Oh, and our new kitchen flooring is red oak (hopefully stained to "match" the original all over the rest of the house. Thanks for your help!

I painted a few checkerboards in the kitchen to see what I liked but we don't go into other rooms, so a bit easier.
I would paint some splotches and see what you think.

Thanks! It's just difficult since the walls in the kitchen are purple right now (the new drywall I guess). I'll be going to BM tomorrow and getting some paint boards to hold up in my dining room which is painted in Stone Hearth. Would love some suggestions as to what would go with it?

Have them prime and do the first coat in Stone Hearth. You may decide that having it all through the house is a good idea.

If you decide to change the color later, you will have a nice base coat.

I love Elmira White from BM historical collection. It is a light grey (not white) and very similar to Stone Hearth. We have white painted cabs and red oak floor and the Elmira White is perfect.

Thanks! I will check out Elmira White. I just tried Healing Aloe (could work) and some others that clearly didn't work. So hard to find a darker shade that can skew grey and beige like Stone Hearth does in my house (it's such a chameleon color and works with everything). Hoping my pieces of paintedd posterboard on the front lawn dry before it rains! If I don't get some sunshine soon so I can see a change of light, I may just stick with the Stone Hearth - if it ain't broke...

Stone Hearth is a great color. We have it our downstairs bath. Good luck with the rain. I'm getting really sick of it!

I can't help you with paint color - sorry! But had to chime in that the mosaic is gorgeous! Can't wait to see the whole finished kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sticking to the color of the rest of the downstairs is likely to work, and at the least it won't look bad. You can always change it later.

Thanks everyone! One more question...should I match the trim in the new kitchen, hallway and mudroom to the white cabinetry or the white trim that is in the rest of the house? My carpenter is going to make molding to match the original dentil molding that's in the living room and dining room, and add it to the top of the cabinetry in the hallyay, etc. Does it look better to have all the white match the white cabinets exactly? The cabs were finished by Schuler but I could have the color matched.

AboutToGetDusty - this thread is just old enough, I'm hoping your mosaic is installed. Do you have a picture you could share?? I am contemplating this mosaic behind our range, but would love to see a picture of it.

As an aside, my downstairs is also BM Stone Hearth!

Thanks,
SE_ME

OMG!
I really love that mosaic!
Could you talk about it? Where, what, who, how?

Lovely.

That mosaic is gorgeous! Let's see the pics, Dusty! :)

Unbelievable. I fell in love with this tile way back when just beginning to do research on my kitchen. The company is Artistic Tile in San Francisco. Even went up to the show room. I had my heart set on it. I, too, was going to use it as a framed accent behind range. It truly is beautiful with integrated glass, travertine and marble. The saleswoman told me that the company had just won an award for it.

Anywhoooo. I decided not to go with it because I wanted a more casual kitchen. But, I will always love this and CANT WAIT to see it in someone's kitchen!!

Hint, hint. You there Dusty??

Thanks! I thought I was all set and then struggled with the backsplash, driving miles and miles with my little ones to different tile stores. Then I stopped by a store in the next town over to talk about flooring...they had a tile section. I saw it and immediately knew I had to have the mosaic! Totally in love. My GC thought it should be recessed - he thought it didn't quite go with the white Gabriella undulated field tile (from the front, it looked warm, not stark, like the other cheap white field tile, and it was undulated and a great knock-off of the expensive undulated tile. $3.50/square foot!) The mosaic from Artistic Tile was pretty pricey, and I had to buy two pieces (it doesn't come as a square or rectangle, oddly enough, so my tile guy had to cut and piece the two pieces together). Here is the picture - kitchen is 95% done - and I'm so excited and pleased with the backplash. I was worried I was picking something I loved that would clash, but I really feel it works and adds a little something different. And I love it even more, and I'm glad I didn't have it recessed. Artistic Tile was great to work with, by the way, but it's good to know that a lot of their stuff can be special order. They told me they had about a dozen pieces left in stock, so I was thrilled to get them (and not have to wait).

BTW, it hasn't been sealed yet. I'm going to have the tile guy use the little extra piece to test the sealer before we use it on the mosaic.

SWOOOOOOOOn! Thud! You were right to go with your gut. It's stunning!!! As is your WHOLE kitchen. That must make you beam everytime you look at it.

Thanks, annsch - I am tickled pink :-)
Oh, and we went with Stone Hearth in the hallway but BM Healing Aloe in the kitchen and mudroom. The mosaic seems to have warm and cool colors that bring out both paint colors and the soapstone...it's chameleon depending on the lighting.

Your kitchen is beautiful!

@Dusty - About your question re: the trim. What did you end up doing? Match the trim in the new kitchen, hallway and mudroom to the white cabinetry? Or to the white trim that is in the rest of your house?

Thanks, BlackChamois :-) We wound up using the cabinet paint from Schuler in the kitchen only and the house trim paint on the kitchen window and everywhere else - hallway with the pantry, transom, mudroom and powder room (had it matched - I have to find out the color). I was worried but it works, I think because there are bends and curves to break it up visually, and the colors look spot on (the cabinet paint's finish is slightly different). Also it helps that the carpenter is talented and was able to match the original dentil and make it for the new spaces.

Thank you! I was curious as I will have a similar situation. Again, fantastic job!

Thank you so much Dusty! It looks gorgeous, and it's so helpful to see it as a range mosaic...I could only find pictures as flooring. Your kitchen is beautiful, hope you're enjoying it.

oh and p.s. - what size is your mosaic? Thanks!

Thanks, SE_ME! Final inspections tomorrow (crossing fingers!) The mosaic is sold in 20x20 pieces - we ordered one and expected a square. However, when it arrived it was an odd shape with all sorts of corners! The store I bought it from was also under the impression that it would arrive as a square. Not sure who ate the cost but I was sent a whole other piece! So my CG made the two pieces into one square for the 30" range. Crisis averted :-)

Forgot to mention...the "honed smoke" pencils around the mosaic are also from Artistic Tile
And in this pdf, at the bottom right of page 3, you can see the odd shape that arrived: http://www.artistictile.com/picture_library/downloadfiles/bb35c65b-6d4c-4689-b135-e08ef0744d89.pdf

Ok, that is a very strange shape to provide based on a 20x20 stated size! I very much appreciate the heads up, I bookmarked that link.
Good luck with your inspections!

Your kitchen et all looks fabulous! All came together just perfectly.

Your new kitchen is lovely! Beautiful job on everything.