I don't think I'm any good at thee types of suggestions, but have you looked at the kitchens thread in the gallery, and also at the cottage decor thread (there are some kitchens in there)? I've posted hundreds of beautiful pictures, so you should be able to get some inspiration.

Please rethink a combination of yellow and dark brown, especially with white. There's only one thing I can think about when I see that color combination and it's definitely NOT something I'd want to see in a kitchen (and it's a VERY popular exterior color combination around here, ugh).

Very high contrast can be tough to work with. Try getting your colors a bit closer together in value - since you're going for a white on your cabinets and a pale yellow wall (BTW, BM Rich Cream is a very popular light yellow, although it doesn't look very yellow on the chip it goes quite yellow on the wall; BM Windham Cream is a nice soft yellow that has absolutely NO business being called cream), think about lightening up the color of the trim and wainscot to a midtone at the darkest. If you drop down to a semigloss on the wainscot and trim the "bashed-up-ness" ;-) should not show as glaringly with lighter colors as they do with a high-gloss finish; with such a reflective surface the light "catches" in the dings. It doesn't need to match the other rooms, and trim in a color-color is quite period appropriate for the 1880s - the Victorians were MAD for color. It's just not seen that much nowadays because white/off-white trim is more "in".

What about a just-slightly-lighter-than-midtone green that picks up the soapstone's green for the trim/wainscot (a somewhat clearer green than the muddy tealish green that's there now)? Say third or fourth down on a BM strip? Green and yellow is a lovely pairing and will be cheerful and happy with the white. We have the same orangy old pine boards in our ca.1900 "Victorian Lite" (a very plain millworker's cottage, makes your farmhouse look elaborate!), although ours are random-width and mostly nicely wide, and it goes swimmingly with almost any green. I'm having a very hard time resisting using green in every room. :-)

Blue is a color to consider, too, since it also goes marvelously with yellow and white. Classic combination. There's a gorgeous upscaled-old-fashioned kitchen in the kitchens thread in the Gallery area of this forum decorated in yellow and slate blue (photo #9). #22 uses a pale, pale yellow on the walls with white trim and a pale blue on the cabinet, there's no reason why you couldn't have the cabs white and the trim blue, especially if the kitchen is bright (IME light colors work best in bright rooms, they tend to go drab in darker ones). It's impossible to tell because these pictures were taken at night! :-) #25 is a great example of the green/yellow/white combination in a traditional country kitchen setting.

Just wondering - won't it be a bit crowded up by the ceiling with the plate shelf AND crown molding? I'm puzzled.

Love your island, the t&g doors, the transom... beautiful.

I think you should just accept the imperfections in the paneling as the charm of an older home. I think painting it a lighter colors with imperfections is better than painting it brown to try and hide the imperfections. We used to have oak paneling in our family room, which made the room dark and depressing to me. I had someone paint it and antique it. It drove my husband crazy because he thought each panel they painted should look exactly the same. I told him the beauty of the antiquing is the imperfections :)

Laurie

Thanks for the kind comments. We love this house. It just needs freshening up a bit - I love the woodwork, mismatched hardware, etc. - you can tell that many people have left their mark here.

Here are some of my experiments with the Benjamin Moore Color Viewer... any feedback?

The cabinets are always Acadia White or Linen White.

My original dark brown concept, BM Tudor Brown (trim)& BM Pearly Gates
{{!gwi}}

BM Peale Green on wainscot, wall same
{{!gwi}}

Trim/wainscot Linen White, above BM Wetherington Moss (I know I said no white below but I wanted to try it)
{{!gwi}}

This color is not as orange as it seems here... BM Greenfield Pumpkin
{{!gwi}}

The green on top, white on bottom is by far my favorite :)

Laurie

Me too -- I LOVE the green on top, white on the bottom.

Here's why --

1. You already have white cabinets... white wainscoting extends and balances the visual impression of white cabinetry.

2. The moss green against your wood window trim will look fabulous.

3. The moss green is traditional, soothing and yet modern.

4. Classic kitchen wainscoting is usually white, so white wainscoting will look deliberate and, um, classic.

Oh, and you can easily (and inexpensively) put beadboard on the end of your island and it will all look cohesive!