Is that hood tiled with ittybitty tiles or stuccoed? I'm just thinking how absolutely filthy it'd get around here. It would look good in blue and white. Cream and taupe though? It really does look fairy taleish and as such, needs some real color!

WOW! Thank you all for the kind comments! I'm feeling warm all over:) Carecooks, good luck and have fun with your remodel: It's great to be able to make a place your own. I'm kind of envious that you are just starting...WAIT what AM I saying?! The cabinets are from a local cabinet maker, natural cherry. The copper is NO care, but I like the patina. Definitely not a surface for people who don't want drips and splotches to show. Circuspeanut (funny!) the paint is Sherwin Williams, Fireweed and Blonde. I decided to try matte paint this time around because I didn't want the sheen to interfere with what I saw. DH thought it looked a little third world, but, I believe, is used to it now. Boysrus2, I promise more island photos tomorrow evening. There are drawers, a sink with a lot of stuff jammed into it, an oven, and a small wine rack. Oh, and a secret place. I'll try to get some representative photos tomorrow. Thanks for your patience. It's only a slightly better mess tonight (a week's accumulation), but I'll spiff it up and shoot it. oh yeah, and mustbnuts, it's verde fuoco on the island. Thanks again, you guys are making my day!

Thanks everyone for your feedback and great advice! I am doing some of that already (shopping for both, scrapbooking/Pinterest/Houzz)so I guess I am on the right track. I will have stainless apppliance so that is a touch of gray. Unfortunately I don't have room for an island or a hutch. What I do know is that I am not a huge granite fan so that narrows things down a little. LOVE marble, but probably will go with a quartz. So this my thought process and the options I am considering: 1) Gray, maybe more like taupe or greige, cabs; white quartz counter - Misty Cararra, Torquay, Lagoon, Lyra; and a white or light bs. For example ... (I blame Michelle16 for this one! :)) or ... with ... 2) White cabs; gray counter - Caesartone Pebble; and ??? for bs (The gray and white lends itself nicely to pale blue - paint, bs, etc. While I like blues in my bedroom, I don't know that I want it in my kitchen, so I would need some other bs ideas) 3) White cabs; brown counter - Caesarstone Wild Rice; and ??? for bs (maybe this?) Not sure why those last few pics came out so small. Maybe a subliminal message that gray is the way to go :)

KBSpider: Lol! You will have more room than I have! That space, or "pinch point" as we like to call it (courtesy of someone on GW), is one of the things our KD messed up on...at least indirectly. Originally, we were supposed to have 42" - a nice aisle width b/c of the refrigerator. However, our KD really made a mess of the measurements in our kitchen (long, long, long story) plus we had to build out the cooktop wall in our kitchen by 6"....so we ended up with...32-1/8"...yes, that's right, less than 33"! I was upset initially about it until someone on GW reminded me that we most doorways are around 32"...so in normal use it wouldn't be an issue. The difference here is that we have a refrigerator that opens into that aisle & there is not enough room for someone to pass by when the refrigerator doors are open and someone is rummaging around in it. In reality, it's rare that someone wants to get by when someone else is using the refrigerator. Do I wish I had more space there? Absolutely! Can I live with it? Yes.... It's one of those things that I had to "make do with" b/c the cabinets were already onsite and I wanted a peninsula that seated two comfortably and would work as another workspace and staging place for food for the DR.