i guess the great thing about the ikea system is the doors of the metod system are going to be around for a long time (at least another 20 years if the warranty is anything to go by, and how long the previous faktum system was around). so super easy to replace if anything was to happen to one of the doors. the carcasse quality may well be better from a custom cabinet maker, yes, i agree. the ikeas dont have solid backs (i dont think so anyway, i can barely remember). but personally, the ikea stuff seems fine, when i open a cupboard stuff all looks the same to me, as long as my shelfs havent collapsed i am happy. and the backs are up against the wall so I dont see much downside. its strong enough to hold up my stone bench top.. so i dont see how it could be seen as flimsy.

All the joinery and floor finishes are brand new - the old ones were not in the best condition, and the layout was not working well, so it had to go!

Could you swap the fridge with the wall oven, going by your photo both fridge and Wall Oven would fit side by side. I would definately have the fridge on the cook top wall and not on the other side of the kitchen. I see by the photo that the timber beam could be in the way, I would speak to your plumber who should have a simple solution on ducting the range hood. A simple one built into a special cabinet above the cooktop can recirculate or be ducted outside by either exposed stainless tube for your industrial/country look or have the ducting boxed in, the ducting can be flexable so no problem avoiding beams.

This was my thinking about that pantry window (and there has been a lot of thinking, to my draughtie's despair!) : I guess it comes down to the fact that this is a renovation rather than a new-build, so it will always involve compromises. I chose to have the pantry on that front side rather than the back in order to get big stacking sliding doors across the whole back wall, which is north-facing - where the kitchen-dining area will open onto a deck. I have ensured that the renovation plan works with the current layout as much as possible, rather than forcing it to be something it isn't (I had a more complex design done initially, that was much more expensive, because it was trying to make the layout like you might see in a new build). Having said that, it also has to be functional and work for the lifestyle we have in this era. I think our floorplan achieves that - with the only minor point of contention now being that rather unobtrusive pantry window! I think for resale, and for the majority of people, if it came down to a choice between having a walk-in pantry with a window that isn't the same height/width as the others at the front of the house, or not having the WIP, the WIP would come out well ahead.