The floors and fireplace are beautiful... congratulations. I'm not feelin' the gold counters since the fireplace is reading soft gray, a little creamish gray, and rose to me. I'd go in one of two opposite directions on this. Either soapstone to tie into the natural more rustic materials or something with a whiteish ground that will work with a slate backsplash. Love the idea of a slate (ie Fire and Ice) backsplash or quartzite BS in there.

Yeah, seriously, you will be SO much happier with the dishwasher on the left. That whole thing we were talking about last week where you could stack your pile of dirty dishes to the left where they will be out of the way of your prepping just doesn't work as well if the dishwasher is not also on the left. I have that issue now -- the dishwasher in our condo is under the prep counter, so dishes accumulate on my prep counter with nowhere to stack them that is out of the way/handy for cleaning, AND I have to entirely move myself out of my own way in order to open the dishwasher and grab things or load them in order to get out of my way. I was just fighting with that last night -- my kitchen just flatly doesn't flow, and ugh. Don't do that to yourself! You may hate losing the 8 inches of storage, but as I said last week, what you are really gaining is 8" of dirty dish stacking space in addition to the 24" above the dishwasher, all of which will provide you ample room to stack dirty dishes out of your way when you prep in a place that puts them in the ideal spot for loading them into the dishwasher. It is a system that works extremely well, I promise. So those 8" definitely aren't lost or pointless. I know you're really focused on the cabinets and storage now, so it seems like a big problem, but when you are actually in the kitchen and using it, having your movements while cooking not be so constrained and awkward as mine are in my kitchen will seem like a much, much bigger deal. Having a random extra 8" storage cabinet will not interfere with your use of the kitchen at all. A poorly-placed dishwasher DEFINITELY will.

for the handles, may I suggest something to pick up on the hues in the flooring? A little more copper toned. you have light cabs, light floors. I think throwing in a dark ORB w/o actual copper highlights would be too much of a contrast. IMO. cypress park Sandra, I like the porcelain one better than the other one. Does the backsplash have to be done immediately? If the tones in the porcelain tile you picked clash w/the ivory tones in the counter, it could be a problem. However, I did find some copper toned ones that should be avail. these are porcelain/SS, and treated so as not to stain or tarnish. I LOVE these for your kitchen. timeless and gorgeous. They are probably not super cheap, but it would be worth it for me. http://www.miusartmosaics.com/arabesque-lantern-beacon-copper-tile-in these would also work. the site is here: maybe they have them in stock.http://www.westsidetile.com/arabesque-tiles/ i like this one too. notice the copper faucet. beautiful w/the glass mosaic. if you got the cream countertop, this would look amazing w/your floors. this last one is a copper colored slate/quartzite.

thank you, what did you mean by "I would not take up the charge of the sink"? Do you mean you wouldn't bother replacing? Regarding the flooring....the rest of the house has the old school 3/4" oak flooring so if I change the flooring to hardwood in the kitchen and entryway, I would have to change out all the hardwood in the living room and kitchen. This was my thought process anyway. I did check out the cost and for the flooring I like, it would be a lot of $. To answer your question, the sq footage of the combined entry way and kitchen which is currently tiled, is about 170 sq ft. what did you mean about backsplash? I was thinking black granite counter top and then a simple backsplash and yes I def want a coordinated look. warm, inviting and not choppy and misfitting. thanks again