jejvtr: I like the first link you showed, but the second one did not work. You are right the columns look similar. Perhaps you should leave them afterall, they are growing on me. It has a certain delicacy with the arched roof and you may change you mind also once the trim is painted different than the house color. Which is probably another reason my vote is for a non-white base color--to accentuate your lovely trimwork. I'm glad you are looking at other homes similar to yours for inspiration. When we were remodeling last year, I always kept a digital camera in my car and I would snap pics of features/colors/etc of houses I liked--usually while picking up or dropping off my kids from school or sports practices. I would try to drive a bit in the residential areas. Then when we were finalizing paint, I had my paint swatches with me and I would go up to houses which I liked and compare paint swatches. Once you and your DH find an inspiration pic I think this is helpful to narrow down to an actual color. You will always see things we don't, like lighting and how it works from various angles. What does DH think? Still white/red?

LOL!!! daisychain that's really funny since I'm listed on Linkedin as Professional Bum and I'm VERY successful in my field!! Well, black it is. Roughly installed today but needs some adjusting for square and a new handle set. It came with brushed nickel but we're brass on this old house so ordered another set. Once it's all done I'll get new pics but I'm pleased. It's going to take some time for my eye to adjust - 22+ years with no storm door. THanks again for the input - didn't count but black seemed to pull ahead in votes just a bit ;-)

Chrissyb, as you can see from this additional photo I have attached, your cabinet color, floors, and black appliances are almost just like mine. And I do like your countertop. Romy, I really like the grey in the first picture that you posted. I had never even considered grey for my kitchen. I'll have to think about it. As for our budget, we are remodeling on a shoestring. We hadn't planned on remodeling until next year, but then I saw the cabinets on eBay and we really liked them. I spent weeks planning a design to be able to use the cabinets in our space. Now we have spent more $$'s than planned because of the time needed to make changes to the cabinets (such as changing finished ends, making a wine cabinet into open shelving, making a plate rack I wanted, etc.). I was really nervous about how the cabinet design would look without the assistance of a KD and CAD drawings, but we are really happy with how it's turned out! We knew the countertop would probably be the most expensive part of the remodel. Unfortunately, we cannot afford Corian countertops from the private collection. But then I saw the Rain Cloud, as well as Burled Beach and Sonora, on solidsurface.com for about $500/slab with free shipping. I really wanted one of them to work! By the way, raee, the Rain Cloud doesn't have any tan undertones in it, and I do think it might look washed out in our kitchen. Oh, well, back to the drawing board...you all have given me some good ideas. I love this website and Houzz. Oh, in case you are wondering about the bottom oven in the picture, the installers dropped it, and the outside glass shattered! It's an old oven, but a really nice Thermador we bought along with the cabinets.

rebunky I just now saw your pics. I love the picture that you had saved for awhile. My island cabinets are very similar to the blue in that picture :) It's been scrunch time and I've spent the last two days going nuts trying to figure out my counters! I think I've come to a decision for the island counter top. I've decided like the look of ceaserstone more than granite and love the Bianco Drift. I think it will be a really good match for the blue island. I need to go and get a physical sample though to make sure the two do really go well together. Here it is: As for the perimeter... I don't know yet. Maybe I'll stick to the same.