sundownr, your kitchen and dining room are beautiful! I think your kitchen is screaming out for a rich color. My dining room is a very very dark chocolate (on the top half). I wanted that rich kind of color to come through the kitchen family room area. When I was deciding on my cabinets, I nixed the idea of dark cabinets because I felt that the darkness would just be flowing through the rooms. Not sure if that is clear. So I went with the white cabinets, as you have done too. I knew that I didn't want to use the same paint as the dining room, but I had originally thought to use that same color as my accent color on my fireplace wall, and at the far end of my family room, opposite side of my range (about 40+ feet away). But then I changed my mind. I ended up finding a taupe. The taupe coordinated with the brown in my dining room, and so did the gray (even though it really is a taupe). I would check out that color, in case it does work for you (Valspar Coastal Villa (lighter one) and Italian Leather (dark color behind range and on fireplace wall). My colors work together. I needed a gray with brown in it. I also think you could paint the room the same color as your dining room. The two rooms flow together. I think it would look very yummy to have that rich color in there. By the way, love your zebra rug. (where is it from?) I'm going to do that in my family room area, but I'm going with a gray zebra. Currently the rug choice is between 2, but nobody is voting on the Home Decor forum--I don't think they like me over there. :( Here is my dining room which is right off of the kitchen. Crooked things on the wall...certainly a sign of a renovation going on! I would also try to find "Funcolors", I think that's her name. She is really good on giving you names of paints to use. Not sure where she is, maybe Home Decorating Forum or painting forum. Good luck to you!

anele, i haven't got the buffet yet, but it'll be difficult to convince me not to use that buffet as inspiration because i'm in love and love isn't always rational. :) what did you have in mind? also, to paint a bigger picture, this dining room is open to the kitchen and family room, and the family room will have a large fireplace covered floor to ceiling in an old european style dressed fieldstone, large casual comfy sofas... the kitchen will be what i'm dubbing "farm glam" - white shaker style cabinets, black chunky hardware/pulls, large white cast iron sink, chrome finish on farm-style plumbing and light fixtures, shiny aqua backsplash from ann sacks, curvy stainless vent hood with chrome accents. as you can tell, i'm really comfortable with all my individual items not being the obvious choice or matchy matchy. :) i'm sure it's a peeve of plenty of folks on this board to not keep within a period or genre or architectural integrity, but it makes me happy. (i'd post pics, but we just broke ground, so all i've got to show you is a pile of dirt!)

My personal favorites are Relaxed Khaki and Mindful Gray for walls with Extra White (semi-gloss) for trim. Tricorn Black is great for doors as accent pieces.

So I made a final decision! We are going with Pental Akoya. I logged many miles to view full slabs of Akoya and Corian Venetian Cream. Here are the photos of the cabinets we are using with the Akoya (and potential backsplash): I am think of using Brushed Nickel pulls. Thoughts?