The kitchen I'll never have

All these many months that I've been promising more work on the house... and now that we're under a deadline it's getting done. I'm sad that I won't get to personally enjoy some of these endeavors, but I'm happy that someone will. Or maybe they won't. Who knows.

Today, I worked on moving things and working on the kitchen.

The counter trim was never caulked. You can see the shims in place:

I vacuumed out all the crumbs and used black latex DAP. It was a wide enough and deep enough gap that I ran the caulk gun over it twice. It might stand to use a third run, but not today.

And that under-cabinet lighting we did a few years back? It lasted approximately a few days. The next inhabitants will enjoy some decent under-cabinet illumination. These are small florescent, battery powered strips. No need for wiring.

There is a third strip on the right side, but I didn't have enough batteries for it today.

We are also placing an order for unfinished oak, shaker style cabinet doors. I think we decided to go with refacedepot.com. I've seen good reviews and they are in Dallas, so the shipping shouldn't take too long. We also looked at ordering from Cabinet Door Depot, as our old favorites 10K Kitchen Remodel did. Both companies are about the same price for basically the same thing. All said, they will run about $550, plus we will spend a couple of days coating them in water-based poly to match what's on the counter trim. I'll also sand and refinish the drawer fronts since they're pretty basic. These are what we're ordering, but in red oak (maple pictured). I think they'll parallel the the backsplash nicely:

And speaking of backsplashes... The right side panels are just primed. I'm going to put the bronze and copper coats on and fit them in. I'm on the fence over the left side, and if I do put it there, should it go to the end of the upper cabinets, or the counter...

With:

Without:

Thoughts?

There's more with the rest of the house, but I'll save it for another post...