We would do the painting, tiling, cabinets, trim, granite, and hardware installing ourselves to save money.

Flooring, counter tops, cabinet doors, hardware, and paint chips and some things I can't even identify.Anyone have some good methods for dealing with this madness?

Call your local hardware stores, they generally have great recommendations.

This thread got me to open the wallet.

However, while I've learned a lot, and definitely improved my finances on paper...It has done very little to my wallet. 

For a 16ft (4 - 30", 1 36"sink,1- 24" DW,  1 30" microwave cabinet. 2 - 18", 1 30" for island (10 total boxes @$400 each installed)) of counters/cabinets, I'd expect a $6500 cabinet and counter budget which includes sink and hardware.    24sf of cabinet counter + 12sf x $40/sf budget placeholder is $1440.  

Whether they are active realtors or active investors that depends on how flat or fat their wallet is.

Did you put the softclose hardware in?

We special ordered cabinets for the kitchen and baths, which they cracked while installing the hardware.   

I bought an indoor thermometer from the hardware store and gave it to her.