I feel you on the drywall route—did something similar myself. We went with resilient channels and extra drywall layers, skipped the fancy vinyl stuff ...

I actually find LED strips plenty bright for cooking prep. We skipped recessed lighting (honestly, cutting drywall scared me off...) and went with plu...

Totally with you on skipping the outdoor fridge. We debated it for a while during our backyard reno, but honestly, the cooler option just made sense f...