all the choices you make for how you cook will work together . Once you have all of those on hand then you begin to design the kitchen. My advice if money is tight come back here in this post and give us a to scale floor plan of your space showing all windows doorways where the doorways lead plumbing if it can't be moved and all the applince sizes. You will get great free help here . My advice do not let the cabinet salespereson design your kitchen. If you can get an indepedant KD . As for all the finishes that all comes much later. Make sure the drawing is done to scale , I use graph paper< show everuy measuremet clearly marked and the darwing in jpeg format so we can enlarge it.