I'm new here myself, but welcome! This forum has a lot of great info but you'll have to search for quite a bit of it. There's a wonderful site called the Finished Kitchens Blog that has categories for just about everything. Most of the kitchens are those of members of this forum. Look under cabinets and click on oak to see a lot of finished oak kitchens. Even if they didn't use laminate, you'll get some good ideas for colors. There's also a thread here with a lot of useful information on using this forum - the link is below. Oh, and to answer your question, I'd like to see somthing in the black family for the counters, I think you'll need it to balance out your appliances. Bella Noche from Wilsonart could be a possibility. The color of your flooring is an important consideration when choosing your countertop too. Have fun working on your kitchen! Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

Look for Buehl's thread "new to GW? Help posting pictures.." There are detailed instructions in that post. It is usually on page 1, sometimes it slips down before being bumped. Essentially, get yourself a photobucket acount set up, upload your photos, and then you will click on the html code, copy and paste it into your message here. When you do the Preview Message, you will see the photo. But look at that post for better details. As far as your kitchen, my friend is doing exactly what you are talking about. She chose Giallo Ornamental for her counters. She though about black too, but I cautioned her that it might look too dark for her space. Her counters currently (well, before they were ripped out) are a light formica. So, to make the drastic change I think would have darkened the space. The colors in the GO really worked nicely with the black appliances, the oak, and the gray in it worked with the stainless faucet and sink. Don't worry about your tile backsplash yet, find the counters first. Hope this helps you. Here is a link that might be useful: New to the forum thread

We only had a few minutes to chat, but she said she probably could not afford granite. I don't know her budget yet either. I am going to suggest to her this site and also Pinterest to get some ideas. She's not a computer person so I wanted to take photos of ideas and show her. I'm not sure what options she can choose from besides a laminate. Maybe a silestone or something comparable would work for her.

I wouldn’t spend whatever you can now. I’d fix the essentials and wait until you can make this your ideal space. Is this your forever home? If yes. For now I’d do something with the pantry door. Maybe find a salvaged antique door with glass windows or something unique. And maybe have the countertops leathered. Other than that I’d straighten out the island. That’s the basic visual necessities in my humble opinion.