That is pretty, flyleft. I think the reasons it works are the very high ceiling, the continuing brick work on the wall surrounding the mantel, and the raised hearth. Although that vertical brick makes me wonder about maybe doing stone of some sort in a vertical brick pattern instead of the square limestone tiles. Too trendy perhaps?

Thank you, thank you for so many thoughtful posts. This is an international move for us, so I have been travelling to coordinate everything involved - I only had 2 weeks to find something and this house ticks a lot of boxes for us, so I will work with it. I completely agree with many of you on working with what is there and with the Scandi modern look - as I said in my first post "will try to go with a mix of nature (lots of wood), clean lines, bright colors (fern green, orange, yellow, turquoise), and some funky accents". My mom is Danish and I have inherited Danish modern dining table & chairs, buffet, turquoise pottery, floor lamp, etc. so that is our style in general. Our stuff is pretty modern, but not industrial, more nature-oriented mixed with lots of ethnic art and crafts bought on our travels. I'm definitely not trying to recreate a period-perfect kitchen or house - as palimpsest accurately guessed, this is a split entry colonial revival ranch so I'm really not sure there is any period-perfect style anyway. But we do like to respect the period features of our homes (most recently an 1882 Victorian and a 1910 Tudor revival, both 4 stories so we are really looking forward to one main level!) (And I really enjoyed reading all the commentary here on period issues.) Nonetheless, Tuscan-looking or even American traditional just isn't us, or the rest of the house, ergo my desire to create a feel in kitchen more in keeping generally with our eclectic stuff and the period of the house. Even though they are not my taste, there is no way I could take down almost new solid maple (cherry-stained) cabinets, as much as I might love IKEA. Anyone have any experience stripping stain off cabinets like these? I "might" think about that as I would like them better in a lighter wood tone, of course even better with a slab front but too many cabinets to contemplate that. I like the suggestion to take down and store the uppers next to the range and do a big tiled backsplash with a big stainless range hood. I like that idea aesthetically and practically since microwave vents are never powerful enough and uppers near a stovetop always wind up sticky and greasy. Will definitely look for a sleek stainless pull, maybe with a curve. I wonder if it possible to somehow cut off the mullions from the glass-fronted ones?? For the floors, I have loved the look and feel of cork previously so I'm inclined to go with that - it needs something less busy to minimize the busy-ness of the cabinet fronts. I don't know what to do for the counters? Formica or metal-trimmed aren't what I was contemplating. I think stone or tile will look too "Tuscan"/90s - whatever you want to call it - with the cherry cabinets. Already too much wood cabinet for butcher block. That leaves concrete, stainless or that manufactured quartz that looks quite uniform. Any thoughts? Thank you for all the links - I loved some of the tile patterns, but am concerned about busy-ness. I haven't had a chance to look at all the lighting links - thinking something clean lined, Scandi looking, not space-age. I'm also a bit stuck on backsplash and paint color. I love green and will be using it elsewhere in the house, but I have too many memories of dark green with cherry in 90s kitchens. Maybe another shade? I do love yellow and orange, which again will show up elsewhere in the house alot. I guess I am just really hung up on that cherry and what goes with it...

Seems like we're basically all on the same page, it's just a matter of degrees - how far we want to "express" ourselves with color. Thanks chicagoans for the colorful mock-ups. I think horizontal tile compliments with the grain of our cabinets. Growlery is right, we can get away with some "punch" because of the houses character. I also agree with kaismom that it has to be taken as a cohesive design as far as vertical and horizontal lines go (especially since it's open concept). Sochi- we're north of Victoria BC, and won't be selling for at least 2 years, maybe 4-5 years at most. (Whatever we do will probably be dated in 5 years anyway, right?). I think we are definitely leaning towards the light counter- maybe Caesarstone's "Baja" or "Sierra" which aren't white white, but should read that way if the walls are off-white too. This is Sierra; Then we can try a splash of personality with the backsplash. We tried some whitish granite samples, but even the less busy granites did change the feel of the space. firsthouse, the linoleum glitter is back in some of the quartz colors - some even have little bits of mirror in them! We have looked at the circle penny tiles too. Some of them are beautiful. Jakabedy's tile is great. Is that "Sesshu Silk" stacked brick Sumi-e? I see there are other shapes in the Sesshu series. Now how about where the cabinets meet that angled wall? Any ideas for a shelf or filler? I want to ask about the island too, but I'll start another thread on that. That chandelier is a like a piece of modern art! BTW - Kaismom's Henrybuilt pictures disappeared? Here is a link that might be useful: sumi-e stacked brick tile

Thanks bmorepanic. Exactly right, there is a spectrum of styles that would work which creates too many options. In the end, it's hard not to let price be the deciding factor. Why pay $25+ a sq/ft if it's no more inspiring than $7 a sq/ft really? The issue of where to start and stop the tile is another thing we can't resolve, especially because of that angled corner. Oh well, any strong opinions are welcomed because we're about ready to toss up our arms in defeat.