Molly3573-I did not strip the cabinets -clean /fill/prime- The base board trim is just taller base trim from Home Depot- I used the pre-primed faux wood stuff and I used a newall (sp?) post cut down for the corners of the island and corner guards for the corner of the cabinets to dress them up. The bead board was just the pine bead board sheets (4x8) at Home Depot primed and painted with the same. I did not glaze them like the cabinets. All attached with a brad nailer- small trim nails would work and a hammer-but take longer- hope this helps -adding crown molding really gave the best bang for the buck as an upgrade- good luck with your kitchen!

Cherry can work very nicely with blue. So long as you have a blue/gray, you can have a strong contrast which highlights both the cabinets and the floor colour. You already have a blue based gray tile in the kitchen up against the cabinets. You can see it just in the background of your first photo. If you need to, simply pick a gray that works will with the existing kitchen floor (but go SEVERAL steps lighter). But buyer beware! Any of the grays you are looking at will DARKEN the space! And that can lead to more money being spent on lighting upgrades and paint upgrades. And if that doesn't work you might have to look at changing out the counter tops because you will have mid-tone gray on mid-tone gray and then mid-tone cherry. All of that turns much darker than you imagined it would. And just for fun, the hardwood colour already in place is a great fit with the cabinets. BTW: gray is on the way out as a fashionable colour. The lighter floors are more the "in" colour. And I mean so pale they are almost silvery white.

Jack Hohn, I can't comment on the Mirage floor finish, because we wound up getting another brand. However, we were looking at semi-gloss vs. matte (similar to cashmere) in a natural rift and quartersawn white oak floor, and we absolutely love the matte finish. It looks so soft and beautiful, and shows dirt and dust much less than our old floor which had a glossier finish. In the end, it's a personal preference, but I just wanted to put in my 2 cents in praise of a more matte finish. Good luck with your decision!

My feeling is that you may be in color overload. It is easy to get there, especially with the thousands of colors offered. Truth is out of all the colors there are really a handful of popular colors that work. There is a paint company called C2. They don't have a ton of stores, but you can order samples online. You don't need to paint your own samples - they sell huge samples ( 18" x 24" painted color samples (not printed paper). The samples are about $5 or $6 per sample.if purchased in a store, $9.00 online. They have smaller painted cards that run $1.00 online and are free in stores. Their full fan deck is only $50.00 They have a limited selection of colors, just the "Best in Class". Using EasyRGB to look up colors that are similar to Revere Pewter in Benjamin Moore Paints I get this: 10 colors with very little variance. Using the same program but looking for colors that are similar to Revere Pewter in C2 Paints I get this: 10 colors that are similar in depth of color but have quite discernibleundertones. You are pretty much guaranteed that one will look good with your cabinets and floors. More isn't always better. Sometimes it is simply more confusing. If I were you I would probably start with the lighter colors, closer to C2 Archival For $11.00 you can get the small paint sample of all 11 colors - pick the 3 you like best and for another $30.00 get big samples and make a final decision. Easy peasy done!