OP, please forgive this OT commentary to answer Julie. You can email me, too, if you click on My Page. Julie, thank you for the compliments. It's taking me so long to finish that no one notices anything I do get done anymore! :o) Anyway, I posted something in the forum below about type of paint. As for painting 'pure white', I wouldn't do bright white, but something on the order of Behr's Swiss Chocolate, which is just a perfect, subtle white that will compliment your granite. I painted cabinets as described on the link below. After drying several days, I then took a small palm hand sander with 220 grit and sanded off the corners, edges, and high profile parts on the doors and other areas of the doors to show wearing away of paint. I then took a small 1" black foam brush and used Minwax stain on all of the exposed newly sanded wood, cleaning off excess stain off the paint and doors in about five minutes. You will have to choose a stain to compliment your granite and wood floors. This can be a messy process, so by a couple of boxes of disposable medical gloves. This is the best, easiest way to keep a messy job 'clean'. Especially if you work in the house like I do. Once stained, let it dry a day. Then I mixed the glaze as I described on the web address in this paragraph, except I painted it around all of the edges of the door profile to accent and define the interior areas. (I mixed up about a pint of glaze at a time.) I wanted a more dramatic look to my doors, so I left a lot more product on my doors that the average pro painter. Use a 2.5" sash brush by Wooster. I love Purdy brushes, but for this job, only the Wooster works the best. I know, I tried them all. http://www.sherichase.com/progress/July2008Update.htm . After the glaze, I also did another technique to the doors using an oak colored stain on the raised, thickest part of the door to give it a more golden, rustic look. I have a similar pattern in my kitchen table, except it has a light grey glaze. I did dry-dragging of a large brush across the front face of the doors with the light oak stain. It's subtle, but gives dimension and character when you're up close. I can take a better photo if you like. Let this dry a day. Then I waxed the doors with clear Briwax. Ut takes about five minutes per door or so. Here's where I made a bit of a 'mistake'. I waxed with light brown, but I think it was a bit too yellow, so I'm removing some of it now. Half of the kitchen is waxed with clear, the other half I'm having to really work to get the wax off without messing up my paint job. So even on my photo above, you can see the uppers have brown wax and lowers have clear wax. It's all subtle. Well, I do have some of the brown wax off the upper in that photo. It's going to take some time and I have a lot to do right now. As always, wet sand BY HAND between every coat of anything you put on your doors: paint, glaze, etc. Just make sure the product has cured before you sand. Wet sanding is the best. I gradually work up to 600 grit. I am still working on my doors now and am not pass 320 grit, I believe. I still have to get off that brown wax. It's not coming off like I think it should with the clear wax. That being said, my kitchen photos show myriads of stages and mistakes. You can see my progress at: www.sherichase.com/progress to see where I started and am today. Email me and I'll give you my ph.# in case you need to call. FYI: Only use a hand palm sander to remove wood and paint. Do not 'wet sand' with any electrice machine. All wet sanding is done by hand. Light pressure with the grain, wetting the door with a fine mist spray bottle then wiping off excess with a microfiber cloth. Hope this helps. Here is a link that might be useful: Painting cabinets

I've also purchased paint on sale and have taken it back to be tinted when colors have been decided ...should be no problem! That being said, SW Rhinestone is a nice one, but perhaps may be too much of a blue- gray for you.

Were you happy with the lighter version? I'm anxious to hear how that went because I'm going to try the same process, Dijon 50% and 75% darker. I called BM and they said the computer gave an error message that the paint container can't accommodate. When I get to the store tomorrow, I'm hoping they find a way around that issue, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I recently refreshed my oak kitchen with new countertops, backsplash and farm sink. https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~93784356 There are more pics in my "my pics" idea book, and I also have a "wood kitchens" idea book which also has some refreshed older kitchens. This Houzz post contains a wood kitchen that did a white or cream arabesque with a contrasting grout - it looks better than I would have thought. In general, I find a simple backsplash works best with wood, but this works: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/im-painting-my-golden-oak-island-should-i-go-robin-egg-blue-dsvw-vd~4690219 Warm wood tones and cool grays do not play well together - neither does anything for the other. The grays were formulated with the white are very dark wood cabinets in mind. Cream, creamy beige, blue or green look best with warm wood. The blues and greens can have gray undertones. Small amounts of gray are OK. Here is a pretty kitchen with black countertop and simple cream backsplash: If you have not already replaced the microwave, consider a stainless hood as you have a large kitchen with lots of counter space or other places for a microwave.