I wish I was talented at photoshop but I am not. I will help in bumping up this thread so others can see it.

I'm down on my knees begging for help! LOL!

Astrid

LOL Astrid...begging always helps, eh? ;c)

I was purposely not helping you because I felt like it was a pretty complicated photoshop job and above my head. Still...I hate to see you beg...so I "tried" my best. I tried to pull in that island example you gave but it didn't look right on the virtual. I am trying the brown first with travertine backsplash. It looks really good!!! I will try some grays and slate next but I need to find some better photos of the laminates or soapstones.

Here's the baltic brown. Try to visualize your island like your hubby is making. As others always say..squint a little! LOL

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This is a light gray counter with Quartzite backsplash. I'm not sure if that's less expensive than slate or not. I haven't priced anything. And also a dark gray oiled soapstone with the Quartzite.

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I did snapshot your kitchen yesterday, too :) The boards are just too fast! There were some other requests out there too.

Love the brown!! I was going to try something dark also. The backsplash almost looks like a deep teal in those last two shots, which looks really nice!

Squirrel...have at it! LOL! This one was hard for me but then, I guess practice is always good! ;c)

Astrid, once you decide which tone on the counters, we can play around with paint. I like the Latte you already have with the brown tones. For the gray stuff, I was struggling with trying to find a shade that matched up with both your floor and your cabinets. I was playing with copper, gold and green tones but not finding one I like yet.

ok, here's a light and creamy -- my first pit stop! in getting it set up. Looks very nice imo.

Feel free to use this open island/splash photo, Lindy : )

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Looking at the Corian solid surfaces. Here's the pompei red -- don't know what that actually looks like irl, but something along a ?russet/red? would look nice, I think. Someone here has that in their kitchen, and her name escapes me right now. We were painting in there and there is some red toile & plates over the table area. The island here is kind of a mossy-gray-green. The paint warmer and more golden. Supposed to be a tile splash ... just not tile yet! No 4" splash would update the splash also, for a laminate/corian.

Dang girl...you are so good. How'd you clear off that back counter and get the fridge in there. Man..I gotta keep practicing! LOL!

I'll wait and let Astrid comment first on what colors she is liking etc.

I just take a piece of wall or fridge and paste and stretch it over the stuff ... clipping to fit.

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The island is glazed with gel stain in all but the last pics here. Playing with greens and a deep ground paprika :)

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Just doodling with some browns:

Just squinting as instructed.... I really like the one squirrel did with the darker perimeter counters and the red island with the light countertops...... and then i also like the one lindybrts did with the deep green pretty backsplash.
as color combos go..... I normally prefer light and airy but the ones I am selecting do have more variety and contrast. Just one procrastinator's opinion.

I like the paprika! Nice job, squirrelheaven.

Does anyone hear crickets chirping? Just kidding...

I like the paprika one too!

All that beggin' .... where is she!? wahhhh

I love the paprika. Now do you like the splash painted paprika? I like the tile so much (with undercab lights) and like the paprika on the walls in the last shot.

I like the rust/orange colors on the walls the best.

Laurie

I definitely like the splash with the tile. It really finishes off everything so nicely. LOVE it!

Thank you thank you and a million more thank yous!

I don't have much time right now. We've started demolition of the island before we've even made some decisions (like countertops!). Ack! I'm already getting yelled at for being on the computer.

I love most of the options. I'm going to steer clear of any countertops that aren't neutral- no reds or greens. I'd love to see one with tumbled roca (wilsonart). I am thinking more and more of lighter countertops.

Hopefully I can examine the options more closely later today or tomorrow.
I'd better get off now before decisions are made without my approval. ;)
Astrid

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Maybe that last blue was a little bright.

I think I need more ice cream!

"Light and creamy" is the way to go, IMO. I like these last ones best of all.

I seem to prefer the island lighter and the perimeter grounded a bit darker. Yes, I love these last creamy ones too :) Although the island is still toned down a bit darker with a glaze!

Okay, I have a few minutes to be online....

I like the last ones too. I like the lighter colored countertops. I really like seeing the crown moulding above the cabinets. That's neat to see what it could look like.

The island will have a more furniture-look to it- there won't be drywall- there will be maple panels and wood trim work (as in the first few islands I posted on the other thread).

I also like the options where the island is a different color- could you make it brown instead of red? I like all the wall colors you've chosen- greens, browns and the paprika. I like the backsplash- can you do different backsplash? Like, could you do slate gray tiles or white/off-white subway tiles?

Dh just now saw all the editted photos and said, "Wow! That's cool!". We're going to have to sit down and carefully look at all the options here.

My in-laws are here which is why I don't have much time to be online. I don't want to appear anti-social! LOL! I can't wait to take a closer look at the ones you've done. They're incredible and thank you so much for doing that. I really, really appreciate your work! :)
Astrid

Wow! Talk about a photoshop challenge! You both did wonderfully. Amazing work and not easy. Must have taken quite a bit of time. We are so blessed here!

Astrid - This may be more busy than what you're wanting, but look at the backsplash tiles that xoxosmom posted. It would look great with the rust/orange paint color. You could then go with a light, solid colored countertop in a beige color, similar to the one atsmith posted.

Laurie

duh! just realized I forgot the link.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: xoxosmom's post

We checked out the samples today at Lowe's. I think we're going to go with Zodiaq (or other quartzite) for the island. Cream/off-white colors just blend in with the cabinets. We're thinking of either something like Astral Pearl,Cloud White, Antique Pearl (those are the lighter colors) OR Meteor Grey or Storm Grey (and a few others that are grey-green). I'm leaning more towards the lighter ones as I think they'll make the kitchen brighter. There isn't much light over the island and I think that if we went a dark countertop it might make the whole kitchen seem really dark.

I'm still undecided on the L-shaped countertops. I picked up more samples of laminate from Lowe's today.

On other news- today is my birthday and I'm sick, sick, sick! At least yesterday we spent the day demolishing the old island and we've already made big progress towards the new island.

Laurie- thanks for the link! I do love those backsplash ideas!

Astrid

Astrid, happy birthday and get well, well, well!

From here, the gray-whites didn't do much for your warm cabs, imo. I like the warm, creamy whites very much.

Sorry to hear you're sick. Break time! :) Time to think and daydream on them!

Yes, I agree with Squirrel. Warm colors were my favorite too. I really like the browns and creams together. Or ALL creamy! Get well soon Astrid!

Thanks! My SIL (with no kids) told me to get lots of rest- LOL! With two small energetic girls????? NO WAY!

I'm going to continue looking at solid surface samples. I'm going to check out other brands (hopefully this week).

I brought home 8x10 examples of some of the Zodiaq colors but I still have trouble visualizing it. Maybe my current hardware doesn't do me any favors. I like the creamier whites with browns but I'm afraid of washing out the cabinets. On the other hand, most of the kitchens with my color cabinets look too modern with dark countertops. I can change the lighting fixtures but I can't add more lights (outside the scope of current project). There are only two lights over the island and several can lights (which seem to burn out bulbs at an alarming rate).

I should mention that I do have lots of plates and decorate stuff that have cobalt blue (Blue Calico dishes and some Polish pottery). Would the creamy or more brown countertops go with that?

On the Zodiaq website they have two recommendations for natural maple cabinets- Cygnus Pearl or Abyss Black. I'm pretty sure the black one is out! What do you think of the Pearl or of Cappuccino? Now, this is just for the island. I haven't seen any laminate colors I'm in love with.

Thanks!
Astrid

Here is a link that might be useful: cygnus pearl

Okay!

I just saw needanap's kitchen on FKB and they have Caesarstone in Champagne Limestone countertops. Do you think that could work in my kitchen? I really like that kitchen...the color on the wall and the slate tile backsplash. http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2007/06/needanaps-kitchen.html

What do you think? Would it look right with white appliances? Does that blue-gray color look cold? I'm in WI and my fingers are freezing as I'm typing right now! (no heat in basement yet).
I'm hoping to get more samples this weekend.

I really do appreciate your input and I hope I can post photos of the updated kitchen within the next four months or so. We're going to try to get the maple plywood for the island this weekend and continue work on it!

Oh! Does anyone have examples of charging stations (like cell phone, etc)? I'd like to do a drawer on the island that has a power strip in it to charge everything...Just wondering if anyone has anything like this or if it's a bad/good idea. Or if someone has a better idea for a charging station. I'm tired of having all the clutter on my countertops.

Thanks!
Astrid

Here is a link that might be useful: possible countertop optionn

bump

Squirrel- I know you're extremely busy (you must be since you're doing all the photo editing for us- THANK YOU!) but do you think you could do the walls BM Smokestack gray or similar with gray slate tile backsplash and do the island in natural maple with similar countertops to those in your last set of edited photos?

This spring I plan on tiling behind the woodstove using gray/blue slate tiles and I've been thinking it might look nice to bring that into the kitchen area- not too matchy but similar.

Astrid

lllllol, I was just strolling through memory lane in my photo clips last night ... and your kitchen request popped up! along with a couple other ones, lol. I did mean to put some slate and stuff in for you :) Snippin' this again. Sawwwy.

Now dh and I are thinking that there's no nice way that we can match the new maple wood to the existing cabinets already on the island. I think that we'll have strip the existing surfaces and do a darker stain on the entire island.

What do you think about the island being a darker brown?

Does anyone know where I can find information regarding refinishing existing cabinets (hopefully just the fronts, right? I don't have to strip and refinish the entire cabinets, right???)
Astrid

Here's a slate splash, but I'm not sure if it's in the colors you are looking for. The walls are gray, but on the blue-greens side as it was picking up this slate better. Have to look back at the counters you were wanting to see, as I didn't recall -- but these looked pretty!

So, here's something to look at :) If you have a splash tile in mind, give me a link. I wasn't really finding a blue-gray.

Here are the more blue-grays and Smokestack like colors on your walls. Just doodling and playing with the colors a bit.

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I personally like the rust color on the walls better than the gray.

Laurie

Thank you!!!

We went to the kitchen store yesterday (during a nasty snow storm!) and we looked at a ton of options. I can't tell you how dang difficult it was to figure out which light countertops would look nice with our natural maple cabinets. HOWEVER, the options opened up when we decided to take the plunge and stain our island a darker color. We picked up some stain and I think our favorite is red mahogany. Zodiaq Cygnus Pearl really stands out with that (and stainless steel hardware).

I have no idea what we'll do for the rest of the kitchen. We might- just might- think about staining the rest of the kitchen cabinets a shade or two darker but I'm not sold on that. That would be a serious pain in the you-know-what and I doubt dh would go for it.

We're also going to change out our undercabinet lighting to something more effective (Xenon pucks).

Thanks again for all your input. Hopefully in several months I'll be able to post an updated photo and maybe next year I'll have yet another updated photo with the rest of the kitchen!
Astrid

Squirrel- I'm not sure about that blue. It's really blue! I guess I'd thought that Smokestack would be more gray. What's a warm gray? What undertones would a warm gray color have?

What if...I went with a slightly darker countertop (with more brown flecks in it) for the perimeter and painted the walls chocolate brown or a similar brown to the deep mahogany we're planning on staining the island? Would that look stupid? I guess we could do the same countertops on the perimeter as on the island (probably the Zodiaq Cygnus Pearl). Ack! I just don't know!
Astrid

Okay...here's a nutty idea. What if the perimeter cabinets were painted white/off-white. Would that look terrible? I'm pretty sure dh will say NO WAY to doing that but I'm just curious.

Astrid

I thought your cabs were new???

Oh...yes. They're almost 5 years old. It's probably a stupid idea. I was just wondering what it would look like. I just don't like how yellow the maple reads most of the time (in natural light too).
Astrid

I'm sorry to keep asking but I'm wondering what you all think about wood countertops for the perimeter (perhaps in a mahogany color to kind of correspond with the stain on the island cabinets)?

Thanks again for any input!
Astrid

Hmm? I don't think I've ever seen wood countertops in a mahogany color.

I can tell you are struggling with direction here. Do any of the photoshop pics really stand out to you? I think maybe you should keep searching through inspiration photos until you find one that really speaks to you.

Hmm, are you doing corian counters? I'd be inclined to stay with engineered materials or natural and not mix the two. I'd also be inclined to do wood on the island as an accent rather than the perimeter. Probably because that's what they usually feed us out there :)

I agree with Lindy that you really need to scour the magazines and find a look you love, as the possibilities are endless.

You might carry a drawer or door front around with you when shopping for materials. Just bring a bunch of stuff home, get down on the floor, and play. See what grabs you. Zeroing in on what colors you'd prefer is a good place to start, I think, as well as the type of styling. Light and airy, warm and cozy, golden, cools mixed in ...

Much easier said than done :)

I have soooo many inspiration photos. Unfortunately very few of them have cabinets exactly like mine (either they're stained darker or are a creamy white). Other kitchens have ss appliances. I just can't justify purchasing new appliances at this time- HOWEVER I think I can put a cabinet panel on my Bosch dishwasher. I need to find out if I can do that.

I really like the look of soapstone counters but I don't know if I can talk dh into it.

I prefer warmer tones (it was -19F this morning!) but I also like gray colors.

I'll keep searching. I think we've decided on the island (Cygnus Pearl with the stained cabs) so that's a good start.

Thanks.
Astrid