I currently have creamy white upper cabinets ,two 36"wide uppers have glass doors on either side of my corner sink. ( (Yes I love my corner sink) The lowers are dark stained birch. I have creamy white travertine look porcelain floor tile and St Cecilia granite which has a lot of orangish flecks so I painted my BS pumpkin. I did this house as a flip; we're living in it while we build The House. I picked the two color cabinets because the kitchen has two north facing windows and needed light, and it's smallish at 12X16. I wanted a white kitchen but couldn't convince my DH so we compromised. White on top, stained on bottom. Funny thing is everyone who comes here loves this kitchen! From friends and family to strangers who step in the door, to the plumber to the appliance repairman. All comment positively. So I'm doing a combo in the new house.

Thanks guys, and thanks for the link. I'm still figuring out how gardenweb works - there is so much information here. oofasis & rabbit house, your kitchens sound beautiful and well thought out. Mine needs to stay in the mid-century category as far as simplicity, but I don't want it to look retro or cold. Last night as I was flipping through channels I stumbled on George Lopez's sitcom (I don't know what it is called). Besides really liking the terracotta wall behind them, I noticed their top cabinets are my color, and their bottom cabinets a dark green. Funny place to find kitchen design ideas! I'll post a photo when I can manage it.

Here's another option. The first custom cabinet maker that I interviewed suggested eliminating the rail between the inset drawers. I didn't even know this was possible so I started looking for pictures before I decided to do this. I have regular inset in my master bath and knew that I did not want to lose drawer height as my previous kitchen was frameless. The national company that I went with also offers inset with no rails. I opted to keep rails on everything above counter height. I have two tall pantry cabinets on either side of my refrigerator. Each pantry base has a drawer with a pullout below (no rail between) and two doors above with a rail separating them. Not one person has noticed that I've eliminated the rails in all of my lower cabinets.

TT, the painted cabs should be solid wood, with MDF panels only. no reason to have all fiberboard. 3K more to paint as opposed to staining? wow. Sounds a bit high. Confirm that the doors/drawers are indeed solid wood, with only MDF center panels. I had my cabinets painted last year. I have solid wood (birch I believe). but the drawers weren't the same as the doors, so for another 2K, I got all new door/drawer fronts in the same shaker style. They are all solid maple with the door center panels being the MDF. my floors are white oak, and I have walnut around the vent hood and window. You will have to see how he does the stain. You say you don't want it to come out like your last pic. so how can you be assured that it won't? Elkhorn would be safer since it doesn't have any yellow. And like I've said, your other two pics are on oak. not birch. you understand the difference in wood, yes? you like the kitchen stain colors w/oak. So get oak and not birch I'm just concerned that you want blue lowers/wood uppers. Have you found a picture w/that combo? even this one is all wood w/blue island. As for the walnut butcher block, 4K is ridiculous. is this a builder home ? you know they make their money on all the upgrades, right? It's cheaper if you go w/base options, and have things redone once you move in. like countertops or backsplash choices. take the included option on the island. when you move in, pay to have what ever you want. I guarantee you it will be cheaper Don't they offer a standard white cabinet? I think you should rethink your two tone options