This may not be the style you want, but i thought this was an interesting use of a partial dark backsplash with dark cabs at Home Depot. The tiles are the little tiny brown mosaic glass sheets they sell there. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Thanks for the suggestion. Only the opposite end walls, plus about 42" will even need paint. One exposed wall is about 5'w x 8'h, and the other is about 122" w, but 69" w of that is a double window. Oh, and there will be a small amount of about 12" showing above and an inch around the window over the sink. The backsplash area will also be painted for now (tiled later). What I suppose would be the more safe route would be to paint it all the medium tone and then after the cabs are in I can punch up the 5' wall with the deeper color if it needs it. Hmmm, now that I start talking about the space I realize that this wall will showcase a piece of artwork. I haven't done the painting yet, but I'm planning for it to include some brighter colors so perhaps the darker paint on that wall will end up being a good backdrop. Thanks for getting me thinking of alternative possibilities. ;)

We have medium dark cherry cabinets and decided to go with the dark pulls. We prefer the darker look with the cabinets. We have received lots of compliments on the pulls. We purchased them at Lowes after spending hours viewing pulls online. The pulls are 5" while the rectangle knobs are 2 1/2". I like the fact that they only project out 7/8". There also was a pewter color available. Here is a picture:

we really stepped out of the box and went with espresso stained cherry, sedna granite, granite backsplash on cooktop wall, rubbed bronze door hardware. i dont like stainless, so we paneled appliances. although we did use harvest gold stain on refrig. and some trim pieces. we were afraid it was going to be too dark, but it looks awesome, imho. we do have a skylight, kitchen window, sliders in dining room and dining room window, so we do get alot of light. we also did 2 glass upper cabs. alot of people suggested a light granite, but none "spoke" to me and frankly i don't like the look of dark cabs with white or almost white granite. to me it looks commericial/sterile. i also did not do stainless/silver hardware. again, did not like the look and i really didn't want to see all this silver which in my opinion is what would catch your eye with dark cabs. i didn't want to really notice the hardware, just wanted it to blend. my advice, get what YOU love. you have to look at it everyday not the people who recommend "this or that". that's what we did and we don't regret it for a second. we still have a pretty big punch list, so i will post pics when all is done. best of luck!!