In the meantime, I am doing some research for future (hopefully NEAR future) decisions we will be making. Flooring is the big one. Hi Line allows us to 'shop' at their chosen flooring contractor. We get credit for a portion of the standard flooring if we choose to upgrade. The allowance is small, of course, and the upgrades are pricy, of course. So first we need to decided what our IDEAL flooring is and then price our the difference. I am not opposed to a laminate, but feel pushed to a hardwood or engineered hardwood, if we are going to upgrade. I have difficulty envisioning the space with cabinets, counters, etc. so that I can 'see' what will work.
I like Acacia:
http://www.lowes.com/Search=acacia?storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&N=0&newSearch=true&Ntt=acacia#!
Apple:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_370763-35938-RM000965_0__?productId=4736799&Ntt=apple+flooring&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNtt%3Dapple%2Bflooring&facetInfo=
Interesting floors with lots of variation in color.
And so we wait...some more...