Great kitchen! I would go matchy-matchy with the blinds, especially as you plan to paint the walls. But I prefer trim color blinds in almost all cases.

Island. It's cool! I like your idea of grey from the counters, but not sure I'd like that with aqua/teal on the walls. Maybe paint your walls first, you might like it the way it is much better. If you hadn't mentioned those oak & white dinette sets, I never would have thought of that, but since you said it, it's all I can think about. :)

Maybe a grayish glaze (does that exist?) to give it some additional dimension? IDK, your paint job looks great, I would wait and see what the piece does once the walls are painted until making a decision.

It looks fabulous! But when I look at your counter I can see your point. It may have had more PUNCH if you had gone gray. The nice part is it looks GREAT while you decide!

It's fine... and the kitchen looks great. I do think that you could punch it up with some color... love the idea of something in the gray tones.

I agree to wait till you do the walls. It really depends on the teal that you do there . After that then you can see what you want to do with the island. It sure looks nice now. You did a great job. Not sure that I would like grey on it if you are doing teal walls. I would wait. c

I think it is absolutely beautiful.

I'd paint the walls first and then decide. I like it well enough now. You did a really nice job. Your kitchen is nice. I even like it now but I'm one of those monochromatic persons.

I have gray cabinets in our laundry with bluish/tealish/turquosish walls, but where gray and teal, and cream and teal both work, the 3 all together might not. I completely agree with the others that color on the walls may make all the difference and be just what the island needs. Right now everything is so much the same color, but that won't be so when you have the colorful walls.

I think it's fine, but would be interesting if you took off the drawers and doors and then painted the base a darker color - maybe the gray. That might be kind of cool. Then stick the white drawers and doors back on.

I think it's ok. It doesn't make a statement, but it not offensive or ugly. If you are going for a statement piece, then I would say change it. Otherwise, if it ain't broke....

As for the windows, I think fabric would be beautiful - something soft and colourful. It would give your kitchen a little more punch.

http://search.kravet.com/CoverInformation.aspx?SKU=22772.3&Catalog=400

http://search.kravet.com/CoverInformation.aspx?SKU=27246.315&Catalog=400

http://search.kravet.com/CoverInformation.aspx?SKU=27250.423&Catalog=400

Thanks everyone! I'm glad the consensus seems that it's at least alright for now. The paint will be sw sea salt on the walls, and the next color down on that card is comfort gray, so I guess I was thinking of possibly staying in the color family, maybe just more intense/darker.

Pretty material, research queen! I do want to make a valance, but I don't think I'm enough of a seamstress for roman blinds. And the window's close to 70" wide (silly condo sizes - we don't have many windows, but they're all huge), so it makes everything more costly since it bumps me into custom size shades.

Dh is going to paint the ceiling this weekend I think, and then I have the go ahead to paint the walls...can't wait!

Noel

I think it looks fab! great job & very suitable for your space. Put a nice colorful bowl with fruit and voila there you have it.

What colors are you thinking for wall color? Can you post a close up of your counters?

I would not do window treatments until you have decided on wall color. I agree with the above poster to go fabric- a nice top down/bottom up one would work there

I would even check out blinds to go (or is that canadian?) and see what you could find or order from there. Prices are very reasonable and you may be surprised by what you find. Worth checking out, IMO. You never know.

I know what you're referring to when you mentioned the old dinette sets that used to be so popular, but your island looks great. The cabinet itself looks great and is just my style too. I give it an oooh. And the fact that you painted it makes it even better.

I think your island looks nice, esp in the pix with better lighting. If I were to tweak anything, I'd stain the top darker.

I agree with dianalo, I think it's more the color of your top that is throwing you off. The island itself is lovely. Most often the tables you are refering to had the lighter top. Re-stain a deeper color and it will look great in your space.

I agree with dianalo and oldhouse1 - I'd really try to to change the top color before repainting the base. It looks nice as is but the first thing I thought of when I saw your picture was old dinettes you described.
If you want to repaint the cabinet part I agree with everyone else to wait until your walls are done. I think a nice grey would look really good, but hard to say without seeing the wall color.

Good luck!

That's a great idea about staining the top; I think that would look amazing. But I've never stained anything before and would be really nervous I'd muck the whole island up. But if I could do it, I think I would fall in love.

Hopefully I'll get the walls painted soon to get the bigger picture of the space. The kids are all off school for winter break next week (because we didn't have enough snow days off and need more time off in snowy weather!), so I'm guessing my pace will be slowed, esp as my 6 & 5 yr olds are dying to "help" me paint!

I'll have to look at roman shades more, but I think they were pricing out at over $200 where ever I looked, compared to around $100 for a wood blind. I'd need to make sure it was durable and very washable, as I swear my kids try to break stuff (I don't think I mentioned it here, but my 3 yr old broke our mouse by throwing it in the toilet last week to keep it away from his sister.....ah, good times!)

I posted on your thread "My range was installed today" thread with a question about your range hood, if you wouldn't mind commenting on the noise level of it, I would appreciate it. Thanks

cj, we both posted at the same time! ; )

I think it is very nice as it is, but restaining the top would make it gorgeous. If anything makes it look dated, it is the light wood on top. Is it solid wood or veneer?

I had to refinish the top of my dining room table which has a veneer surface and that made me a little nervous. I used Minwax One Step and it turned out really nice. Actually if you look close you can see some streaks but most people don't notice that at all.. it really does look like a new table.

Have you considered making your own roman shades?? There are lots of DIY instructions online... I have a sew pattern I am using for mine but I have a friend that has made all her own with a glue gun and they are gorgeous.. no sewing involved.

I think you dis an awesome job painting and love it AS IS. What a great CL find. Congrats!

If you do choose to stain there is nothing to fear. It's actually very easy. Once sanded apply stain with a foam brush or cloth and wipe it off. I usually use minwax stain and often mix my own colors but they have several to pick from. I find that staining in one direction and again in the opposite direction gives a nice depth of color. Waterlox is a food safe finish that is very easy to apply and usually requires 2-3 coats of sealer and one of satin. There have been many posts on using waterlox. It may sound daunting but it's actually very easy. Again, I think what you have looks great but if you're not happy with it overall changing the countertop might be the answer. I agree with the others that if you think it's the color that you are having trouble with grey would look great.

I see several others had the same thought as I. The island looks great, it's the top that's off. I'd stain it at least as dark as the hutch.

I think it's a bit, eh. I don't want to be unsupportive, but I think it might be a great place to add some color. I think the top color would be less of an issue if the base was darker. But if you're feeling good about it that is all that's important!

joyjoy, what pattern are you using? I can sew some, so maybe, just maybe, I could handle it.

I think my top is a veneer, but I'm not sure how to tell. It was from a local unfinished furniture store originally, and they emphasize that their stuff is solid. Here's a quote from their website:

our specialty is that all of our products are made of real wood ... and so they last! Never particle board, never chipboard, never what the finished furniture industry cleverly calls "solids" ... glue and sawdust covered with veneer or plastic.

I don't know where veneer falls into that.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and support! How can anyone update a kitchen without this place???

This is the pattern I used. There is a link on that page for a "classic shade" if you'd rather have them straight across instead of gathered.

Regarding window treatment(s) -- Your window is an odd size and I notice from your photos that the top of your refrigerator, doorways, cabinets and top of window all are about the same level around the room. If it were me, I would break up that pattern by doing some sort of simple inside mounted shade for privacy and mount a classy valance up close to the ceiling so that the bottom of the valance comes just below the top of window frame. It will break up the line running around your room and give the illusion that your window is taller.

Check out your fabric store for easy valance patterns that can be adjusted for your window size. An easy one I've seen if you don't want to sew is to purchase square napkins, then drape them over a rod, with points downward, overlapping each napkin across the rod. Make a few stitches to tack in place, and voila, you are done.

I think the color looks fine and it looks like you did a good job painting it.

The only thing that bug me are the cup pulls on the drawers in the kitchen and knobs on the island drawers.

If you fill the holes and repaint the drawers, you could drill new holes for cup pulls.

Great kitchen!
I would paint the island another color. I think since it is a different style than your cabinets it should be painted different.
I also think it would look nice if it you could do a distressed and glazed finish.