thank you very much to everyone who responded! I'll look into espresso and charcoal grays. As well as the steel backplash. Emmarenes, I'm living abroad in India, and the only granites in my budget are the local ones. I was advised against the gray and white local ones because i was told that they would not hold up well in the kitchen. I could have gone with a black galaxy as well but i have that granite now and despise it because of the way it hides ants and bugs so well. we live in a tropical area and there are always critters here and there. My first choice was a Brazilian white granite but it was triple the price. This granite is called Shiva pink, so it has a pink salmon and gray look to it. Im really hoping I don't hate it once it's installed. The stoneyard was a 9 hour trip up and down and i was just pressured to make a choice after several undecided trips. And I'm getting new cabinets put in. but I think I can wait for them to put the slab before staining the wood. Thanks for that idea :)

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Hi Nitin, Thanks for the valuable suggestion, but can you have some brief on why BWP ply-boar and why not BWR, majorly what is the difference amongst them, And you are telling for lamination, lamination of what (pvc lamination you are talking about) or some other, if pvc lamination then i heard and googled that pvc lamination color will get dull after some time and scratches can occur, whether we are having other lamination options which can resist long period of time. please majorly not consider price as blocker, i am going to Reno after 20 years so it would be the best from my side, please suggest consider durability, no dullness in color, and with strong panels. Thanks

Bhaskar, IMHO, there is no right or wrong for any interior design projects. What suits one family may not suit another. Readymade and custom built have their own pros and cons. You need to decide it based on your preferences/ availability. I would agree that it is extremely confusing for a new person. But, it is more often so because we try to do to much work ourselves. While we rarely question other professions like the builder on the materials , design, finish e.t.c. when it comes to designing we want to be our own designers to fix everything. Participating in the design process is good. Some people are born with the eye for details and others just think that they are good at it. It's the second bunch that takes most of the hit. For e.g. You would see some recent posts here where homeowners decided to call their own shots and ended up making extremely costly mistakes. Feels bad because they will end up living with it for a lifetime. Long rant :). Coming back, to get a uniform comparable quotes - Hire a design consultant, draft the designs and specify all the possible material, measurements hardware details . Prepeare a BOQ and share this with the vendors and then request a quote am sure you will get better comparable numbers. Thanks, Nitin Cornerstone Designs, Bangalore.