Have you picked a floor yet and if so what is it? What style of cabinet and what look are you going for. Do you want dark or light cabinets. Do you, yourself, have any preferences regarding light, dark or any combinations of either.

Well, I'm very partial to cherry, so I vote for one of the cherry wood + finish options! I think Bay or Fruitwood.

Remember, though, this is my personal preference!

Yes, I will also say AB granite!

Does this combination sound familiar? :-)

I haven't selected flooring yet but will save it for last.

We don't have a particular preference although I'd like to keep it somewhat contemporary. Our initial choice was sugarbeet / AB but the wife wants to consider other combos before making a final decision :) . Our kitchen won't be too large...10' x 10' at most. The kitchen will be facing the south end of the house so it will be interesting to see how much natural light we get.

Yes buehl....sounds very familiar ;)

We are also considering Ebony / Cashmere White but after reading about the stain issues with Cashmere we are a bit reluctant to choose it. To bad...b/c it's such a beautiful granite!

Where Buehl is partial to cherry, I'm partial to maple, particularly natural maple. So how about natural maple with amazon star. Unfortunately you will get as many opinions as there are permutations of your choices.

A thought...pick your floor and color first. If you have dogs or kids or live on a dirt road or more, thoughts on flooring is a good idea because flooring is a HUGE maintenance if you pick the wrong stuff. After that you can narrow cabinet & granite picks down to something you like that will blend. If you have a maid forget about the above.

Have you perused the web for inspiration pics? Because, as byronroad stated, "you will get as many opinions as there are permutations of your choices."

Here's a couple of sites that have great inspiration pics:

www.kitchens.com
www.kraftmaid.com
http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/

I think you'll have better luck making up your mind by doing that rather than by soliciting others' opinions.

Are you really happy with these pre-determined color/wood combos? I would hate to be forced to pick from someone else's choices. If you ever go to a granite yard, you'll see what I mean. There are absolutely stunning granites out there and not all cost a fortune. I'm not partial to cherry so if I have to vote on these limited choices, I'd say maple. Are you limited to only these choices?

If you are not sure about the choices as breezygirl says there are lots of different granites. You can ask your builder about an allowance (basically you get money that you can apply for granite at the place of your choice). Your builder is providing these choices because they have vary little variation in them.

Now if you want to keep with the builder's choices, I would think the ebony cabinets and Cashmere white would give you that contemporary look.

As everyone above has said, it's what YOU like.

Me? I'm liking natural maple with AB for a contemporary look.

I second the suggestion to decide on the floor first, and to think as seriously about use and maintenance as you do about looks when you make the floor decision. Floors with some variation in them (stone, marmoleum, hardwood, bamboo, certain kinds of porcelain tile...) are much easier to keep looking nice than floors that are uniform solid colors. And floors with some softness (wood, marmoleum, bamboo) are easier on the feet and back than harder surfaces. Yada yada, there are a bunch of factors to consider. But considering them first would probably narrow down your cabinet choices, making that decision easier.

As for the cabinets, you mentioned liking sugarbeet. With sugarbeet being a warm mid-range tone, you could go either dark or light on the counters. It probably wouldn't look so good if you used another mid-range like the tan or the amazon star; that could look too monolithic. Also, since the kitchen's on the small side, I would steer clear of ebony or similarly dark finishes.

Absolute Black would look nice with sugarbeet, but may be a nightmare for maintenance depending on what finish you get--the tiniest bread crumb might stand out like a neon sign. If you like the black I would suggest Black Galaxy, because it has sparkles in it (hence the name "galaxy"), which makes it much more forgiving--breadcrumbs and other small imperfections don't stand out, so your kitchen still looks great even if you're not standing there with a damp cloth to wipe up every speck of dust.

But ultimately, of course, this is all about your tastes... not just in colors and styles, but also your taste in lifestyle, if that makes sense. I mean, for example, do you guys like padding into the kitchen barefoot on weekends to make brunch? Your bare feet will like a soft, warm surface like wood/bamboo/marmoleum a lot better than a hard, cold one like stone or porcelain tile. (Of course, if radiant flooring is an option you're willing to pay for, the equation changes a little bit.) And, do you have furry or feathery pets, or do you plan to in the future? If so, avoid solid-colored surfaces (floor or counter) LIKE THE PLAGUE, since the tiniest dog hair or bird feather will be visible on those surfaces, requiring constant cleaning just to keep the kitchen from looking like a mess. I'm sure you can think of more examples of how you like to live in your kitchen. Let those guide your choices.

Wow...these comments are all very insightful! Much appreciated!

I believe we will be going with a lighter oak hardwood throughout the living/dining/kitchen areas. We will be taking the advice you all have kindly provided to find the right combination. I never realized how much effort it took to choose options until now :)

Personally and from these limited choices, I like the cherry in either bay or ebony. I think the style and "feel" you are going for matters. For instance, natural maple cabinets can have a more casual, homey look to them, whereas the bay cherry can look a little more formal and elegant. If you are looking for contemporary (as opposed to updated), I agree with Monekymo that the ebony with cashmere is a good choice.

As for granite, take a look at the choices in person at a local stone yard. It's easier to get an idea of what the granite will look like. Photos or small samples never look the same as a large slab of granite.

We have narrowed down our decisions and have also decided to go with quartz over granite:

- Cherry Bay / (snow or reflections or stellar black) Quartz
- Ebony / (snow or reflections) Quartz

Does anyone know if there's much of a visual difference between Maple Ebony and Cherry Ebony? Maple is about $1700 cheaper.

If you want to go with a warmish contemporary palette, you couldn't go wrong with the cherry in Bay with a snow or reflections quartz counter which would be a riff on the Farnsworth House palette.

I think the cherry in Bay with the stellar black will read "transitional"
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We just took a look at a couple sample Cardell cabinets in Ebony maple and Cherry Bay. Unfort, the samples did not look good. I'm not sure if I should be judging these cabinets by a single sample but the stains seemed very inconsistent. Is this typical of samples? Does anyone have pictures of Cardell Ebony or Bay cabinets in a full kitchen setting? Just trying to get a better perspective of what they look like as a whole.

I can't help you with the samples, but for your question about cherry vs. maple in the same stain, I would go with maple.

Cherry is more expensive not because cherry cabinets are superior to maple, but because large, furniture-grade cherry trees are rarer than large, furniture-grade maple trees, and as a result making cherry wood into cabinets (or furniture) is more labor-intensive. Even large cherry trees just aren't as big as large maples; you might need five cherry trees to come up with as much usable, furniture-grade wood as three maples, and it's just more work to find, cut and mill five trees as opposed to three.

If you want cherry-toned cabinets, then okay, cherry would be worth it because it gives you that tone. But if you're having your cabinets stained darker, then all that matters is that you choose a wood that's well adapted to kitchen use, i.e. very durable and good in a wet environment (and maple is both those things), and that has a texture/grain you're comfortable with. On that front, maple and cherry are similarly "neutral" whereas, say, quarter-sawn oak is a lot busier.

So from what you're saying so far, there's no reason for you to spend an extra $1700.

Re the samples... does this builder have a portfolio of completed kitchens they can show you? Or better yet, houses you can go into?

If I'm not mistaken, maple is one of those woods (like birch and others) that has a tendency not to take stain too easily, so unless it's done properly, it can tend to be a bit splotchy.

Also, I'm not sure about maple, but I know that cherry will darken over time.

Excellent pts. The builder has a set of model homes but none of them include the stains I'm particularly looking for. However, the cabinets within those homes are made by the same manufacture and do not seem to have the same issues.