Granted, I'm a bit late on the post, but to record some history, I'll backtrack. Bill and I took a week off work in mid-Sept to finish up a few key projects before the cabinets were professionally installed. The pale yellow beadboard ceiling took 2.5 days to install, way more than we thought. The many recessed lights are great when working in the kitchen, except when cutting beadboard to fit around each. We went through 3 or 4 different yellows for the ceiling before we were happy. We were smart enough to paint it on the ground, at least. The wall color was just as bad - this is gray #3.
The tile, a honed carrera marble, took the rest of the week to install. We realized late that the tile company was 60 sq ft short on our tile delivery, but thankfully, the laundry room could wait. At least we finished the floor before our cabinet install deadline. It was close, since our pattern meant that Bill had to cut every single tile for the accent pieces. Props to him for spending 3 days hunched over a wet saw, coated in marble dust.
Progress pics before cabinets came in: