The first and least expensive thing you need to do to lighten up the kitchen is to repaint it going a shade or two lighter of the same color paint. It looks like you've painted the greatroom and kitchen with the same paint but because the kitchen doesn't get a much light as the great room, using a lighter shade in the darker room will help fool the eye into thinking the rooms are more equally lighted. Next, and this may be a totally crazy idea but... It looks like you've got tons of natural light in the adjoining great room so I was wondering what you could do to borrow some of that light. Your arches and columns, combined with the dark wood (especially the dark ceiling beams) in your kitchen, plus the dark metal scrollwork on your lighting fixtures AND the fact that you have steps going up from the great room into the kitchen put me very much in mind of the "gothic cathedrals" in Europe. And that led to this idea. How about adding a "rose window" effect above the central archway leading between great room and kitchen to let more light into the kitchen. Attached is a link to an image of a rose window over an arched opening leading from the nave to the high alter of a cathedral that will give you a better idea of what is inspiring my idea. Basically, I think this would mean cutting a large round hole (like a round window) in the wall above the central archway and then inserting metal scrollwork to give the impression of a rose window. This would doubtless require a bit of reframing but it would cost a lot less than trying to add additional windows on the exterior kitchen wall. And, extra light from your greatroom would pass through the hole into your kitchen. Then, to make the rose window look like it was part of the original plan, you could find (or have made) some similar but smaller pieces of gothic scrollwork to hang over the archways leading to your front door and over the niche on the wall opposite the kitchen. Add a metal scrollwork quadrifoil design to the front of your hood (that smaller 4-leaf clover shaped window you see at the very back on the inspiration picture is a quadrifoil) and your stove very subtly become the "high alter" of your home. LOL! I'm also thinking that if you eventually find the western sun creates too much glare, you could hang stained glass in the kitchen windows instead of curtaining or shading them - which of course would add to the gothic cathedral impression. Anyway, I know its a crazy idea but sometimes you it helps to think outside the box. Here is a link that might be useful:

I feel your pain. It took me months to pick the correct color for my dimly lit foyer and stairs. Door open -- one color; door closed, another. Light on? another color. I ended up going with a deeper color than I thought I would because of the differences in light. Also, like palimpsest says, grab color samples that you never thought would work.

Hi, So I am working under a large dome skylight but in upstate NY where clouds and shorter days tend to limit grow cycle, the dome is 13'x5' and offers all day light as we are on the second floor, in addition i have a bank of north facing windows in the room. Most of my plants are thriving without additional help; however i am trying to grow veggies in pots and recently acquired a meyer lemon loaded with immature fruit that I would like to see continue to thrive. I have added 2 26W 6400k cfl lights to the veggie grow zones.. are these overkill on the e bill? they are full spectrum, truely white, not blue.. but i just want to see more green growth and happy fruitings. the lights have definitely helped seeding development. i have hella high ceilings my ladder cannot even reach and painted brick that can be a challenge for hanging stuff on.. i saw a similar light to those i currently have but in a long 4' unit with reflector for $43, it seemed tempting but I also read a post about using chains of red and blue leds that sounded both efficient and effective.. could really use some indoor gardening advise from those experienced in this realm...

@salonva preliminary picture of the new countertops and sink!!! I'm really enjoying the new countertops. The fabricator is coming to do a second layer of sealant on the countertops too. We really love how this color looks. We worked on replacing 1/2 of the hinges yesterday with invisible ones- I'm hoping the rest will be done by the end of the week and that we may be able to paint the cabinets this coming weekend (at least the uppers!!) With that in mind, after seeing the countertops installed and envisioning the pure white cabinets, I'm thinking a white backsplash will look too sterile. I think once we have the cabinets painted I will do a separate post asking for new backsplash tile recommendations! but I figured I would share how the new countertops came out, The river white really looks nice!