Ikea price is hard to beat. I have a kitchen and bath store in the DC area moved it from Orlando (don't know how to change my name on here. I have not studied Ikea cabinets enough to understand why you would state the install on Ikea is so much higher. That does not make much sense to me. I have over 100 Ready To Assemble cabinets I offer to my local customers. The going rate for to assemble my cabinets is about $15-$18 each. Installation after assembly is pretty much the same. So be careful of the price difference you have there. All wood cabinets from costco are excellent quality. I personaly do not agree with the stigma that Ikea is superior beyone belief to other products out there. Who says they are the only company with frameless products that are any good! I have yet to meet some one who even knows what part of the world they are made in. Ikea offers a 25 year warranty. All wood thru costco is limited lifetime. If you find a independent dealer who sells them you should get a better price. We get them at 50% less than Costco does. Allwood pays for all merchandising and designs for costco. I can beat costco's price without breaking a sweat for example. Any dealer in your area with reasonable markups should do the same. 6 square cabinets is another product lines that ships in 2 weeks that is comperable in price to All wood with a limited life time warranty. Brandom Cabinets is a limited life time warranty semi custom cabinet company that allows choice of colors for approx 1.5 times the cost of Ikea. It seems strange to me that you are being pushed for a cabinet design by a contractor before you have decided what you are going to buy. That is a big red flag to me you are getting the cart before the horse. Be careful

It is sort of unclear to me exactly what kind of window you are considering ...but I do know that the window in the kitchen is the most important one in the house....I wouldn’t want one of those (little square)divided ones for sure...and I would look for an option that does not have a divider right in the middle of the view from the sink...couple of reasons...this is the only window you look out of ... from about 2’ away...often during the day...secondly it will be most obvious when it is dirty or water splattered...so easy access ...for in and out cleaning ...is essential....if necessary even widening the window to allow a solid center glass with two small side sliders...would be preferable...

The flooring looks brand new. If so, I assume ripping it out is not happening! 😉 I think the grey green wall color is nice. You can definitely work with the floor. I do agree with ffpalms about the lack of natural light in the kitchen and not chosing a grey color like the bathroom cabinet for that reason. I also agree that you can easily go into grey overload if you are not careful. I would probably paint the cabinets a nice white to go with whatever countertops you chose. I really like how the wood cabinets are seen in that room in the background. Maybe adding wood accents like with bar stools, cutting boards, dining furniture, etc would bring in some warmth to contrast the grey tones. Here is a mockup for you using the slab you are debating. If you go with that stone or something similar, because of the pretty swirls, I would do a plain lighter colored backsplash. I toned done that fluorescent pinky color in the cut out above the stove. Isn’t it so weird how colors shiff on different walls?

@Zory ceilings are in flat paint, cabs are enamel, so that's part of it. The other part is that color looks different on horizontal and vertical surfaces. AND color looks different in photos than it does in person (my carpet looks pink-tinged in photos but has zero pink in person, my walls and cabinets look a lot lighter in person than they do in photos, etc.). AND it looks different in artificial light than in daylight. So take it all with a grain of salt. I can't speak to city loft but drift of mist looks nice throughout our house. Our main rooms face south and east. We have bedroom and office spaces facing each direction. I had initially wanted white as well but DH wanted even darker (he wanted gossamer veil) so this was our compromise, and I'm really happy with it. Honestly I like the depth I get from a little more chroma as it makes the trim pop, so I'm kind of glad I didn't win. Anyway, if you are building custom, I would think it would be OK for you to paint large samples so you could see what it looks like in your space. Or get the large samplize peel & sticks, and move them around in your house. I'd definitely take whatever color you were thinking and put it next to the ceiling to make sure it works.