I think a Mission style door in that color range looks great with shiny granite - the simplicity of the door style balances the elegance of the shiny stone. My husband is in the kitchen business and has seen several kitchens with Mission style doors in rich wood tones with Blue Pearl over the years, and says it always looks nice. I was looking for a picture of that door with a gray wash, but couldn't find it. The richness of the red wash looks great, probably because red has some blue in it and the values are similar. I would imagine you could duplicate that look in nearly every line of kitchen cabinets. Kitchen Craft has lots of similar door styles and tones in their line. Brushed nickel hardware would pick up the gray flecks in the granite and show up nicely on the wood. I could see a nice slate tiled floor in grays and blues, or you could go warmer with a similar wood toned plank floor - probably 2 or 3 shades darker or lighter, very common in Craftsman homes. For the backsplash, the darker example would be more dramatic, but I think the lighter blue looks more country.

Thanks again, everyone, for all of the replies! To address some of things that have been mentioned... We will definitely talk to the landlord before making any final decisions. Our friends, the current tenants (who are wonderful people and a landlord's dream), are also planning to put in a good word for us. Our agreement would be contingent upon the rent remaining the same, the lease going month-to-month after one year, and the landlord not having any plans to sell the house. If any of those conditions are not met, we will not rent the house. The landlord does not know yet that the tenants plan to move out, so we have to wait for them to talk to him first. All of this is hinging on the deal for their new house, and they are currently still in negotiations. If their deal does not go through, which is certainly a possibility, then we will do nothing for now. I want to be ready with our decision as soon as they know for sure, though, which is why I am going through all the pros and cons now rather than waiting to see if the opportunity will actually materialize or not. If we do move into the rent house and put our current house on the market, we will not start looking for a new house until our house is sold and our lease is up or almost up, so there will be no issues with finding the perfect house and not being able to get out of our lease. Trust me, I remember how stressful house hunting was last summer, and I am not eager to begin the process again until we are completely ready. We were totally jumping the gun last summer (not even having our house ready to sell), and have learned a few lessons. Next time around, we plan to be ready to buy with no contingencies once we find a house we want. I'm prepared to be patient and just live in the rent house for at least a year while we get all of those things in order. We can't buy a new house now and just pay two mortgages until our current house sells because the monthly mortgage on a new house will most likely be higher than what we will be paying in rent. Also, we may need to dip into our savings to be able to pay for both rent and mortgage (especially if our house takes several months to sell), and if we bought a new house, we would deplete our savings for the down payment. Finally, we need to sell our house before we'll really know what we can afford and how much we'll have for a down payment. It may be that we need to save up for another couple of years, and I am OK with living in the rent house until then. Saving money will be pretty impossible while we're paying both rent and mortgage, but should be easy once our house sells and we're only paying rent. Thank you to those that suggested daily check-ins at our old house. If we do move, I'll make a checklist that my husband (or one of our neighbors) can quickly run through each day. That will be easy for us since the rent house is only a few minutes away from our current house. The more I think about this idea, and the more I talk with my husband about it, the more I like the idea. It would certainly not be right for everyone, but I think it might be the right decision for us. Of course, this all depends on whether or not our friends get their new house and whether or not the landlord agrees to rent the house to us at the same rate. We will see! We should know something next week. :)

Jhmarie; yes, the kitchen is very functional, and a part of this is almost like therapeutic processing for what to do with this house!Thank you for the heads up about the book. I will have a look for that. Aprilneverends; well thank you. I am really trying to not get caught up in fads, but I think the state of the place made me focus on the yellowness of the oak. And the oakiness of the oak everywhere in that part of the house! I always really enjoyed this blue, to be honest. ha!! It contrasted nicely and I got to cackle in my husband's direction every time someone told me they loved it, too. That's the thing I guess, you never can tell. I am a bit leery of how much the kitchen will change with all of the white and off white in regards to the contrast, and had to kind of giggle at the thought of painting the walls white and the wainscoting blue. Like a role reversal. :D Fidlfreek; I appreciate you bringing me back down from the clouds with some of your suggestions. Some of your sentiments I had thought of and was considering - all white miracle method, subway tile, lighting updates. Now is the time to pull that big beast down I think - we are planning to paint the ceilings throughout the home. Curious of your thought process- the lighting fixture you linked from ikea, is that to coordinate with the current colored cabinets? Or the shape in general? Staining the cabinets darker is of course an option, I just don't want this area to feel any more boxed in, I guess. This vantage point is actually the only way in and out of the kitchen - there is also peninsula seating already to the left, FYI. I actually picked the flooring you circled in the event that I wanted to go lighter or darker with the cabinets, now or later, that there would be flexibility in the flooring color to do so. It's also more of the classic wood look than some of the on trend colors I am seeing out there. The more I think about it, the more I would like to NOT spend a lot of time painting everything white, but I definitely think I need some adjustments in here. I find it interesting that none of you have mentioned the appliances or their color - apart from the microwave, which is usually the least of the appliance worries. ;D I so appreciate your feedback and input.

A couple of follow up points... A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. A sale today without marketing has real value. You will have access to the equity today and can use that money in the build and you will not have to worry about the difficulty of selling the home. Additionally, a sale without realtor's commission has real value. These two things give you some leeway to make a deal that nets out being better for both parties. You can give a discount because you are getting real value above the traditional sales method and if the buyer is flexible he can also get some real value. However, depending on the financial situation and your local real estate market, it is entirely possible that you will lose money doing this. You note that your house is paid off, but in a rent back situation you are going to have to make rental payments and probably at the market rate. It is entirely possible that given enough time or the right market conditions this will destroy any value you receive. ---- There are other options out there. Residential real estate has relatively few and pretty simple transactions, there are many other sales arrangements out there that are atypical for home sales but fairly standard in commercial real estate. For example, you might do an option contract on the property with a guaranteed sell by date. In that case he would pay you some amount today (usually between 5% and 10%), this secures his right to buy the property at a later date for a set amount. In a residential transaction that payment would probably be a credit toward the purchase if he agrees to complete the sale and would be held in escrow by the attorney. You agree that you will offer the property for sale no later than X date, but may offer the property for sale on any date before that with a 60 day notice (or whatever you are comfortable with). If he passes on purchasing that day he loses the money. Inspections would be done when the option contract is executed and you will have a refund period just like a typical contract but the final home sale wouldn't have an inspection or an appraisal contingency. He can still pull out at any time, he just loses the option payment he made. This protects him from things like a slowdown in the economy or a major loss of value on the home (he only risks the option payment he made), and incentivizes his going through with the sale. It also means you don't have to make rental payments. ----- I used to do options in rental properties quite often. Frankly, I just find the houses that look like they could use some money and offer them a few thousand dollars for the option to match any offers when/if they sell. Nine out of ten times they just call me up and ask for an offer before they even call a realtor and I get multiple properties close together over a period of a few years which really lowers my costs. Note: To relieve my conscience I only make fair offers, I am not trying to take advantage of people and although that certainly costs me money, I do sleep better at night. I despise those people who offer pathetic amounts of money to people in desperate situations.