Thats what maple should look like, I love it. I think a soft greenish or blueish would be pretty. I especially like greens. I don't know what BM Soft Fern is like but that sounds pretty. I used BM Titanium in my kitchen with cherry cabinets and I love the wood tones with this very very light gray green. It is also represented in BM's white collection. Here is my kitchen. You may not be able to see with reliability, the color, but you can see how light and soft it is compared to my medium colored cabinets. I think it would look pretty with a lighter wood too. Nothing better though than painting up sample boards and hanging them in your room to watch over several days. The backsplash on the counter is a marble that has a lot of tans mixed in, along with white and gray-maybe similar to your floor tile. My tile is from The Tile Shop and called Lansdale.

I don't normally like this look, only because I think in ten years it's going to be really easy to date a kitchen from about 2003 to 2010 by the colored island contrasting the cabs.....but in a period home I feel totally different about it, especially for islands because they didn't exist when the home was built. In a local home here (about 1870) they have done three different paint colors on their cabs in milk paint, and it has a very unfitted look for a basically fitted kitchen because they have used multiple cabinet styles. The main style is a simple shaker but mixed in are a couple of hutch looking areas done in fancier cabs so they look like they migrated to the kitchen over time (both are different) then there is their fabulous island which they did in quarter sawn oak, built in a mission style like a large bureau. It workls perfectly to enhance the feel of their period home, which they are restoring very true to it's original feel. The hutch cabs have reclaimed marble tops from other pieces long gone and they are about an inch below the main counter. The other counters are wood aside from the zinc in the butlers pantry and the island is soapstone. I love the way they were inspired by a period look but made it functional and expect to be doing something similar in my 1889 home. I'm expecting to paint one island and do the other in wood to resemble an old store counter (likely in oak) but will be doing the sink in a different style with distressed paint (to look like a dry sink) and the hutch will be in antique pine. It sounds busy if you think of your kitchen in a 2000 way, but in a turn of the previous century way that's exactly what a kitchen looked like. So my vote is...yes to the painted island, but if you really want to enhance the period feel consider changing a few more things and maybe add another color in as well. :).

Jennifer K, thank you for the ideas and taking the time for some visuals (and humor!) Mail4Tar, we’re connected :) I do think that paint can improve upon this enough… good luck with your project. Susan Davis, the house is in MA. It’s a testament to the importance of choosing timeless finishes, so a homeowner and future home owners don’t get locked in to a narrow set of design choices. Hummingalong, nice idea to re-do the grout! Mrykbee, embrace the cave! I may just do that. Laurie Sawaya, thank you for your insight. I’m not sure what the vanity top is, but it feels like stone, it’s rough underneath. But, I have no idea. It definitely does not go! I can visualize it matching the tub, good idea. Helen, you’re funny, “jaunty green trim”! Thanks for the humor. You, mail4tar, Susan’s daughter and I are connected with bold 90’s marble. I don’t feel so alone anymore. Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I’m leaning towards a dark gray for the cabinets with a lighter, related gray for the walls, and better lighting. I’d love to replace the vanity top, but… I’m not sure that’s in the budget. I’ll post back with the finished project in a few weeks.

You are correct - probably not best to put a wood look tile in and I agree with your change in paint color - but then I've never been overly fond of gray:) In general there has been a return to warmer colors. I would get several tile samples, bring them home and see how they look. A friend of mine recently did her kitchen and used a large square cream tile. The rectangular large tiles are currently very popular. I lean towards a more cottage style and I would look at a tile that resembles stone and laid it out in a non-grid manor. Cream rectangular: This is in a cottage in France: A stone look laid in a non grid fashion: If the flooring in the dining room is not real hardwood, you could remove it and do what you want in both rooms. That is probably way more than you want to spend.