You might be interested in this old thread

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0323073924141.html

Can you list some emotion words you want for this? Do you want happy? Calming? Bright? Cozy?

When you saw all these finishes together did you see a whole installation, or just samples?

What I'm seeing is that this is a very dark palette. That might be exactly what you want, especially if you have a a really bright western exposure or something, but it could also be very heavy.

So, what kind of look do you want?

I'm thinking you're not going for 'bright'! ;-)

I had the same thought as Plllog, wondering if you've seen all of these things installed together, because it seems like a lot of dark, and I wonder if they will all blend into one blob, or have a chance to have some distinction. Love the sound of the walnut cabs with the cherry floor, but wasn't sure about black hardware and dark brown granite. But this is just from words, and not seeing any of it. If you can distinguish well enough between the elements, I do love the elegance of a tone-on-tone (dark on dark or light on light) scheme and think it will be very rich.

I would have the same concern about the sink as you're having, because it sounds like it will be bright and stand out in relation to the rest, and it probably isn't something you want to call attention to...Like a white bra strap out of a black evening dress. Have you looked at the Blanco granite composite sinks in anthracite or cafe' brown? Or perhaps one of Kohler's undermount sinks in their black and tan or other dark color?

Rhome has a point about the sink. I was thinking the SS would be a nice interuption and match the appliances, but I'm not sure how good it would look in the tropical brown. I think the cafe brown might look great with the granite, and better than the SS. But it's more dark. :)

Thanks so much for the replies!!

Yes, we have seen the combo together, actually pretty much identical and it was one of the reasons we were drawn to building this house! We love the richness of it. I've lived in a white on white kitchen (white cabinets, white laminate counters, white tile backsplash, white lineoleum floor...ick) for the last 8 years and am definitely ready for a change! We are more "transitional" in our styling and love the "old world modern" kind of feeling our new house will have. It's definitely all very monotone brown palate (throughout the house), but I plan to use accent colors to make it all pop. The woodwork/trim/doors are white, so that will help, too.

Emotion words - rich, cozy, elegant, relaxing.

The entire back of the house is windows, but no western exposure, actually more eastern.

The hardware is black...there wasn't much of a difference in color between that and the ORB and we were worried about the finish on the ORB rubbing a bit, and the granite is actually a mixture of browns/blacks, so we thought that would look nice with brown cabinets and black hardware.

Here is almost an identical kitchen, except our island will be stained instead of black.

http://www.billyandashlee.com/gallery/albums/wpw-20090226/normal_IMG_8851.JPG

And this kitchen actually has the same exact faucet we chose (Delta Leland in ORB) with the SS sink and appliances. We are planning to choose a granite slab with a bit more black in it than this one shows.

http://www.billyandashlee.com/gallery/albums/wpw-20081218/normal_IMG_8336.JPG

I'd love more opinions!

I just want to warn you that American cherry is fairly soft and to expect a lot of dings/scratches in a heavily used area like a kitchen. Are you looking for a "rustic" look since you called it "rustic" (didn't know if you were referring to a color or a texture - handscraped?).

The inspiration kitchen is pretty......but so terribly dark. I can't help but wonder if you are leaning towards very dark only because you were so tired of very light for so long? I DO love the very dark cabinets OR the very dark floor, but not both of them. I like to see a bit more of a contract. In that inspiration kitchen, everything sort of runs together except for the BS.

I agree the dark on dark on dark is DARK. And many tire of dark much quicker than they tire of light. There are lots of wood choices for floors and/or cabinets that would help to brighten the room, I would swap either the cabinet or flooring for something lighter to offer some contrast and lighten it up. I have a window like the one in the picture, it provides very little lighting into the room, and believe me, for a number of reasons a dark kitchen is not an "happy" kitchen to be in all the time. That's why our next project is to enlarge the window as much as possible and (if I can talk my DH into it) paint our cabinets!

Actually, it's not an "inspiration" kitchen, it's the kitchen in models/spec homes that are identical to what ours will be. Our house is very near completion, changing cabinets, flooring, etc. is not an option, nor do we want to! I really appreciate your comments, but we have chosen the "dark" on purpose. I would more appreciate comments on what color the sink should be, my original question!! Thanks!

ajsmama - "rustic american cherry" is what our builder calls this flooring (over the standard oak). It's hard to describe, but the hard woods just went in this week and they have lots of knotholes and things in them and what they do is sand them down, mix the sawdust with black epoxy and fill it all in and then the stain and poly coats. It does create a very "rustic" appearance. We LOVE them. The nice thing is that they do "hide" a lot of the flaws that will happen on the hardwoods bc of the "rustic" appearance/finish.

I think the SS sink is fine, since your appliances are SS. I love stainless with dark wood. Beautiful. The faucet I think you have to order, hold it up to everything, and decide. Luckily faucets are easily returnable. It's just so hard to tell until you have it all put together. Are you allowed to change your mind on the faucet color? It goes in last, after all. I think the darker faucet works better in feeling with the kitchen but it's so hard to tell without seeing it all together.

I think a lot of us are just really new to the dark on dark on dark you have chosen and like, and therefore are having trouble answering the sink question.

Trying to fit into your scheme, I think I'd go with the dark Silgranite sink, and do a stainless faucet to match the appliances and provide some sparkle.

The stainless sink also goes with the appliances, though I'm not 100% sure I favor it with the granite. As to whether the ORB faucet is the right choice, I don't know. I don't really care for it, but that's probably personal taste, not that it's objectively wrong. The good news is that the faucet is the easiest thing to change!!

Actually the title of your thread is "Will ALL this look good together". So I and others gave you our opinions of how everything looks together. If you only wanted to know about how the sink would look, perhaps you should have said "what sink should I choose?"

Sorry, I thought the questions in my actual post were fairly clear.

- Is the ORB faucet going to look funny with the SS sink?

- Will the SS appliances blend ok with the hardware, faucet, light fixtures, etc?

Again, I appreciate your comments, but these are the things I was wondering about, not the ENTIRE kitchen...if I was questioning the entire kitchen, I doubt I would have selected it all to begin with! lol

I think what I'm finding is that it is all personal preference, as I could NEVER EVER have a white kitchen again in my life (seriously feels dated to me and entirely impossible to keep clean with small children) and I detest light wood cabinets (oak, maple, etc) and I really don't like dark counters with light wood or light wood with dark counters...much to much contrast for me and feels very '90's to me. So, it's probably better if I don't ask "opinion" type questions again:)

No, you can ask opinion questions! It's fun to provide opinions, and you'll have fun providing them to everyone else. Don't be put off by everyone's enthusiasm to discuss everything about your design. It's just enthusiasm, nothing more.

I think either faucet you choose will look nice, but I lean toward the ORB with your whole scheme (which is pretty!). The stainless sink and appliances works fine, I think. In my opinion!

I think the ORB faucet and the SS sink fits perfectly into the style of kitchen you are doing.

I think a SS sink will look nice in your kitchen, especially since you have SS appliances. I wouldn't worry about matching your sink to your faucet.

I have a black Kohler cast iron sink now and it looks terrible. I'm not sure how old it is but I wouldn't recommend it! Very scratched and nothing makes it look OK.

Where's the refrigerator? I don't like it when you can't see where the fridge is - it's usually such a big part of how a kitchen looks, and it's stainless, right? I think stainless blends with everything if you like the look of it go for it.

nesting, biochem, and cncnh - Thank you for your opinions on the sink and faucet combo, that helps!

lovlilynne - haha, I guess the fridge didn't make it into those pics:) There's a link below showing the kitchen from a different angle, but before the kitchen in this spec house was finished. You can see on the back wall, there is a place for the oven, then there are double doors that lead to a HUGE walk-in pantry including a desk area with built-in cabinets, then there's the fridge beside the double doors (or the *hole* for it), then beside the fridge is a small "hallway" with a butlers pantry that you can just see a bit in the picture (counter, cabinets, wine rack, wine fridge) and then on to the dining room. And yes, the fridge, oven, microwave, and DW are all SS.

http://billyandashlee.com/gallery/albums/wpw-20081218/normal_IMG_8330.JPG