Well, why does it have to match the cabinets? I would do something completely different, maybe a carbon black finish on the island? That way it looks like furniture and it won't e an issue with trying to match. I am surprised your KD isn't being more creative in trying to find a solution for you!
BTW...awesome design and inspiration!

I think it would look good. I like it when the island doesn't "match" the perimeter. In fact, I'm making an effort to make our island not match the perimeter. In my current kitchen the perimeter is mostly painted oak (mixed with new painted maple) but the island is stained cherry.

Thank you for the input. The island will not be custom as that would offset the savings by going with ikea in the first place. Only the bench will be custom. That's why I'm having a hard time with it. Also because I am going with such a dark floor and the table will be dark, I think that a dark island will be like the 3rd wheel, it won't match anything. Or should the island be white and the bench be made to match the dark table?
This is the first renovation for both dh and me. If you think there are any other flaws with the concept please chime in.

Oh, I see! And apparently you aren't doing an upholstered seat like in your pic, because in that case, it wouldn't matter at all. But I am not clear about what finish your ikea cabs will be. I see that the table will be walnut. If the cabs and island were white, and the seat itself had a cushion on it...I think you could do white as long as the paint color was a match. However, if your cabs are stained wood, your floors look like wood, your table is wood...that is a lot of wood all together. Hmmm...I would say match it to the walnut table, then!

Here's a kitchen over at Ikeafans where they combined white Lindigo on the wall cabs with black Ramsjo (though I realize you'd be doing custom) on the island. I think the two-tone looks lovely and could work with your walnut wood elements.

Here is a link that might be useful: Two-tone Ikea kitchen

The Ikea cabinets and island are white mdf. I think that's where my kitchen guy's apprehension comes from in trying to color match and paint a wood bench. I will upholster the seat of the bench and maybe the back, but the actual bench structure itself will not be upholstered, so where the bench and island meet would it look off? Ideally i would like to add crown moulding in the room painted to match the cabinets.

The Lidingo cabinets are very similar in colour to BM Simply White, so I think it is possible to get a good match, even though you are working with two materials. For an even better match, you could consider builing the banquette fom mdf?

HTH, Petra

How good would the custom work be? We put Lindingo base cab doors in our master bath, with painted window woodwork above and doorway trim directly to the side, and the difference in materials and finishes does not grab attention, probably partially because we're conditioned to accept differences between cabinetry and wall trim. It'd probably be different if the doors were juxtaposed against high-quality cabinet doors. I'm an Ikea kitchen fan, but the doors and their finishes are not high quality, per se--by a long shot--just high quality for the low price. :)

This may be obvious, but I just wanted to ask: You do realize your sketch is radically different in shape from your inspiration pic, right? From the side, the island seems to continue uninterrupted until reaching the upholstery. Or, I can't tell from the pic, it's just a freestanding island with a semicircular bench in front of it. Which is not what you seem to be planning.

Benches and banquette seats can be quite expensive if you want them to be comfortable--they really need springs, not just a foam pad. I would start by sourcing the bench seat first, and then see what you have to build to accommodate it.

Marcolo, I do realize that the inspiration pic is different. I just posted it to show that there will be a bench in front of (in my case attached to) the island in the center of the room. It will also be a semi circle. Most pictures of banquettes are in some sort of nook. So this picture inspired me to make an eat in kitchen which is all one cohesive space as opposed to a kitchen with a table in it. As I do not have a nook or outlet to put a banquette in I figured attaching the custom bench to the ikea cabinet island would work. I planned on having the kitchen guy make the bench once the cabinets are in place and only after everything is done figuring out how to upholster/pad it. Am I crazy? Can this work?