I'd do the obelisk in green and fence in white. I'd use the obelisk as the focal point w/ the roses, while the fence recede into the background. Just my opinion:) Betty

If you are replacing everything, yes, you are gutting it. I truly don't think anyone here means to rain on your parade, but gutting and renovating the 3 most expensive rooms in the house for a temporary solution is a financial disaster. You aren't even reselling so there's no chance you'll get any of it back, except for a few fixtures you can salvage for the new house, like faucets. I remember what it's like to have a house for the first time. Oh, the plans! But the reality is going to be rough. And expensive. And a remodel is a multi-month disaster zone. In addition to your chosen materials, you will also have to be prepared to spend quite a bit of money to maybe deal with bringing those rooms electrical and plumbing up to code, as the local inspector will likely require. You may have to upgrade the floor system for the tile. So... are you ready to spend $50k or more in just materials for a temporary upgrade? For $10k a year (assuming you have the cash and aren't going to be paying interest, too), you can get a whole mortgage payment in a lot of places. $50k could go a LONG way to toward new custom home. I suggest living in the house for a while before proceding. It will help you identify the things the NEED to be upgraded versus your wish list. If the rooms are basically fine but you just don't like them, paint is cheap. Pulling down floral wallpaper is painful but practically free. Replacing an existing floor with a floating floor is pretty cheap too if you rein in your material choices. You can refresh a room pretty cheaply without gutting it. Now, if the rooms are in some ways non-functional, consider more frugal solutions. For example, if the cabinet bodies are in good shape, they are probably better constructed than all except the most high end cabinets sold today, and they're free. Cabinets are *expensive!* One option is to paint the cabs and change the hardware; another is to paint the bodies and replace the doors. Hopefully this starts giving you some ideas for ways you can make the home more attractive and comfortable without pushing construction of your new home with the things you really want too far down the road.

My Acadia White cabinets- cararra marble counter tops. The walls are SW 'Dressy Rose' which is really a mauve. The floors are a bit orange, but that was from my previous kitchen. I may refinish them to a more neutral brown..or not. We have since put the cabinet door on the dishwasher and I think I will trade out those pewter knobs with wooden ones painted the same as the cabinets despite the objections of my carpenter and painter. It all depends on the look you're going for. I will be asking those here just what to do with the color of my table which is still the color from the old kitchen. We are keeping the rug because the kids are attached to it.

I agree, your cabinets look very nice. It's too bad there aren't more drawers, but do you at least have pull out shelves? Your granite & backsplash look very nice as well...but I do agree the kitchen is a little dark...but the big windows in the table area do help. I do have to say that I am very glad that you're taking the cooktop out of the island...the safety issues alone are worth it, but you can also add a range/vent hood now w/o making it an overwhelming presence in the kitchen (which is probably why you don't have one right now...definitely a case where someone let aesthetics trump function.) Which cabinets, exactly, are you replacing with the range & hood? Will there be 9" to 12" b/w the range and the doorway? If not, that may not be a good idea and may not even pass your local Code. (You say you're adding 12" ones on either side of the hood so I'm hoping that means you'll have 12" on the door side.) It's generally recommended, btw, that your hood be 6" wider than your range to increase its capture area, not required, just recommended. One issue that I do see, though...the DW will be in the path b/w the sink & range, making it an obstacle when open...both for getting around it to get to the sink and for prepping. The most common place for prep is b/w the range & a sink (water source)...and that means your DW will be in the way. Is the cabinet to the right of the sink 24"? If so, I'd switch it w/the DW to move the DW out of the way. If it's wider, would you be OK w/the sink moved slightly to the right so you could put that cabinet there & the DW on the right (it might actually center your sink on the window)? Upper cabinets should not be an issue as there's a window behind the sink & some of the counter run. There are plenty of cabinets on that side for dish storage...it would actually put the dishes closer to the table area. For the Breakfast bar, are you just putting cabinets on the other side so you have storage on the table side? That sounds like a good idea if you never use the Breakfast Bar (it is pretty close to the table area, so I can see that you might not use the bar much). If you're keeping the peninsula, that's what I would do. The nice thing about that peninsula is that it offers a large expanse of workspace that your island doesn't (and cannot b/c you don't have enough room in your kitchen for a deeper island.) Have you found the location of your refrigerator an issue? I'm asking b/c the island is a "barrier island" right now and will continue to be so after your planned changes. The island is a barrier b/w the refrigerator & sink as well as refrigerator & cooktop right now. When you put the range in where the ovens are, it will no longer be a barrier b/w the range & ref, but it will still be b/w the sink & ref. A possible solution to that is a prep sink, but I don't think you want to be prepping on the refrigerator side of the island b/c it's the main path through your kitchen...so a prep sink may not help. Yes, it would offer an alternate place for prepping or washing hands, but I'm not sure the loss of work & cabinet space would be worth it. These are some things to think about... Now, on to the flooring & colors. Flooring...like you, we opted for tile in our Kitchen & Foyer b/c of 2 dogs (standard poodles)! We have a friend w/one standard poodle and they tell us that she did more damage to their hardwood floor in the Kitchen & eating area in a year than their 4 kids did in the previous 10 years! We don't regret the tile at all. So far, no problems standing on the tile and in the summer it is wonderfully cool...even the dogs like to sleep on it! In the winter I always wear slippers, so the tile floor isn't a problem then either. Surprisingly, our male dog likes to sleep on it in the winter as well. Colors....I'm not sure what your plans are for the existing cabinetry...you say you're "...drawn to light cream cabinetry and black counters...". So, are your perimeter cabinets staying the same color or are you painting them a creamy color? If you're concerned about light, you could put in a lighter backsplash, that will, I think, make a big difference. Oh, and when you replace the granite, I recommend you do not get the 3" or 4" backsplash piece. It will save you $$$ and look much better if you put in tile (or whatever you use for the BS) to the counter. We have cherry cabinets w/Absolute Black granite countertops that we love. But we do have a very large window in our kitchen that brightens it up considerably during the day and plenty of lighting for nighttime.