Can you pick up a specific color from your backsplash and use that throughout? It looks like it's got a lot of great colors to choose from. How about a close-up of the tile?

Gosh, I hope others with the color eye respond to your email with suggestions. All I can say is I'm not crazy about Masada - and it's not necessarily that it is too dark (because I'm painting my kitchen BM Van Courtland Blue which is not a light color). Perhaps part of my problem is that the color looks like it would blend right in with your floor almost too much.

It's really hard to tell with that size sample, though. I was told to paint a much larger swath of each color I am interested in so you can really see it. I would be interested to see a bit more on the wall, as well as a bit near the floor in order to give you a better opinion.

And of course, it is just MY opinion. My KD, mother, sister and DH love the Van Courtland Blue (as do I), but my GC, my trainer and one other person think it might be slightly too dark. Different strokes for different folks. My grandmother LOVED the color mustard, but I'm not as keen on it. Therefore I would be interested to hear what others with more color expertise have to say, and of course I would ultimately go with your gut. What makes you happy when you walk in.

Good luck. I personally think color is HARD.

holligator: The tiles are the bane of my existence. We purchased them from modwalls.com, and thought they'd be great with maple. Not so. Maple has red tones, the "maple" tile is more yellow toned. We've discussed ripping them off the wall or covering them with sheet metal. A designer pal suggested painting that wall charcoal, so we have the paint and will probably try it this weekend. I also want to stain the grout charcoal. See tiles:

Matching the tile has proven difficult. Don't like red that much, and even if we could find a color to work with the brown-gold tile, it won't look good next to the maple trim and pantries. So charcoal it is.

Re Masada: Hmm, yes I think it will be a close match to the floor, but I think that's OK. The tile will only come close to the floor in one small section by the door next to the pantries. The room is really bright, so I hope it can take the deep color (and the charcoal color over the tiles LOL!)

Here's the fourth wall (pre-remodel):

We plan to stop the Masada just to the left of the doorway, where the foyer begins, continuing in Aura Buttered Yam. The foyer will have red & gold retro toss wallpaper.

Here is a link that might be useful: Retro wallpaper

I have light maple shaker cabinets. I knew they had a light stain on them but from my photo compared to yours, mine look really different because of the stain. Our wall color is BM Desert Tan. This gives you an idea of the look if you pick a neutral similar to the wood color.

sue b - I love your cabinets and the stain on them. What are they? And what is the stain?? Do you have any other pictures? They're beautiful.... and exactly what I want.