You guys have been amazingly helpful in all the decisions I've had to make so far, so I thought I'd get input on this one, too. My last major decisions are the floors and backsplashes. I have narrowed things down to a couple of different options, but they are completely different. Here's what I have to work around:

Cherry, natural finish, Shaker-style cabinets

Soapstone countertops

SS appliances

All pretty simple, so far, right?

Well, I also have to worry about how this all "fits" in the rest of my house, which is a 1940s ranch-style, with a LOT of wood (floors, walls, even some ceilings) in other rooms and brick flooring in the large sunroom adjacent to the kitchen. That means that I probably won't be going with wood floors in the kitchen, even though I love them. I had decided for some time on a terracotta (Saltillo) tile floor, but when I looked at this with my cabs, it looked too monochromatic for my taste. What I do love about the Saltillo is that every tile is different. Most of the other tiles I've seen are too similar for my tastes.

I may have the option of painted brick along one long wall for my backsplash and, if I did this, I would go with simple, painted drywall on the other exposed wall (no sink or stove on that wall). I won't know until some of the demolition is finished whether using the brick will be possible.

The flooring that I've seen and liked include the following:

stained concrete--having trouble convincing DH that this is a good idea--I'd lean toward either the "green lawn," "English red," or "Malay tan" stain

cork--don't know much about this but I've liked what I've seen--may be too similar to having regular wood

slate (in a multicolor--grey/tan--look), I fell in love with the one below from uxorial in the FKB, and I love the backsplash that goes with it so well. The color and style of the cabs is very similar to mine.

My problem is that I worry about the slate looking odd with some other features of my kitchen. In particular, I worry that it will clash with my Polish pottery (also see below for some samples). I have a pretty extensive collection, and I'm having shelves built to display much of it. I also have a lot of cobalt glass items and a stained glass lamp that is cobalt, green, and white.

Thoughts on the above options? Backsplashes to go with these floors?? You may have noticed that I'm getting a bit overwhelmed by the choices, but you guys have talked me in off the ledge (thank goodness I'm in a one-story house!!) several times already.

uxorial's kitchen:

Some concrete stain choices:

Some pottery like mine:

My cabinet finish: