For goodness sakes...they are practically the same and one is cheaper and it's a rental! Get the cheap one. :)

The other questions are harder.

i like the simplicity of the one of the left better.

i'm curious, if jodi's kitchen was your inspiration, why did you choose a raised panel door style?

i don't know the answer to the filler question.

it's really good that you went 18" to the light rail. some people forget and go 18" to the cab bottom, THEN add the light rail; they have complaints about appliances not fitting, like tilting a kitchenaid mixer. you should be fine.

The more fol-de-rol in the carving, the harder to keep clean.

Hi Angela!!! Look at you, buying cabinets already!!!!

I like the right hand one a lot better, and think you should get the left one. Or slab. Slab would be the easiest to clean, and it's appropriate for the beach.

The lights are fine. Just be aware that the cabinets will be a lot higher than old fashioned ones, which were 15" to the frame and about 16" to the bottom shelf. Having the extra space between the sink and cabinet is good!! Just make sure there's a step stool for the kids.

Re frames and fillers, ask your KD. If the cabinets are made by a cabinetmaker, the insides can follow the corners around, rather than being rectangular, but it makes it easier to loose stuff. If the filler is to make the doors fit on the frameless, ask the KD if you can have ... I forget the technical term Kompy used ... but where there's a piece of face frame over the front of the box, rather than between boxes. I should think that would be possible with 1/8" custom. It's something the Installers can take care of. If it's the hinge side, you either need different hinges, or blocks for them, but it can be done.

wide stile or integrated stile :)

Left. Less fussy.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the left! Ooh so warm but subtle. Its a no brainer for me! Number one wins HANDS DOWN!

Good luck!
Amy

I'd get the less expensive door (goodness, I have never given a single thought to the kitchen cabinet doors when we've been in vacation rentals; all I care about is stuff like whether there are any knives that cut, lol). As for fillers, all I can tell you is that we have frameless cabs, 2 corners, they were probably stock (or at most semi-custom) and we don't have any filler pieces at all. And they were installed 25 yrs ago.

fori expressed everything I was going to type. Quite succinctly too.

Ditto Fori verbatim on the cabinet decision! I can barely see the difference between them, and if one will save you $800, go with that one.

My kitchen has a 45-degree angled wall just like yours does, and I have frameless cabinets as well. In the entire kitchen, I only have fillers in the corners of the 45-degree angle space, and by the dishwasher drawers because we needed to fill up that space. The fillers by the 45-degree angle are about 2-3". Part of that is because they needed to be sure the drawers/cabinet would clear eachother, and part is because our cabinets were not custom and we had to conform to the 3" increment restraint. The fillers were no bigger than what we would have needed if we chose framed cabinets with full overlay doors. Far and away, we gained MUCH more space by using frameless cabinets than we lost to fillers- especially because almost all of our base cabinets are drawers.

You didn't ask, but have you read others' posts about wishing they had put their DWs near each other, instead of separated like it shows in your layout?

I like the cheaper cabinet door.

Amanda

Amanda is right about the DWs being close to each other, but yours aren't too far away from each other to function well enough. It's like one step.

Left! It sounded like you posted to help reconfirm what you've already decided.

Question:
That tiny sink (bar? utility?) Why is the DW next to that, rather than the bigger, more functional sink? Just curious.

Christine
Formerly C F Muehling

Left.
I think you may be over-improving a rental. On vacation, most people want a quick breakfast and often eat lunch and dinner out. It should look great, but don't sweat the details like you would in your full time kitchen.
Are people bringing a full complement of kitchen items with them or using what you leave there? I think this is the perfect example of where open shelving would work so that people can easily find plates, cups, etc....

I like the right better, including the drawer (I don't like slab drawer fronts or doors). However, it's a rental...go with the left!

Put the DWs together. Get one out of the Prep Zone b/w the range & sink.

When we rent at the beach, we cook full meals...sometimes with multiple families cooking, even if we're in separate houses. A functional kitchen is a must for us! It's the first thing I look at when we're looking for a rental. And, yes, if it looks "cheap" I usually veto it!

[Last summer, we rented in two places, and I deliberately chose one with an OTR MW and the other w/a downdraft hood (Dacor) with the range & downdraft on the peninsula so I would have "first hand experience" with both...and they both confirmed my intense dislike for OTR MWs, cooktops/ranges in islands or peninsulas, and downdraft venting.]

Whew !! Have been so insanely busy. I started a long response to this thread ages ago and haven't had a chance to finish it (or even to breath). They are building our house at lightning speed now. Cabinets came in yesterday, install started today. (picked style on the LEFT w/color on the right to save the $$, thank you everyone for your votes!! You helped me go with the "smart" decision and feel ok about it) We are about 3 weeks from finishing and couldn't be soon enough ... we will have one week to move everything in and first rental is on June 11 !!! I guess we get to *enjoy* the house After the rental season !!