Choosing Cabinets, Making Plans

I am happy to report that I turned in my exam last Thursday as planned and am now done with school until August! Yay! Now, I'm checking the grade system obsessively to see if my grades have posted yet. Eeek!

This weekend has been all about relaxation, planning, and decisions. And a little yardwork. Not much blog-worthy, but I thought that I'd post a little about my struggle with choosing the basement cabinets. I am sure that many people can sympthasize with our storage dilemmas. There are only 2 useable closets in the entire house, both of them barely so, and both are stuffed to the brim with clothes. We have a good amount of storage space in the kitchen, and it is stuffed full. It's difficult to fit in extra closets because the house is only 14' wide, and we need almost every possible inch of living space. We want to incorporate as much storage as possible in the basement because we've lost a lot of the room where we just "dumped" stuff due to the reconfigurations. Our original plan called for cabinets against the other side of the bathroom wall, but that plan changed when we had to move the bathroom door over a little bit. Now, the plan is cabinets against the closet wall. I will have 5' of wall and floor cabinets there, wall cabinets above the washer and dryer, a sink cabinet for the laundry sink, and big office-style wall cabinets in the living room to hold books. I also hope to squeeze in a small cabinet to hold towels in the bathroom. I'm planning to use horizontal file drawers below those wall cabinets, which will hold not only files, but dog toys, pillows, blankets, DVDs, etc. As you can see, it's a LOT of cabinetry. I've been struggling with the choice of which brand, door style, and finish to go with. After going around to different stores and slamming cabinet doors, yanking on drawers, etc. we've decided to go again with Kraftmaid. We've got a lot of Kraftmaid cabinets in the house, and they're affordable and well constructed. Originally, I picked out a gorgeous style in cherry:


But, according to the pricing chart on the back of the doors at the store, it's in one of the highest price categories possible. The project is already over schedule and over budget. So, Aaron has made me choose a backup in case our first choice is outrageous. Here is what I've picked (probably in a chestnut color):


I'm a little concerned because it's listed as a veneer door style, but hopefully these won't get the abuse of the ones in the kitchen (additionally, it will be birch). I'll be sure to check them out carefully at the store before we make our final decision. Anyone have experience with either design? We'd love to hear from you below!