Could you post a picture of one of your cabinets? What style is your home or decor? I like the darker glaze and when everything is together you might love it. Usually it looks nice when the island is in a dark wood color (will you have one?). You could try placing a couple of cabinets somewhere you can look at them for a few days to see if the color grows on you. After that, if you hate it, ask the builder to change it but if it were me, I'd change everything or let it go. In this case, I'd let it go but I'd negociate with the builder for an upgrade in something else (or maybe a credit).

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.

People thought I was crazy when I said I was going to paint our fp brick wall in our FR black. I am the least decisive person around, but I KNEW it just had to be black, and that it would look good. And you know what? We think it looks terrific, and all the naysayers really like it, too! Sometimes you have to go with your gut. That said, realize that black will show dust, much more so than other stain colors. Our MB vanity is black and I could wipe it down daily. Or more often than that. Our hall bath vanity, same style/size, but Bordeaux stain, shows nothing.

Thanks a lot Folks! Really appreciate your suggestions. lgiorgi, Your kitchen looks awesome! Since we haven't bought the granite slabs yet, I was wondering if you have any other suggestions for the toffee glaze maple cabinets. Since this is my first time here I am not sure how to attach pictures, so I am sending the link from where we ordered the toffee glaze maple cabinets. http://www.allwoodfast.com.(Lancaster Toffee Glaze Maple). I cannot find a URL which has the exact same color of Cafe De Amazonia slab that we saw in our local store. The stone we saw has a lot of browns and some blacks specks too. If there is a way I can attach pictures, then I can so that. Pls do let me know if there are any other granite colors that will go well with this color cabinet. Thanks a lot!