what if you took the dark shaker cabs which is not an inferior look...with the idea you could paint them in some years to come.Then could you work the quartz counters into your plan/budget ? You could go light with counter and backsplash selection. Anyway, it's a nice open plan.... it can handle the wood cabinets without a dark closed in feeling esp with lighter counters you might like better. I'm not crazy about any of the standard granites,in truth.

I have the giallo ornamental with white cabinets. I'm not sure I would choose it again but I do prefer it over your other choices.

Another thought if you haven't done it yet is to just take the standard carpet or flooring and then once you've moved in, switch it out for the engineered wood flooring. Upgrades is how tract house builders get you and many times getting it on your own after the fact can be a lot cheaper.

Look into soapstone for inspiration ideas (white kitchen + dark tops). I recently saw a thread where they did honed Uba Tuba and it had the country feel, similar to how others pull it off using soapstone and white cabs.

I believe that if the floors are level, they can lay the engineered wood flooring right over the vinyl but your best bet would be to ask in the flooring forum to be sure. If you're planning on switching someday to tile in the bathrooms, I think the vinyl would have to be lifted in those rooms, but that can be asked in the bath forum. :)

The dark wood cabinets look nice. My concern would be the quality of the painted cabinet vs the wood. If it's not a quality painted cabinet it can look very cheap and not hold up well. If you feel the white looks good, I think I'd prefer the Spring Green.

Additionally if you want to eventually put on a backsplash I wouldn't have them put the 6" backsplash on. Then later on you can put in a white backsplash.

One small thing? Can you switch the sink and DW positions so the DW isn't in the way of the stove and prep area?

Have you thought about two toned cabinets? We are building what sounds like a very similar looking three story house right now, except ours is very definitely modern. The layout is very similar to yours though. We chose to do stained cherry lower cabinets and island and white uppers with white tall cabinets flanking it and I love the way it looks. It's still a work in progress but here's a picture to help you visualize it (the big black spot is my DH who I've marked out for his benefit :) If you want white it's best to buy the white cabinets from the manufacturer because you'll never get the same kind of finish yourself.

@namarie We don't have the option to switch up upper and lower cabinetry but I have been playing with the idea of a mixed finish on the island vs wall cabinets. Right now, the wall cabinetry is set to be white but I am undecided on the island -- either same white or dark wood (from the picture above).

I think that the uba tuba would be your safest choice based on everything you've said. A white kitchen with black (ok, I know that uba tuba isn't really black) counter tops is traditional, timeless and also very popular/current right now.

I also wanted to comment on your post about the backsplash:

I actually asked about omitting the backsplash completely! Unfortunately, the builder doesn't customize features like that or switching appliance placements, etc. From what I've read, it should be fairly easy to remove the backsplash strip. (I hope.)

I'm presuming you mean they will be putting up the "standard" partial granite backsplash and that you plan to remove it? Be careful there. Our countertops were accidentally installed with the granite backsplash strip. When it was removed there was a gap between the countertop and the wall. It was solved by adding drywall and having mitered edges on my marble subway tiles. It actually turned out really nice and looks custom, but cost my builder/fabricator $$$ to fix this. So, while the backsplash strip itself might be easy to remove, there may be other issues that arise with that approach.

I saw honed Uba Tuba last week. It was purdy darn nice. It cost the same as the polished. Just a thought... And, I agree with others about the upgrades. Upgrade what you cannot easily change - windows and things like that. Other things -- flooring is a prime example, are easily changed.

Have fun.

Hey everyone, thanks for all the helpful comments!

@cpartist

The builder uses Barbosa for their cabinetry -- I think they're local. They're supposed to have a good reputation (with the exception of the angry reviewers on Yelp).

My understanding is that cabinetry is harder to change than counters. If we wanted to change the cabinetry later on, we risk damaging the countertops. Is that not the case?

Flooring upgrades are pretty standard. Most people go with porcelain tile/wood options. It's also standard for the area (followed by laminate in this price range, though it's not the norm).

@alley2007

Darn, I've read about the issue with the gap between the counter and the wall. Thanks for letting me know. Worse comes to worst, I'll live with the standard backsplash. It's just not worth $3k+ for us to upgrade now.

@nightowl

I love the look of honed black(ish) granite but not the upkeep. I've read that honed, especially darker colors, show more fingerprints and water/oil stains. I'm too much of a perfectionist to deal with that. Thanks for the suggestion!