I would suggest a stainless sink to tie into the hood. My stools do not match the dining set; but I am not a "matchy" person. I think the granite and backsplash you choose will have a big impact on pulling all the elements together. I can envision a darker counter with blue running through it working well. The seat material on any set can be easily changed, so don't let that be a deciding factor.

I should warn you that colors are not my strong suit. That having been said, I think your proposed table (oak+maple) will work well with the cabs.

Okay, I am going to be harsh, people on GW who know me,
know I am never harsh, I avoid when I do not like something
or I avoid having to say anything.
But I know you have posted twice. Forgive me in advance.

It's Blah.

You need a direction.
You need color. You need not worry that mixing woods is
not going to work. It will be fine. But you need more
color, more excitement, more energy and more of YOU.
What colors do you love? I am thrilled you are thinking
of a granite with some color. This is great!

You asked
".....is it going to look like a mishmash of colors with white, black and stainless steel appliances?...."
Yes, it could because you need a direction.
But you can find the direction and style.
You can do this. Be brave!

You asked...
"...........table will go with the oak cabinets? Will the one we picked out tentatively work......
Can I go darker on the kitchen table without clashing with cabinets?.."

YES!
Yes to all your questions. The table can work, going dark
is okay. I prefer sticking to your similar wood cabinet
color but since you need a bit of drama going a bit
darker is going to be fine. But before we even consider
the table lets find out what else is going on with your
space.

Lets look at what you have chosen.

Oak, gray floor, Black island, White Refrig.
These are not really a main color. All Neutrals.
What color do you like? What colors are in the rest of
your home? Not sure what you like? Take a walk into your
closet. Look for your favorite top, dress, scarf...
Look around your house is there a painting, a pillow, a
curtain that you love and want to keep. Use this as a
guide to decorating the rest of the space.
The black, white and oak are neutrals. You need to bring
in some spice to the space.

Have you visited Finished Kitchens Blog? I urge you to
take a look at what others have done with oak.
And have you done the Sweeby test? Check out the link
this is a great resource to discovering what you want.

After you have come up with a theme and a color direction.
I don't mean neutrals I mean your favorite color you
want to accent. Lets reconvene and talk about how to
make this work to be spectacular. YOu can do this.

~boxer

And a few pictures of oak kitchens to show you
can do this!

NOte the table in the other room is darker.

not oak but similar in wood tone (hickory)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweeby test...

Boxerpups, the cooktop is black, not the island. I don't think the plan includes an island. I don't know why the OP described it as a "black island cooktop".

I think that you need to go look at granites before you base a design on the assumption of availability of a hypothetical granite color. I'm not sure how dark you consider to be dark. We looked at a lot of granite when we did our kitchen - my husband looked at every slab yard in town and took me to 5 of them with the best selections.

I don't recall seeing any granites "with blue and veins - no speckles" that I would call dark. Some like blue pearl can get pretty dark, but they aren't veiny granites - they have flashes of blue. Very good looking but not dramatic veins. Our Azul do Mar has lots of blue, but it is more a medium blue/aqua - certainly not robin's egg or baby blue, but not royal or navy blue either. It is about as dark a blue as I've seen in a granite with veins.

Blue isn't a common color in granite so the granites with lots of blue are expensive. Our slabs were over $50/sq ft - that's for just buying the slabs; it doesn't include fabrication. Blue pearl is more reasonably priced than some of the others.

I think you could go darker on the table.

You said that your are adding a wrap around counter with stools so that it forms a U and I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. Do you mean that you are adding a penninsula to make the kitchen a U or adding a U shaped island? You say 7 or 8 stools which seems much larger than would fit. It generally takes 2 feet of counter edge per seat so 7 to 8 implies 14 to 16 feet of new counter length.

A mix of woods can work well. I think that it would work well to go dark with a table because your cabinets are pretty light and mixing in a darker table will provide a bit of contrast. We have a maple floor, cherry cabinets, oak table and chairs (including two counter stools) and some dark wood in doors and a built in bookshelf by the table:

What is the aisle width for getting into the kitchen beside the peninsula? And it looks like you are going to have the fridge and wall oven open right into that entrance aisle. Is that right? Probably too late to change that so hopefully your aisle is really wide to accommodate the fridge doors and oven doors while someone is trying to get in or out of the work space. And is that the cooktop stove right on that same end of the peninsula? That is going to be a very crowded little spot.

I can't tell where the sink is. If this is your proposed plan I'd be more worried about that than your colour choices. But perhaps you have your reasons for your floorplan that work for you.

Hi andrzejewski,

any thoughts, changes, new plans?

~boxer

Boxerpups - maybe we scared andrzejewski off? Or maybe they are taking time to rethink.

The pizzaz you need might not just be color. It could be something with texture. I believe texture is important.

Boxerpups put up a picture with oak cabinets with some wonderful black hardware including hinges. This would really add some life too. Black could be your accent color. Even the kitchen table painted a distressed black would be nice. You can always add a pop of color as the last layer.

Think texture. Layers of texture.