You have done a wonderful job! Love your kitchen! I'm in the middle of using milk paint now to paint my cabinets and I can say that I just love it. This is my first experience with it and I want to paint everything in my house with it....but I will restrain myself! I didn't have to prime at all, but you do need to get all the stain and any polyurethane off the cabinet first. Milk paint does the best on wood that has never been painted. There is an adhesive promoter that I bought and added to mine just to make sure it stayed on since my cabinets were stained previously. I have no idea how it will hold up, but so far, so good. I'm not finished with them yet however, so time will tell. Milk paint soaks into the wood, so whatever you do, make sure you will not want it to be stained again, since I think it takes a nuclear bomb to get it off. The company I ordered it from does have a milk paint remover however, but have no idea how that works. I ordered mine from The Real Milk Paint Co. (www.realmilkpaint.com) which is a different place than the link steff_1 gave you, but you can check out both places.

An excellent topcoat in a wet environment is Waterlox - DIY friendly, easy to repair, and has excellent water resistance. Bleed through is usually found with those deep red stains usually found on Mahogany. Shellac is a good barrier to prevent/minimize that. Likely not necessary on the piece you show but no harm in doing it. Caveat there though is the shellac in the can is not de-waxed and may affect your choice of top coat. As for staining the body darker to match the top - probably not necessary. The little bit of color that will peek through after you distress will not appear that much different - and as stated above a bit of dark wax can even it up if it is that noticeable to you. A little dark wax goes a long way so use with a light hand. As for the underside of the top - use a sanding sponge to get under there - easiest if you flip the piece over and work that way. You may not need stain under there but you will want your topcoat to cover it. Here is a link that might be useful: Waterlox

How did you all import the paint colors into my picture? I think we are looking for a neutral color, possibly a tan or grey? Not sure.... The kitchen cabinets have a black tint to them and the beams don't. My husband doesn't want to paint any of the wood right now, but if I did what are your ideas? At least the beams or the trim around windows? We also need to get new carpet and tile for the entry way. What about the spindles, should I change to wrought iron? You guys are so helpful!

I used H-Line" Alabaster" which I think is made by Arizona Tile. Both my local tile stores carry it and it was not expensive. It is thicker than home center subway tile. I needed a thicker tile because my quartz did not quite meet the wall in one area due to a bow in my wall. If it hasn't been said, you will want to remove the 4" splash first. If you find gaps between counter and wall, look at the H-Line - it is 1/4" thick. This is my kitchen: https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~110720042 https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~109854029 There are many different under cabinet lights and some have lots of extras - like being dimible or changing light tone. Mine are very simple. I started with LED strip lights from a home center store ($75) and plugged them in the wall. Later, an electrician wired the lights to a switch - about $350 - I only had one line to put in a switch. I only did between sink and range because that is my main prep area. Before: https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~48485162 After: https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~81033766 I should cut a ditch between the cabinets and tuck up the cords, but I forget to do that because I don't notice it. I think most here have been happy with LED strips, though you will want to check the look - whether the lights are "cool" or "warm" because both exist in LED. I would think a lighting store could help, or like me you could start with some inexpensive home center store lights and see what you think. I believe mine are by Patriot Lighting from Menards - but they are probably 4 years old - not sure if that style is still available and they read more warm than cool.. The windows give you a nice amount of light, but the counter area does look dark. I don't mind the dark counters - they work with the wood, but I really like my light counters. You may want to live in the home a while to see how the dark counters work for you. Some complain of fingerprints showing everywhere - but that depends on the particular countertop. I would be torn between preferring light, but not wanting to get rid of perfectly good counters:) There are some dark counters in my idea book. This dark countertop (soapstone) looks pretty with the cream: