Yes i do! I actually have some design sense and wanted to be an interior designer. I installed new Espresso color thick carpet in my whole condo, i loved the color, sheen and the way it hid the stains. Lol im bad i know, but i had light color carpet before and it was a mess to keep clean, to the eye. Only problem was when i installed the Espresso color carpet was that my walls were bright white and i didnt like the contrast, the dark brown per say and the white walls, just looked odd to me and bugged me, Finally i gave in and put color on the walls! Reason i say all that is, if the walls are not white, go for it. Maybe re think the color of the walls as to me, the silver of the washer and silver of the walls might clash with one another, if just not the perfect, complementing shades. You could do a creamy rich, off white, like vanilla. What i did in picking the colors for my living room and bedrooms was, i went to home depot, i picked out all the colors that immediately caught my eye. Then i took home two or three of the same paint swatches home, taped them together, then taped them on the wall to be painted, in different areas, to see which color i like better. It was better for me than using one swatch of color and trying to decide on a big blank white wall. So i used three and taped them together and made the swatch 50 % bigger! Its up to you in the end and what you like. But i do think the espresso will work very well with the silver, or graphite appliances, just a little weary on silver walls. I used the Berh paint and primer in one, used less coats and the color came out very nice! The green is, chinese jade and the yellow is, pyramid gold. I had to put into mind all the colors i already had, the carpet, my couch, coffee tables, dining table. This is also what i did, i fine tuned into what colors i wanted for the walls, then i took other swatches, for instance, i have white baseboards, so i got a white swatch, i have a orange couch, so i got an orange swatch, i have espresso carpet, so i got an espresso colored swatch, then i put them all next to the color of the wall swatch, to see how well they all mixed together! And to me, the colors couldnt have fallen into place any better. Also made my condo feel more like a house, more like me, more personlized! Imagine the walls in the photos before, white! What a big different a little color can do!

Thank you all for your great feedback! It's such a hard decision to make! (one of many) I do like honey maple and in some pictures it looks really great and not at all splotchy. In other pictures it looks uneven. I'm not sure what the difference is -- whether it's just the photos, the lighting, the quality of the finish ...? I'm also not sure whether a darker finish on maple makes the potential for splotchiness better or worse. (I know that unstained maple doesn't seem to have this problem and looks great, so that might be an option too). I wish we could have a skylight! Unfortunately there is a 2nd story above the kitchen :( Thanks for the idea though. othertime, your kitchen looks beautiful! Aren't those mahogany floors amazing! I like your choice of granite too -- what kind is it? I had a little look at your album -- what a great idea to use the same granite on the fireplace BTW ... we might consider doing that too. Your kitchen is much bigger than ours though, so I'm worried that going with cabinets that dark may make our little kitchen look like a cave. Or maybe not ... it's still definitely worth considering ...

I think that one is ugly and doesn't fit your space. search, "Ikea bookcase hack' or Ikea hacks for media cabinet or shelving. there are a ton of ideas. or try something like this. its a large open wall space. make it look nice and display books, or artwork, whatever. they even have an Ikea hack using Billy Bookcases that look like built ins. paint the wall a dark color if doing white shelving for a more custom look

Often times the floor matches or compliments the COUNTER TOPS. It sounds like you have plenty of design decisions to make. A kitchen has 7 design elements. Lighting Counters Floors Cabinets Backsplash Paint Appliances So you can see I've listed 'lighting' first....it is SOOOO important to figure out your lighting FIRST and get it installed FIRST! Why? Because it determines how the colours 'appear' to your eye. What looks like a nice 'match' in the store (green/yellow lights) could turn out to be VERY different under natural lighting in your home. You will notice paint is WAY down the list...right above appliances. That's because paint is used a final coat of 'unifier' and will depend on ALL of the items above it. I grouped the 'horizontal' items first = counters and floors. These guys work together so you might as well CHOOSE them together. They also throw light/darkness up into the air and effect all the colours you put in the space. Then I grouped the vertical items together: cabinets, backsplash, and wall paint. They often run together as a pack. Again, notice how paint is almost last? Right. It is SOOO easy to change (as in you take it back and buy something else) because it is quick and cheap and easy. You have decided on 'white' for the cabinets. Right. Which 'white' are you going with? The best way to do this is to do a single drawer/door mock up (sanded, primed, painted and sealed). You then take that drawer shopping. When finding floors, I like to take 3 of my favourite counter top samples shopping (that means you need to have the samples in hand). You then ask for samples of 4-6 floors that work with your counters (like 2 floor options for EACH colour of counter top). Now you take those home and look at all 3 items (painted door, counter tops and floor samples) in YOUR lighting. Which reminds us why LIGHTING is first. Anyway. What you will find is your lighting changes the samples enough to see clashes. Toss those clashes IMMEDIATELY (hide them in a drawer to return to the shop). Now you will have 3 counters and probably 4 floor options. Good. Now put the sampled down in different areas and leave them there for all 5 lighting situations (see, there's that 'lighting' thing again). In other words you leave them in place for 1 full day. You will 'watch' the colours change during the day (no point leaving them there if you don't check on them). Notice if there are 'clashes' once again. As soon as you see a clash you remove it (send it to the drawer). Once you have done this for 4-5 days you will be down to 2 counters and 2 floors. Excellent. Now you find out which floor/counter top is the EASIEST to locate/purchase for your time frame. Go with the 'easy' part. You may end up with your second favourite counter and your least favourite floor but you will have a coordinated kitchen. And a coordinated kitchen is tough to do if you are DIYing the colour scheme. It's worth all the marbles.