My motivation is scalability but I can see how lenders would be hesitant as I have little skin in the game.

There is always more than one way to skin a cat and sometimes you have to either have to be creative or not take a "no" for your final answer.If you're being rejected by a lender who would otherwise approve you or your client...

The current kitchen is a small, dark space, and needs to be torn down to the studs to be rebuilt.

Lenders want you to keep skin in the game. 

I wear my rose color glasses often.

I just think it is bad business, but I haven't owned anything other than my skin for nearly 30 yrs.  

I see this all the time with Landlords that let their tenants paint in exchange for rent, only to discover the tenant did a terrible job or used bad colors and the owner has to pay to repaint.

One of them "went dark" and I've had no responses from inquiries.

But you'll definitely need some skin in the game.

Can turn into a nightmare and you can save yourself from answering the same questions they're going to have because it is unfinished at the moment and they can not see what your going to do interms of color and finishes etc.