bobelicious:

You are right to be concerned, but if you're acting as your own kitchen designer that would concern me more. There are many things to know and the people who know them have usually paid a heavy price for that education. You will pay for that education by hiring a designer or by attending the school of hard knocks yourself. The former is much less expensive and timely than the latter. Of course you could get lucky.

Manufacturer's are just looking to cover their butts. I wouldn't worry about substantial changes to installation specifications. A 29 7/8" range does not become 30 1/4" overnight.

>A 29 7/8" range does not become 30 1/4" overnight.

No, but manufacturing variations, especially where insulation is involved, could make it a 30 1/4" range. This is especially true with refrigerators.

Either have the appliances on hand or give a little extra 'scooch' room for installing them and deal with the fillers after.

This paralyzing fear of specification deviation is what's helping fuel the nearly year-long kitchen remodels posted so often here.

Thanks for the replies.

Trebuchet,

I realize the risk with no KD but just recently have gone through a remodel myself + contractor for my 2nd floor (built in cabs, washer/dryer room) so feel pretty good about taking the design risk. Thanks for mentioning though. I've spent many hours over the last 6 months with the rough design (function, layout, etc.). That said, I do plan on posting my layout on this forum to get some feedback (just figured out how to post > 1 image in a post ).

Big difference, for me, with a kitchen that I see is # of appliances, countertops, flooring, so a good deal more coordination required, which led to my question. I'm still curious about how others, in general, deal with the coordination (cabs, appliances, allowing for tolerances - rule of thumbs? ).

Again, thanks for your comments!