ctnewbie- I have the magazine you are talking about and I love the kitchen you mention. I've saved it as an inspiration picture, too. (I also like the green island on the cover and the copper sink on page 44). I'd call the cabinets medium rather than dark; I've seen much darker cherry cabinets. And, with the soapstone, it has the best of both worlds. I believe it falls in the "timeless category" pretty well except for maybe the largest slate tiles (of the various sizes) for the backsplash. I like the tiles and DH says "less grout". I figure if you're not designing your kitchen for resale, use what you like. I've seen lots of white kitchens here that I really like a lot, but I prefer wood for myself. But I do believe that white is timeless.

Thanks so much for all the replies! Redhead, the funny thing is that I do like stopping short of the beams for some of the furniture pieces we have. As you said, it does highlight the ceiling itself. But in the kitchen it drives me crazy because no matter what, junk gets shoved up there and the tops get horribly, filthy dusty. Yuck. Lalitha do you have a picture of your cabinets? I would love to see what going up to the beam would look like! I am leaning towards that solution right now, but still a bit on the fence. Countrygirl thanks for chipping in! Your new kitchen has such a lovely space, and I am hugely jealous of your beautiful window. PS. - I agree with you that staining your cabinets would look gorgeous with your new soapstone. I think the workers reluctance is due to oak grain being so hard to cover unless you take several time-consuming steps. But I would definitely paint the cabinets too. I am flirting with the idea for mine, too, but I love stained alder. Plus it gives me a direction for when we update the kitchen twenty years after this reno! Lavender lass, good to hear from you! The storage issue is a factor, as I can't reach up there too easily, but I plan on having a little step stool anyway so should not be a concern. And if stuff is going to be shoved up there anyway, I might as well make sure it is pretty and protected from dust - or fill up the space with display items. So I am still on the fence... I would LIKE to go to the ceiling, mainly because I would never have to clean the cabinet top. How's that for shallow reasons :)? It gives me enough clearance to use 15" cabinets on top of the upper cabs, which is nice. Also, I do like the look - up close. The problem is that as soon as I walk five feet away, I can't see a whole lot of anything between the beams. So I am scared of paying extra for something that isn't actually seen very much. Going to the bottom of the beams, then adding some molding, sounds like the better idea - but then it would be best to do extra-tall cabinets and just glass in the top part. Hmmm... That may be the way to go then????

I would remove from the equation the idea of white appliances having an effect on resale. No one says "I love the house, but forget it, it has a white range!" What is key to this whole discussion and has not been addressed is how much are you willing to spend on your appliances. The solution to your dilemma would be to panel the dishwasher and the fridge, and the fridge must be a fully-integrated style to pull this off. This will be very expensive. For the range, there are some lovely white ranges out there by Bertazzoni, Bluestar, Smeg, Miele, Lacanche for example, but those tend to be much more expensive than the old-style type of white range. There was a recent thread where someone posted about a white Kitchenaid range that looked fresh and not old-style, and was not priced as high as the other names I've mentioned, so look into that. I have a panelled DW, stainless fridge, white range, and stainless hood. I love it. The range is so easy to clean compared to a stainless range. The pairing of the white range with the stainless hood looks clean and fresh. The DW panelling does not show water drips the way stainless does. I was not willing to pay the $9000+ for an integrated fridge, so I am fine with my stainless one. (I am "lusting" a little for the white Miele fridge that Miller pictured above). One last note - your mention of the wood beams worries me. I know it's not what you asked, but adding wood beams has the potential to look very nice or to look artificial, "faux". A lot depends on your ceiling height. Make sure you have thought this through.

If you are speaking of wall color, that would depend on your decor. As for white trim paint, I went with basic bright white for all of my trim, but know there are many different options. In one home, the painter offered to match our new white Charleston blinds. I thought that a great idea. At the time, I did not realize that there is white, and then there is white. LOL Luckily, we caught the painter after he had painted only the Master bedroom and downstairs family room trim. It had a grayish tone. :( Made the wall paint look so drab. YIKES... I thought the blinds were white, white! We had it all redone. The painter was so sweet and only charged us for the original and new paint. No extra labor.