Have you seen elizpiz's yummy kitchen? There might be some inspiration for you there. She has lovely yellow (and I think sage green) cabinetry with soapstone, and a wood island. I love your color inspiration photo. Your kitchen plans sound lovely and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Thank you- I had not seen that. Gorgeous!

It's so funny...on here, there's nothing strange about doing yellow cabinets. In my everyday life, everyone thinks I am crazy. I've been thinking about it for months and am finally getting up the courage to tell people, and the reaction is not positive!

I love the green. I was actually thinking about doing sage green with wood countertop for the island, and doing sage green with soapstone in the bar area. Would that combo look good? Not sure what to do with the desk.

ooh, that yellow is perfect and the hardware you are thinking of would be great too. I think you could certainly do some green as well. I originally wanted sage green, burgundy and some type of yellow/gold combo but decided to pare it down and bring in additional color with accents. Go for it!

With that inspiration photo, I think a white bs and white walls would look really good. I usually would put color on the walls, but think that white goes nicely with the back counters and yellow walls.

I love your inspiration photo! For your island, maybe you could do part of it wood and part of it soapstone (the part where the kids would sit). Elizpiz used that idea in her kitchen, with the soapstone continued around the sink. All wood is a great look, but eventually the kids will probably get marker on it. I would think you would be able to sand it out, so there is that. If it were me, I'd want to be sure that would not stress me out too much because the kitchen is the heart of the home and I'm sure you will be spending a lot of time in there with your family.

I like the sage green cabinet idea with the wood. And I think the bar area with soapstone is ideal too. Where is the desk located? My first thought is to let it blend in with whatever is closest. Unless you want to highlight it in your kitchen.

What are your floors going to be?

Dianalo- thanks...I agree that maybe for once in my life, I might have to paint the walls white.

Doonie, the desk is closest to the bar area- just on the other side of the wall from it. (literally, just separated by drywall, otherwise it would be one long strip) I was assuming I would do a wood top there....maybe the island and desk could be sage with wood tops, and the bar area could be sage with soapstone? Would that look good?

Martha Stewart now has a similar look in her new kitchen line, and has the walls a very understated off-white. So, maybe you're just ahead of the trends! Here's a photo, scroll down a bit to the second large photo:

Here is a link that might be useful: Martha Stewart Cabinets on the Kitchn

Very cool, thanks Carrie!
She does the yellow cabinets and also the sage island with wood top.
Now I guess the question is if it's too much to add those together in the same kitchen.
Anyone think that would work? Or is it too much?

spider, if you think people around you gasp at your want of yellow cabinets imagine telling them you are doing yellow cabinets with mirrors LOL. Actually though, people around me sort of expect something like that from me and were supportive. It was sometimes harder for people here to see my vision. No one was rude or anything but I sure didn't get much input from the mases. I think that was my fault though as I'm not good at explaining and had a lot of mix going on. It is all coming out exactly how I wanted and I'm so happy.
Keep looking at tile colors and countertops to go with your cabinets...You Will know the right picks when you see it, it may take some time.

I think a wood island in a medium-ish stain with soapstone counters would look good with those yummy yellow cabinets (I love your inspiration pic!) and would also withstand almost anything rugrats will throw at it. As you already stated, markers and wood counters aren't a good mix but neither are swinging feet on island stools a good match for painted cabinets. You could, as doonie, suggested, mix a bit of wood counters with soapstone ala elizpiz (love her kitchen!) in a section far from marker-scribbling hands.

What are you choosing for your floors? Wood? You can either match the stain or go for contrast.

I went off to search for a photo to show my idea and found three pretty darn quickly. Notice the natural finish on the wood floors in the first one. Neither features soapstone counters but I think all would look great with SS.

{{!gwi}}
Knight Kitchens

I have to agree with lisa on maybe having some hard wood were little feet may kick. I mixed some dark stain cherry on base cabinets with the upper yellow because I have dogs who like to lay at my feet when I'm in the kitchen. I think if I had young children though I would consider a hard wood with a natural to med color so if banged or chipped it would not show much of a lighter wood tone.

Lisa, that's the other way I'm leaning- soapstone on the island with a stained wood bottom. I'm wondering if I did that, would it still look good to do a green for the coffee/bar area and desk? That would definitely be the safer way to go as far as maintenance. I do worry about maintaining the wood top if we put that on the island. I can see myself making everyone use coasters and telling the kids they can't do art project there- what's the point if I'm going to worry about it. But I love the look! Ugh, decisions!

The floors will be antique oak (I think) in a medium color, but I haven't decided exactly yet.

Thanks Lisa! I posted that last message before I saw your pictures. I think that might be the way to go. I also love the floors in the 3rd one- I think that's similar to what I will do.
I agree Terrilynn, and we also have a big dog. :)

Ok, so if I do a wood base with soapstone countertop for the island, what should I do for the coffee/bar/desk area?

Spider - what a great choice of cabinet color! I'm doing the same yellow on the perimeter of my kitchen with a distressed blue with dark brown glaze island and walnut pantry flanking stainless steel fridge opposite the yellow cabinets. My counters will be white marble. I'm totally stuck on the wall color though.

Spider, Are you asking what countertops in the rest of kitchen besides the soapstone topped wood island or just coffee/desk area?
If you are asking what to do with coffee/desk area all together and are using stainless appliances you could consider one of the very cool vintage restored steel tanker desks and add a stainless top...give it a utility look so it won't clash with anything. Above on the wall you could either use the yellow cabinets or some nice open shelving (I vote for open shelving).
Here is a picture of a restored tanker desk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31520763@N07/3945518362/in/set-72157608141816301/

Spider- I love your inspiration picture! The cabinets are amazing and the upper cab doors are beautiful.

I really like the yellow with the soapstone for the perimeter cabinets. I think green would be very nice for the island and maybe a few other accents...like the desk or coffee bar...maybe with a wooden countertop?

Even if you're not still getting a similar range as in the inspiration photo, I would use red as an accent. It would warm up the kitchen and make it so inviting! With all this color, I would probably pick a very neutral wall color.

These three colors would look wonderful together and yellow, green and red can be arts and crafts, french country...really a great color combination for many different styles :)

Here's a picture that is very similar to what I was describing. I would use a warmer shade of green for the island (more like the dishtowel) and a nice cheerful red...maybe like the tomatoes?

Anyway, I hope this helps :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow kitchen with green island

terrilynn, I am confused about what to do for the island and also the desk/coffee bar/bar area. I'm going back and forth on wood or soapstone for the island. I'm pretty sure I want wood on the desk and soapstone on the bar/coffee area. (just for maintenance purposes). I'm not sure if I do the base colors on the other areas the same as the island or different.
We aren't doing any stainless except for the range, but that desk is pretty cool!

Lavender, thanks, and I love the idea of red accents. I hadn't really thought that far, but that will be perfect and will blend with the rest of our house. I guess I need to figure out if I can really do the painted island and how much maintenance that will be.

Here are my options, in case anyone else is as confused as I am:

1. Wood colored island with soapstone top
2. Sage/light green island with soapstone top
3. Sage/light green island with wood top

Desk: something with a wood top....I'm thinking base should match the island, unless of course the island base is wood tone, and then it would either match the yellow cabinets or the coffee bar area.

Coffee bar/bar: definitely soapstone top- either yellow cabinets like the rest of the kitchen, green, or wood colored.

I'm even confusing myself, so if anyone is following this, I'm impressed, and thank you for any thoughts!