Large loft question

Bought a home in what used to be a commercial building built in 1947. One story on a thick concrete slab. Many feet thick. Two rooms still concrete floor that I want to use for a bedroom and small den/TV room. The floor goes in several directions from there being a drain on one area. See the picture for what I'm up against. [ATTACH]63510[/ATTACH] The height of the floor may be off by around 3" or so. I want to install a sub floor of joists, lay down 3/4" plywood and have it wall-to-wall carpeted. Should make for a cozy, warm two rooms come next winter. Doable? Can I use 2 x 3's for the framework? I heard about not having wood touch concrete. Never heard of this before. Please educate me as to why this is (now?) required and what do you suggest I use as a "separator"? Will asphalt roofing shingles work OK? Do I need to cover the concrete with plastic sheeting as a moisture barrier before laying down the framework? Thanks for the help.

Over the winter, my girlfriend got the idea in my head to somehow refinish my kitchen cabinetry. I tend to agree as the surfaces of the doors and some spots of the cabinet facing do show some wear. None of the drawers or doors have pull hardware on them so the areas where one might grab the door or drawer to open it are the main spots of concern. Here are a couple pictures of my kitchen...note that I'm in a townhouse that has kind of a split-foyer layout. The first two pictures are panoramas, hence the slight distortion in each: [ATTACH]63812[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]63813[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]63815[/ATTACH][ATTACH]63814[/ATTACH] Her thought was to "paint" them. I'm hoping she means staining because I can't really see actually painting these. My first idea when I initially moved in was refacing but now I don't know if I want to put forth that much effort and budget. Could staining them be a viable option? Even if it's the same shade, to at least eliminate the worn areas? Replacing the cabinets is also not something I'm wanting to do as that's even more effort than I'm willing to put forth and it just doesn't seem necessary. The hardware is in good shape overall...it's not like they're falling apart or anything. I *definitely* would want to replace the doors as there is some major inconsistency there. Refer to this picture: [ATTACH]63816[/ATTACH] Notice how there are 3 different sizes and styles of doors. The left-most cabinet is how I'd like them all to be as the doors touch each other (well, there is a 3/16" gap between them when they're closed). The next set of cabinets to the right of that has the doors that "overlap." If I only want to open the right door on that cabinet, I still have to open the left door first because of the "flap" on the right door. I really dislike those doors and I've got 2 other cabinets down below that are like that. I definitely want to get rid of those doors. The right-most cabinet has two independent doors but there is a center stile in the cabinet. I'd like to get rid of the stile and have the full face of the cabinet open but I'm not seeing an obvious way to get the stile out. The cabinet above the stove is also like that and I'd like to eliminate that stile as well. Another concern, should I stain them, is this panel that's under the bar-style counter. It's just one large 3/16" thick panel fastened on with finishing nails. Would seem easy enough to remove but how easy would it be to match to the new color that I'd select? [ATTACH]63817[/ATTACH] Another thing that bugs me is the quarter-round all around the base of the cabinets. I may eliminate that but I'm not sure how it'd look without it. I'm also thinking about adding pull hardware to the doors and drawers so that it'll cut down on wearing whatever new finish I might be applying. Does anybody have any thoughts on this project? Would staining be okay? Or should I go the reface route? Thanks for any input!