Conn 123: the door is old, and it is one of my favorite things in my kitchen. The door is original to the house, which was built in 1894. It, like everything else in the house, had about 20 layers of paint on it. We sent all the kitchen doors and hardware out to be dipped and stripped, with the intent of painting them. But we decided to just put a clear poly on the dining room door to see how it would look, and we love how it turned out. It has some dents and scrapes, but with the finish, it looks good. Definitely not for everyone, becuase it is quite "rustic." I'm sure my mother is horrified because the door is kind of beat up, and she always wants everything to look perfect and new, but I like it, and the house is really old, so it fits. We had one other door that we planned to leave unpainted, that was actually in better shape, but a worker painted it. We've left it so far (we didn't make it crystal clear that we didn't want it painted, so we didn't make a huge stink about it). I would think that if your own doors are not in good enough shape to leave unpainted, you might try a salvage place. Not sure where you would find a new door that looked old.

Ok Guys, I went back to the design center today and here are some new choices: Tumbled Marble Subway Tile Emperador Brown: The tumbled marble also comes in 4"X4". OR Tumbled travertine 4"X4" Chocolate color: I emailed the designer to ask of the trvertine came in subway tiles, too. Hopefully, she will get back to me soon. My pics of the floor tile did not come out great this time, but here is is with two different carpet choices (in the design center it was almost identical to the carpet on the right, but in the pic it looks identical to the carpet on the left!): Also, I came across this REALLY pretty mosiac tile (I have NO idea how much any of this costs, I've put in an email to the designer to see!). I was thinking of getting one of the 4"X4" tiles (either the marble or the travertine) as the backsplash and then having them put one of these mosaic tiles centered over the stove cooktop. What do you guys think? Here's a pic of the mosaic tile: If the mosaic is too expensive, then I think I may go with subway tiles for the backsplash. I think the subway tiles would look wierd with the mosaic. Let me know what you guys think! You have been really helpful so far! Thanks so much!

I was also searching for a creammy color with a light glaze. I went with Dynasty alma/caramel glaze. It has enough definition to highlight the molding. I spent a lot of time searching for the perfect color, my cabinets are on order, I'm hoping my search wasn't in vain. The vanilla bean glaze was too much of a contrast for me, the Irish cream was better, but still not the look I wanted. I saw the alma/caramel color in an EXPO store. Good luck

I think rather than spend money on piecing it to work (and it really doesn't look so bad now. I like the black wall) save up for a year or so until you can do everything at once. otherwise, you're spending money on backsplash, only to have it be replaced when you do the cabs/countertops down the road. You already have the granite backsplash, and the beadboard. If you don't have money or time for the cabs, then you won't have time or money to do a proper tile backsplash. If I were going to spend any money, I'd spend it on a new SS stove.. (without the high back on it) Or even a slightly used one from craigslist. get a used SS DW while you're at it. The white appliances next to the dark creamy cabinets and black counters look odd. also look at doing a counter depth fridge. in small kitchens like yours, a counter depth size is needed. t's a small kitchen. maybe later on you'll look into enlarging it and getting a new layout. Save up for that day. Right now the kitchen is livable try something like these for the dining space a dark wood table and chairs like this, would look nice w/the black/white. get a more modern light fixture and drop it down a bit. try a jute or sisal, and layer it w/a hide rug under the table. or, do an overdyed black rug for the kitchen, find a colorful runner w/black in it