That's a VERY powerful granite. It's a lot going on in a small space.

I highly recommend a dark to medium stain.

Do you think a medium/dark stain would be okay in a room without much direct sunlight?

I love Alaska White too, but wanted white cabs. Kept my backsplash simple. I think it's a perfect granite for a small space.

I think if you want to do stained cabs, I would do the darker stain.

Glad to see you start a new thread Arial. I was at a complete loss....

For those with any expertise to help poor arialvetica, here is her other recent thread.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3732687/mixing-white-and-wood-cabinets-in-a-mid-century-inspired-kitchen?n=52

Aktillery, in the previous thread, I actually linked your reveal to give some guidance. I thought your kitchen would give some clear direction and inspiration. Hmmm....

Ariel, I think you just need a bunch of people to tell you the same thing for you to get it.

The look you are trying to pull off is not working. It's extremely complex, bordering on chaos, to put it bluntly. :-/

Oh goodness, I hate being blunt like that! I truly want to help you figure this out.

The blond/light wood next to the AW granite is not good imho. A huge NO to mixing the light and medium woods together.

I do think the white perimeter cabs with a dark or medium wood on the island only could work however.

So with the Alaska white granite being a for sure, I'd rule out the medium and light tone woods.

A dark wood on the lowers and white painted uppers, due to your northern low natural light issues would be my recommendation.

Medium wood as cabs and floors, only if you add some white painted cabs on the uppers. Oh and I am so happy to see you are considering the light backsplash instead of the granite slab bs.

I thought you might even pull off the medium wood everywhere but ONLY with a solid white Quartz countertop to reflect some light. A humoungous no way though with that bold granite.

On top of everything, I must point out that you also want to mix in the MCM inspired starburst light fixtures, mixed with some MCM inspired furniture, mixed with cow print pillows, mixed with...........

I think you would even make Palimpsest go crazy with all this! Ugh I am so sorry!

I don't mean to offend you. If I didn't care, I'd just ignore this post.

I actually love a challenge and your unique tastes are awesome! But you are killing me here! Lol!

I tried to find some photos of kitchens with your much loved craftsman style, mixed with your love of transitional to modern style. Adding your Alaska white granite and your varigated walnut floors. (Which btw, I said before the floors are simply gorgeous!)

I found only these two. If you tell us what you like and then what you don't like we can start to narrow things down.

You've broken me down enough to question the Alaska White.

Maybe it ONLY can work with BLACK/WHITE cabinets (neither of which works for me). In which case, maybe it's time for me to move on?

My "style" isn't busy/complex -- it's more simple and understated. (I swear! -- don't judge me based on the cow print chair on the living room idea board, lol! I was just toying with the idea because literally ALL the furniture I own are various shades of brown/gray and I was considering branching out).

I don't know why I fell in love with the Alaska White...I went in looking for the whitest most "marbly" granite I could find. They didn't have anything I liked, but I saw this in the corner of the lot like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to make it work. BUT maybe I need to go back to square one and try to find a nice "white marble" granite. Especially since the AW is several thousand more than expected! Ugh. Hate going back to the drawing board. (I'll go search for past threads on "white marble granite," I'm sure I'm not the first person to go down that path.)

I think the granite is terrific. However I agree that you need to go with a darker stain. Personally to get the look you liked in the other photos? I would do the island in the dark stain (second from the left or third from the right) with the waterfall edge if that is what you like. I would do the face frames of the two glass cabinets also in the dark stain. And the rest of the cabinets, including inside the glass ones, and the boxes of the glass ones I would do a shade of white that picks up the white in the granite.

Somewhat related... can you guys see whether these uppers are full overlay vs. inset?

cpartist -- I think this doodle applies your suggestions. Thoughts?

I think the uppers in the inspiration pic are full overlay.

I've been following along some, but I don't really understand why you want the flip cabinets to be white when everything else is wood? It might work if the lowers are also white, but it just looks strange to me as pictured.

I'm not sure if this has been suggested, but have you thought about getting rid of the mullioned glass and replacing it with plain glass, as in the inspiration pic? What works for me about the inspiration pic is its simplicity.

I love, love, love that granite!!! BUT… I had a very busy granite in my old house because I just love the slabs of bold movement. Well I instantly fell in love with a stretch of my countertop that had the least amount of movement. Now in our new home I want something with less bold movement.

If you do go with the Alaska you have to let everything else be the background & let the granite be the star. This is what I struggled with also.

alerievay1 -- yep, I agree about ditching the mullions. Another down-side to mullions is they kind of define where you must have your shelves.

For the flip-ups, I've toyed with white or wood. My gut said wood, but I keep changing it back to white in an effort to emulate the inspiration photos.

I sent my frankenstein monster off to our architect. We aren't doing the "full package" with them, so they didn't design every last detail, but they said to let them know if we need help in the future and I think I need help!!! :)

Take a look at this kitchen:

http://www.burlapanddenim.com/2012/07/anthropologie-styled-gourmet-kitchen/

It has Alaskan White granite along with white and blue painted cabinets. Parts of the kitchen are "too fussy" for me, but I like it.

Oh Sweetie!! You do not have a Frankenstein monster at all. I can totally see the vision you are shooting for, and I have loved it from the beginning.

I thought the cow print pillows were a perfect choice for the living room. The artwork, the lighting, and all the retro modern touches in your design was really cool. I also loved your inspiration kitchen. I was thinking, boy if this girl can pull this off, it is going to be one of my all time favorite reveals.

I know nothing about interior design, so I didn't know how exactly to help you make it all come together in harmony. I think I got frustrated because I was seeing your vision slipping further and further away as the two threads evolved. I am so very sorry because I never wanted to discourage you from using the things you loved.

I knew when you added in the granite it would be a little more tricky to keep it from overpowering the space. However, once I saw how much you loved it, I knew you would regret not using it. You would forever think about the "Appaloosa". It is a beautiful stone. And horse! Again, I am so sorry if my post sounded like I was trying to break you down from using it.

I actually think your gut is right about going with the wood on the flip up cabs and fridge surround. Seeing the mockups, I either like it all wood with just the white interiors or completely all white uppers like the one mock up I did in the last thread.

I wouldn't worry so much about emulating the inspiration kitchen exactly the same. I absolutely think you can pull off the medium wood tone with glass fronts (Agree no grid lines) and the white interiors with the AW. I don't think you are limited to just the super dark black espresso stain or white.

I just knew I didn't like the blond wood with it. I also didn't like it with no white at all, just all wood. I think also could be that your program is giving the woods a golden cast that is throwing me off.

In real life the cappacino stain seems like a nice rich warm brown tone.

How about SKYLIGHTS!?! Is it possible to add a skylight above the kitchen?

Here was the kitchen I used to do the above mockup.

I haven't yet done a final reveal - it's been so long I don't know if I even remember all the details. We used a gray stain on our island with the AW. It let the character of the wood show through but I felt it didn't compete with the hickory floors that way. We do have soft white perimeters. In case it helps at all here are a couple of pics with the gray stained island. While searching for a pic I see I don't really have any great island cabinet color shots and it's too dark now. Here is the best I've got. I can take one tomorrow in the daylight if you'd like.

You can see the contrast in the floor:

I think NHbasket's kitchen is too craftsman for me (but if I were building in an older neighborhood in St Paul this would be perfect!) :)

That granite looks best with all white cabinets, both top and bottom, a dark stain or paint island and a white subway splash back. It is a very strong granite with a lot of movement. If it's the star, fine, but it can have no competition.

Some of these strong kitchens work best in enormous kitchens with very high ceilings. I assume this does not describe your kitchen.

If you don't want white cabinets, then I would go with the darker (pic 1) or medium (pic 2). I would keep all cabs the same stain or paint but using glass in all or some of the top cabs could lighten it up. Like others said, keep everything else as the background to the granite. In your photos, I felt the floor was too busy with the multiple wood tones and the diagonal pattern.

The floors aren't on a diagonal. That's just how the picture was taken.

arialvetica: I feel your struggle! I hope your architect can help you find a way to make it all work.

What I'm taking away from this and your other thread is that the majority agree that keeping Appaloosa means that you have to keep all other elements more subdued and neutral. Appaloosa has to be the only element that shines.

And though most are suggesting using a darker stain to go with Appaloosa, your kitchen gets limited natural light so I don't think you should go any darker than a medium stain.

Totally just my opinion though! You know I have no design sense!!

For whatever it's worth, I was looking at AW granite (pictured below) before I found mine - white persa. I have a dark gray stain on bottom cabs and medium gray/taupe stain on uppers with medium wood floors. I wanted stained cabinets, not painted, and we didn't want white. We wanted a granite that would tie the two cab tones together, that was not very dark. We decided on cabs before we picked granite. We also considered Bianco Antico and I loved Azul Delicato, but not enough for price compared to the White Persa.

And the gray tone would look nice with slate appliances.

I'm excited for the house to get framed (next week). Hopefully being able to really see the ACTUAL natural light situation will help give me some clarity. Who knows, maybe it'll get a lot of sunshine from the foyer's high windows? Being able to stand in the actual space will make a huge difference!

Very exciting times. Which way does the foyer face?

The foyer faces the south, so it should get some nice direct sunlight. The windows to the north (bottom of the floorplan) face this! :D

Wow... simply amazing. I'm sooo envious!

Oh and it's 2 minutes to Starbucks LOL

Gorgeous, I can almost smell the fresh air. I could picture that Appaloosa horse out there too! Lol!

Oh hey I just noticed the kiddo. Too cute!

You WILL get good light from the foyer then. :) That is an awesome view. Love the trees. It will all come together. It's trying to make choices when there are so many that need to somehow come together and fit with the picture you have in your minds eye.

Here are daylight pics of gray stain:

Do you have pictures of the actual slab you have your eye on? In my experience AS can very so wildly. I am not sure I saw a picture of it in your thread.

I LOVE your gray-stained cabinets! Can you tell me more about them? What kind of wood are they, and how did your cabinet-maker describe the stain/glaze/etc? I'll look and see if Starmark has something similar without going totally custom.

This is the slab I have my eye on. It's sun-bleached though, and the fabricator told me that once it's finished it'll be more like its twin behind it (I didn't get a photo). So imagine this, but a little creamier.

And don't panic, he wasn't climbing, he was "checking the strap." :)

Aha! I have seen this pic before but on a different thread. My eyes can gravitate to AW threads naturally, lol. Your kiddo(s) is/are going to love the woods on your new property!

Thank you, I was hoping pics would help in the paint/stain brown gray debate. I really liked how the gray toned down the brown as my AW coloring is not a true gray or a true brown. I feel it really tied it all together for me. I didn't want white on the island due to the seating and the kids scuffing it or whatever other shananigans they have going from time to time.

Anyhow, I used Shiloh cabinetry. The island is hickory with "Silas" stain, black glaze - it is a standard color offering for them. At first I was going to use knotty alder but it was a little too knotty for our more transitional space and again being softer wood I was afraid my boys would dent it. I loved how it picked up the stain though. If you go the stain route be sure to get samples in the various species. The gray really looked quite different from oak to cherry to alder to hickory. I chose the wood off the sample I liked best - and my fear of cherry changing over time and how that would play with gray stain.

There was another line that had a really nice gray stain - Omega Dynasty I think. It was a higher price point so I didn't allow myself to look too long but oh so striking. I was in a showroom that had a display with that stain on it and I was HOOKED on gray.

Good luck! You will find something. I had a harder time finding a back splash tile (not true gray not too white too creamy, and on and on) up against 'soft' white cabinets and trim. ;) ;) Gah!

My cabs are the omega dynasty - Pumice on walnut for uppers and Smokey Hills on cherry for lower. As autumn.4 mentioned, the colors do look different on the various species.

Yes that's it! Smokey hills is the display I had seen.

"Smokey Hills" on Houzz pulls up some beautiful kitchens!

Dynasty, Loring, Cherry, Smokey Hills · More Info

Dynasty, Loring, Cherry, Smokey Hills · More Info

Dynasty, Loring, Cherry, Smokey Hills · More Info

Smokey Hills Kitchen · More Info

Good for you! I'm sure it will look great, whatever you decide.

"Slowly nailing this down!" - that's progress. One decision at a time and it will reveal itself. Step by step. :)

Totally getting there!

And by the way - arialvetica - thanks for posting your original thread - I needed to make some changes to my desk area - and framing the upper cabinets (that are the lift up kind) in dark wood and changing the lowers to the dark wood is exactly what I needed to tie the desk to the rest of the kitchen!!!!

My architect's thoughts make me feel "safe" going darker with the cabinetry. :) I'm leaning toward alder, in a rich dark stain matched to the darkest shade of wood in the floors (per my architect's suggestion), with a black glaze to desaturate the wood color.

And rebunky, I wouldn't do skylights (for various reasons, the main being that the ceiling above the kitchen is going to be trusses + a metric ton of insulation) BUT that idea reminded me -- it's easy and relatively inexpensive to retrofit solar tubes, and those won't interfere with trusses or insulation! So if the kitchen feels dark, I could always throw a few solar tubes in there in a few years. :)

What are you leaning toward? What species and what stain? Any pics. :)

Ignore the oak and the microwave -- those are in my current apartment kitchen.

I'm leaning toward Alder w/ Rye stain and Ebony glaze (#4 below). OR if that glaze is adding a lot of expense, maybe straight Hazelnut (#5 below).

BUT my favorite door style is not available in Alder, so in that case I might consider Maple, and then I'm back to the drawing board shopping for stains. :)

All done! http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4352351/finished-kitchen-w-modern-craftsman-inspiration-pictures