Thanks moma_goose for your input, help with the photos- they help a lot, and for bumping my post back up!

Yes, we are planning on the same backsplash in the coffee bar area, but considering doing a different pattern, maybe herringbone? We aren't married to subway tile yet either, but do like the look. We do have a chimney in the adjacent living room that is exposed red/grey bricks. I considered doing something to mimic that look as a backsplash but we are going to be demoing the previous owners attempt at that with their 80's style fake brick that is currently there- which I put a coat of white paint on to see how we liked the change of color.

I think the oak will have to stay on the cabinets along the wall/stove/fridge area, the island and coffee bar are both fair game for paint/stain. The trim in the kitchen doesn't match the cabinets, but the flooring and trim in the dining and living room which are open to the kitchen do. I'm afraid the trim in this old house is a mix of beautiful tall old oak trim and a more rustic farmhouse trim (like you see in the kitchen) that doesn't all match from room to room. We aren't interested in going to the expense of making it all the same.. our housing market wouldn't justify the cost, and we just call it character and we're ok with it. We have a couple of rooms with painted trim, pine shaped to mimic the older trim, but the main rooms of the house are all oak/wood. To paint all of the cabinets I think would mean painting oak trim, which we really don't want to do. That, and my dad would come up for air. He refinishes wood projects and hates to see people paint over oak or walnut. He's not making my decision, but I see his perspective as well. If you have nice and expensive wood, why hide it with paint? In our area many of the nice newer homes still have oak cabinetry in them so I don't see them being a negative on the homes value at this point.

Stepping
into white, even in the tile, is quite a stretch for me. I am very drawn to warm colors. I love the farmhouse sink and in looking at pictures I thought I might be be ok with white tile to go with it. My home
doesn't have white in it except for an upstairs bedroom done with a white picket
fence bed (DIY project out of old porch posts and new picket fencing panels)
and that also has chair rail wainscotting painted white -the bath it shares is done in
wood and will soon be painted or whitewashed to lighten it.

I had mentioned to my husband we should consider doing crown molding above the cabinets but we weren't sure how it would look above the microwave area with that area being bumped up. I think I do like the look... the visual helps a lot there. We will have to decide the direction of our countertops before making the final decision on crown molding.

The floor does read pink in the photos. It is a neutral blend of creams, beige, peach, and a little grey.. with lots of pink undertones that show up all too well in the pictures now that you mention it.

I had thought of doing the coffee bar and island in either a green similar to what you pictured, antiqued cream (does this mean I should probably do a cream backsplash?), black (not sure what I would do for countertops since our floor has a pattern and colors hard to work with) or red (so much of it in my house already I'm not sure if I should make it a focal point too). I like the green, but it's been my experience that green gets dated so fast I'd likely be painting it again, it's not out, but have to think about how the rest of the kitchen would come together first.

This was the first photo I found as an inspirational photo. I love love love the fun rug and the pops of color. I can easily do a green, although it will mean the living room beside it will then need a paint change.. I can find a shade that works with the existing living room furniture though.. a plus. The cabinets are a different style, but uppers read a similar color to mine I think. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/203295370656631544/

Another inspirational photo... looks more like cream subway backsplash possibly.... ignoring the wood floor.

Big window like I have facing east (mine not so pretty with the rounded top). Antiqued cream island w/wood top.

Another .. cream subway tile? Different countertop. White/cream island.

Kitchen examples · More Info

[One more, with green island[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-farmhouse-kitchen-denver-phvw-vp~20525221). Cabinets a bit darker than mine.

So....

antiqued cream island and coffee bar

w/ Subway tile white or cream? Likely the smaller tiles since we won't have a lot of them, but my husband and son leaning the other way.

countertop.. soapstone on wall cabinets and wood on island? (wood stained similar to cabinets or door you see in the background)... or soapstone all around? Since our floor has lots of movement, is plain like this best?

Green (like first inspirational pic) or cream walls ?

If we do the island/coffee bar in cream, should the tiles be cream as well? Would white be too bold since it would just be in the sink and tile?

Or...

black island/coffee bar

counters? wood on island/coffee bar. What on wall counters?

green walls

white backsplash

Or...

Maybe I need to change the floor? to open up more countertop options? Or is the soapstone/butcher block look ok for my space?

_____________________

If we do wooden countertop on the island I am uncertain how we will finish it. We have a farmhouse style dining room table we bought that was finished in a rustic look. I have considered that kind of look but without deep grooves so it is easy to keep clean. My husband says we want smooth as butter in the kitchen, which looks very different than something that has some "wear and tear" marks and maybe mild indentations between boards.

My husband has an old school teacher friend who owns a sawmill who can help us with whatever we want. Cost will depend on wood and the time it takes to put something together, not sure we'll get a price break, but we will know where the wood is from which is kind of neat. I'm not opposed to trying our hand at making one ourselves either, although I got an eye roll from the husband on that comment.

We also read about someone using bowling alley lanes and are intrigued by the recycling, but I'm not sure how much work goes into that and if we could get it to work with our kitchen. It would most likely mean staining which may take some of the charm out of having a bowling lane as a countertop.

__________________

Decisions, decisions!! I have so much trouble with making decisions for my own home. My husband and I have flipped 2 houses by ourselves and helped with projects on several other homes and always have a good outcome, but my own... Geesh, I have so much trouble deciding!!

You and I have the same taste in colors--warm white/cream instead of pure, bright white. I have nothing white in my house--everything whitish is a shade of cream. My current favorite is Adobe White, which is the color of real cream, but sometimes I mix in some leftover paint to give it a darker tint. So my preference would be off-white/cream tile with cream for the painted cabinets. I don't have much red, but I ended up with an Empire Red KA mixer. In pictures (and I looked at a million of them for ideas) it seems that a white farmhouse sink is a neutral--no one seems to feel the need to exactly match tile to them, but the majority are shown in white kitchens. Images-white farmhouse sinks. IMO, soapstone is perfect for a farmhouse kitchen, or any kitchen. :)

I think we might have the same father, too. ;) I have a golden oak staircase, which I've considered painting, but I know my dad would be sooooo disappointed! Plus, it's a lot of work, and my kids would immediately scuff up the risers. Our house has been remodeled in fits and starts, by us, and by a PO, so I understand about different finishes and trims.

CEFreeman has a wooden counter that she made from salvaged lumber--you might look for her thread on the Woodworking forum, and if you haven't posted in the Home Decorating forum for paint color ideas, you might post there. A lot of helpful folks there are well-versed in color options. Good luck, and I hope you will come back and show us your choices and progress.

We are going to pick up some cream tiles and see what we think about
going that way verses the white. I like all the white in pictures of
kitchens, but I'm not sure it's the best choice for my home. I haven't
crossed it off yet, we will have to see what we think of the the cream
tiles. I initially thought I would do white to pull the farmhouse sink
into the rest of the room, but I think you're right in saying that it
can be it's own thing (neutral) and not need something to tie it to the
space. Funny thing is that we just got rid of our biscuit/almond stove
and fridge and I thought I was moving away from that color palette. :)

Thanks
for the confident words about the soapstone counter. Not sure yet if
they will be real or laminate, cost may be a factor, but I haven't seen
many of them around here of either variety. Most go for either granite
or granite-look a-likes and I don't see that working with my flooring.

I'll
have to look for the wooden counter diy's, including CEFreeman's, and
see what I can
find. We are still uncertain where we will go with that. I think we
will find out what my husband's friend can help us with and what he will
charge. I still think it would be a fun DIY project but not sure I can
convince the husband. I can hear my mom on this one already... "Why
didn't you just to laminate, it's maintenance free. You have to take
care of wood". I think we are leaning toward green
walls and a cream antiqued island. I figure that part is paint, we can change
it if we don't like it. Time consuming yes, but a relatively
inexpensive thing to do if it's not what we imagined it was going to turn out like. We will likely
paint the walls and cabinets, get the counter-tops installed and then decide
on the backsplash. I may even paint that area cream and
then white to see what we prefer. I'm wanting to be able to use my
splashes of red, and maybe a few other pops of color and get away with
it. I love those little eclectic stores/restaurants with color...
fiestaware, etc. I myself don't have any fiestaware, but several fun
mismatched dish sets with warm reds, greens, yellow, orange and blue.

It
sounds like we probably have a lot in common. We have done our fair
share of projects starting with our first home needing some work (and
some projects we just wanted to do) that we couldn't afford so I started
researching and we did it ourselves. We have worked on our home in
bits an pieces in between working on a couple of properties we flipped
and couple we now rent... and all in between work schedules. I am a
stay-at-home mom now so that has helped with many of our projects over
the last several years- I can work on things even when my husband is at
work.

Thanks again for all of your input and putting together a
few pictures for me. You have been most helpful in letting me ramble
about my ideas and help me see I'm going in the right direction.

Trim at the top of the cabinets (and the decorations up there would come down) or add small uppers all the way to the ceiling on the one wall.

Before you toss the faucet-if it is in good condition-I'd check the flow rates on the faucets now being sold in your area...here (CA) we are at 1.8 gpm which is low flow indeed....

I haven't read all the replies, but I'd really, really consider adding crown molding.

You could go with white wall point, some black accents, and red runner. Or with a sleeker look.

Your kitchen makes me think a lot of ours, which we ended up accenting with black painted cabinets. It's not done yet, but I can link you to some progress shots if you'd like.

I think a bead board back splash would look appropriate for the coffee area. If you want, it might be nice to add a board to connect the upper cabinet to the counter to make it look like a hutch.

We went with soapstone sequoia laminate and have been pleased with it. It's a gray with a little cream and beige running through it. I like it better than the granite look a likes for my kitchen. It seems softer and more informal, good for a farmhouse.

i hear you on having a tough time with decision making. We have renovated multiple homes and sold them through the years, and it's been much easier for me to make decisions for resale than deciding on what I want to live with long term!

Thanks for the additional input. I didn't realize a couple of you had posted since the last I checked.

Not much has been done yet on the kitchen but we are starting to work on it now. I actually painted primer on the island today :)

The progress so far is that we have a solid oak countertop soon to be made for our island out of local wood. A friend of ours called last fall and said he had someone he knew who had firewood that needed cut and removed. The trees ended up being straight oak trees. My husbands old shop teacher owns a sawmill and he is going to make us a countertop for the island and "coffee" bar. My husband is planning to call him tomorrow to set the plan in motion now that we've heard he's back from overwintering in Florida. I intend to treat it probably with Waterlox to keep it's natural color

I have decided to paint the island and "coffee" station area. My first thought is cream because it's neutral and not risky. There is still a chance I could go apple green but I'm leaning cream. If the island isn't green, my husband would like the wall color to be the green.

I am currently getting quotes on soapstone. We are hoping to make it work with the budget for the perimeter countertop. There's not a lot of it, but boy is it pricey. We have a friend who does Corian installs for a living who says he's done soapstone before and he is going to check on the pricing he can get on a slab. My husband talked to him so I have no idea what particular stones he has access to. My husband is trying to get more details. I have also gotten quotes from M Teixeira for DIY slabs. Our friend said we can use his shop and cutting tools to work our soapstone. If we decide the cost is too much we will do the laminate version that is the closest to the soapstone we liked... It is mostly black with some white veining. At this point the DIY pieces from M Tex are about 3-4x the cost of laminate. It's the first time I've looked at "real" stone.. it's not a demand in our area.

Thanks for the update. How exciting to come across the straight oak trees and have access for making custom counters! Please share pictures as you make progress. We love pictures. : )

Nice to get an update. There are quite a few DIY soapstone threads on GW--I'll link a couple of the more informative:

DIY Soapstone People Show Your Counters!

Soapstone DIY finally complete! Be sure to click on his PB link

GW search--DIY soapstone threads

I believe most wooden countertops are around 1 1/2" thick at a minimum? Wondering if I went a little thinner if it would look right since...

It looks like the soapstone will be 1 1/8" if I order from M Teixeira. We haven't heard back from our contractor friend about his connection yet.

I'm thinking of going with 2 & 3" plank widths and allowing a few small knots, blemishes, etc as our dining room table is a little rustic that way, although I don't want to mimick it's deep grooves, "insect" holes, & shellac. It will be a little less expensive to put together if I use wider planks and I think seeing more width of the grain may go well with the cabinets, although I don't want it to read as "busy". I have looked at pictures online but so many are far enough away that you can't tell how wide the planks are... And so few in oak

I have both red and white oak to work with, more red than white I believe. I'm thinking I would prefer all red so it's more uniform in color if we have enough. My flooring doesn't read plain or all one color & I want soapstone with simple veining. Just feels like I have a lot going on but I think it will come together.

mama goose...

Thanks for the links on DIY soapstone.

My husband has been anti-DIY for the soapstone all along until he ran into the contractor who is looking into sourcing soapstone for us. He knows our DIY history and has done a few contracting jobs with us (one I helped him with) and he told my husband that I was right, we could easily DIY them and that he should listen to mean this one. Sure will save us some bucks !

How cool to have picked out the wood for your project! I always like when I get to be part of the process so to speak. I can't put it into to words too well, but I feel a bit "closer" or invested emotionally.

Have you seen JLMarie's kitchen? She has oak and has done a wonderful job of refinishing and styling.

I don't think I've seen her kitchen. I will have to look it up.

I know most people are getting away from oak but most of the trim in my home is tall oak baseboards and I just can't bring myself to paint it. It's solid and beautiful wood native to my area, which makes it a perfect fit for my old house.

hmm.. I can't seem to figure out how to find her.

I had her user name wrong. It is JHMarie (a H -- no L). She also has a basement remodel that is quite nice.

I think Soapstone is going to look beautiful in your kitchen. I actually like oak with black. What color is your cabinet hardware? It looks ORB to me.

Please post more pictures as you go along!

Found her.. Thanks! She has a beautiful home! And lots of functional space which is great. I'm a bit jealous of her basement kitchen, and would be even more amazing for canning and working on Christmas projects if you could fit a stove in the area.

Yes, my kitchen hardware is ORB. They were old brass and in rough shape when we moved in. I'm hoping they go well with the soapstone. I'm not set on them if they don't work out though. I tend to lean a little bit modern traditional and I think they'll probably make it through the transition. I don't see myself going with nickel or brass anyway.

I will post more pics as we go along and as changes are made. Hopefully we'll finally get some progress going. I'm anxious now to see it transformed.

We went last week and talked to our sawmill guy. He is going to be cutting the logs to 1 1/2 inches thick and setting them out to cure in the sun for 5 weeks, then into the kiln they go for another 5 weeks. Then he will cut widths and hopefully I will get a chance to go out and help lay out the final pieces before it is glued.

No word on the contractor about soapstone prices yet. Just found out today that my husband's truck needs some unexpected work. I'm not sure if that's going to affect my countertop budget yet. :/