I've seen many beautiful white kitchens on this forum that I love! My old white kitchen was not one of them. (Cheapish cabinets and high maintenance white laminate.) So when we reno'd I went with maple; I've always loved the look of stained wood and I guess I was rebelling against the white. (I hadn't found GW, so I hadn't seen what truly amazing kitchens look like!) Before: Our new kitchen is darker, because we blew out the back of the house and added a new addition. (The window wall at the right in the before picture is now a big opening into the new FR.) That lost us a window and a big slider in the kitchen, although it gets ambient light from the big windows in the FR. I also went from pale yellow paint to a color called "baked clay" -- a darkish red. So that makes it a bit darker too. Sure, I'd LOVE more windows and natural light. But when you do an addition there are some constraints and compromises and our new space works so much better for us. After: Butler pantry before: After: So as you may see from the pics, it is darker now. But it's a completely different feel, more warm IMO.

Thanks ckinkopf for your ideas and thoughts. Glad you think it will look okay when we are all done. I think you are the first poster to mention we should have done darker windows, although I have thought that. Ignoring the windows for now is likely what we will do as I am out of ideas for repeating the white. Most of our windows are fiberglass which can certainly be painted. The basement windows and two others on the house are vinyl which I would be more reluctant to paint. The vinyl windows were bought 5 years ago and won't last as long as the fiberglass, so maybe in 10-15 years if they need replacing, we will swap them out for fiberglass and then paint them all a grey to match the window trim. At that point we would need to repaint the siding anyway so we would need scaffolding. Yikes, I hope we finish this reno by the time we need to repaint it all!!!

The Mushroom Tinted Varnish, which has a hint of ?taupe, is lovely with your countertops. It doesn't really look white. Any temptation to do uppers & lowers in that color? The Macadamia also looks nice with your stone & I would probably choose that one with the Cappacino lowers. I have true white cabinets & American Black Walnut floors. My cabinets are fine but the floors - dents galore. We are empty nesters but I'm always dropping stuff. Edit: I just read your post that you may change countertops. In that case, the Cappucino & Macadamia (lighter white). The Walnut floor is gorgeous & I would not give that up but the somewhat busy countertop, high level of variation in the walnut floors & 2 colors of cabinets could be too many things going on. Just a thought as I'm not one of those people that can visualize everything together. I have to see a picture. edited again: I keep writing Chestnut instead of Cappucino.

I dont think it is the paint that is your problem. The problem is the lack of light despite a good sized window. Once those cabinets are taken down (had the same problem here), you will notice a huge difference. I also had lights put in all 4 corners of my dining room, and a new chandelier put in the center of the room, right over the table. What was once a dark dreary place, is now full of light, and its bright and cheerful, and used every day. I didnt go dark with my paint. I used Sherwin Williams Blue Iris (its really aqua), in the dining room, and kitchen and the hallway. It is one of my very favorite colors. Wait til the cabinets are down and gone, and see if yours doesnt brighten up a whole lot. I also agree, you need a nice colorful rug on the floor under the table. The table also should be centered with the light fixture above, and maybe change out the light fixture to one that hangs down. More of a chandelier type. Here are the proper heights for hanging a chandelier over a dining room table, depending upon your ceiling height. Hang a chandelier approximately 30 to 34 inches over a table with an 8 foot ceiling height. If your ceiling is higher than 8 feet, mount the chandelier an additional 3 inches higher for each foot of ceiling.