I now have in front of me two samples of stain over white oak. One dark, one medium shade. Coincidentally, Linen white is my wall color too. I agree that the dark stain may show imperfections. Kitchen cabs are off-white for me. I'm leaning towards the medium shade more that the darker shade. Contrast will be fine even with the medium stain against the white or off-white cabs. Sounds like you and I are thinking alike- dark sounds luxurious but a pain to deal with daily. If you need, I'll try to get a photo of the two samples my flooring guy has delivered. Chestnut would be what I'd call the lighter shade.

Thanks for the pictures and input! Unfortunately I now am past the point of no return!! They called me since they were ready to stain (I was at work). I popped home, nervous the entire drive -- they put the lighter of the two samples down under the cabinet area (maybe 5 feet) -- it is amazing how different it looks from different perspectives - I loved it from 10 feet away, but was nervous about the darkness when I stood 25 feet away.... this is basically the one in the upper right of the top picture (this is what they told me anyway). So after looking from various angles, I said let's do it! I definitely didn't want to go with the darker, and I didn't want to muck around with lightening it further. I had wanted medium to dark brown all along, and I figured to go with my gut.... I do have to say, I'M VERY NERVOUS how it will finally look, but I don't think I'd be able to tell between the 2 samples I was leaning towards anyway.... at least that's what I'm telling myself!!! :)

Rugged Suede is the color on the peaked wall that divides the rooms? That's a very warm grey or a beige with grey and you are trying to pair it with cool greys -- onces with more blue. The warm undertones and cool undertones are going to accentuate each other when you put the two together. I'm not sure I understand what look you are after -- lighter/darker contrast or beiger/greyer contrast. If you are happy with the Rugged Suede, have you considered just using that color at a ligher value? You can have the paint mixed at a percentage of the formula for a gallon of Rugged Suede. If you try to mix it yourself with white, you could have trouble matching the color if you need more. Lowe's here has Sherwin WIlliams colors -- if you want a different color rather than a lighter shade of the same color, try looking at something like Requisite Gray or Wordly Gray. On my monitor, they look good with the Rugged Suede photo. If they aren't right, maybe they will give you an idea of the direction to look. You could also look at Anew Gray and Mega Greige -- Agreeable Grey if you want something lighter. If that doesn't help, give us a better idea of the look you are after. Grey means different things to different people and in different contexts.

Thank you all SO very much for your thoughtful comments and time. I will post some layout pictures here (just met with our Kitchen Designer yesterday again.) We are going on Year 5 of living here this fall, and I have given constant thought as to the space & use since we have moved it. We have had a project going 100% of the time since we moved in due to the original state of the house. Now it's time to upgrade vs "fix". We are overdue! I've toyed around with ALL ideas (removing walls, extending the bar/not pictured-discussed, etc). For the most part, we like the layout and decided the pantry/2nd Kitchen are functional as is, although I love ideas, thank you all for your thoughtfulness. To answer other comments, I don't need 2 Kitchens + Butler Pantry. But that is the existing layout and it's easier to leave as-is than remove any of these large walls or areas, and I do use the space. I don't need 10K sq ft of house either, but it's what we have. (FYI it was a foreclosure we got for $360K on 25 Acres in Rural Indiana; about $100K put in initially to make liveable, and now we are just slowly chipping away at projects). I am going to reuse a lot of these cabinets in a basement storage room & garage. I hate to get rid of them! The Corian should hold up well in the transition too I think. Here is a picture from standing at the Main Island, looking OUT to the rest of the eat-in kitchen. We'll be adding a furniture-style cabinet piece where the additional cabinets are on the left. This bulkhead we may remove. They are big aren't they..? I have no clue what the $-tag would be to remove all of them (this one cheap likely.) I'll get a quote out of curiosity. My gut feeling just says it will be $$..... Just through that hallway to the left is where the 2nd Kitchen & Butlers Pantry are. I can't wait to get rid of this ugly dark red color. Existing Kitchen. Proposed is moving the Fridge from where it is now (right picture, where proposed Wall Oven & MW are - across to other side). Adding 36" rangetop. I can't go much bigger given the space there and existing gas line. We'll be moving our existing GE Induction, Wall Oven, MW to the 2nd Kitchen so did decide to just do 1 Wall Oven + MW in the Main Kitchen. Thanks for your comments on that! You're all right - as we grow/change, we will need that in the kitchen for sure. I was torn on leaving the 48" Fridge in the Main Kitchen, but it helps me avoid re-doing cabinets in the next picture..... as I have a 48" slot with non-working Fridge. Having a 42" and 48" seems to be plenty, vs adding two 48"s. See below. Here is the before of 2nd Kitchen (Please Excuse the Mess - this was previously a child craft room/nanny area). We would paint these cabs and re-do the ugly hood. Existing Wall Oven + old MW would go in here too on the far left replacing that cabinet. And the other side. Little pocket glass door to the bar. Non working 48" SubZero. 2nd Dishwasher, 2nd Trash Compactor, and Sink. Everything in the existing MAIN kitchen will come into here which is nice. No appliance worked when we moved in but I wasn't ready for a full remodel then. But glad to not be wasteful with those purchases. I have always loved the cabinets/style despite being so wood-heavy, so we are just going to paint these to match the main kitchen, new countertops, new backsplash. PROPOSED: And the Butler/WD/Toilet Room. This is on the other side of the Main Kitchen (behind Range/Wall Oven Area). There is a single toilet behind that far wall. And the other side. Here I don't need a 3rd Dishwasher but am struggling to figure out what to do with that space. I could add another Wine Cooler but seems odd to have in the Laundry/Butler area when we have a Bar. Trash Compactor will become pull-out Trash Bin. Ideas for filling the DW space? Again this will be all painted cabs, countertops, backsplash. But see the big bulkhead in here too? I don't want to take that out. We have 6 Bathrooms to remodel in the near(ish) future. I have to be frugal in some areas if I want other areas to pop more. Layout for these 2 pictures: Comments/ideas/suggestions are all ultra welcome. I will put a separate post about some of our semi-final decisions to our next steps in the remodel and would love your criticism.