If you have trouble visualizing what you'd like but "know it when you see it", then at this stage you should probably just look at as many stainless / dark cherry kitchens as you can and see which countertops and flooring "grab" you. In my case I knew I wanted simple, natural cherry cabinets and stainless appliances and probably a wood floor, but that was it. Looking at lots of pictures helped me narrow things down, so now I can at least have intelligent conversations with kitchen designers. I'd suggest going over to houzz.com and entering "stainless steel dark cherry kitchen" into their search box and looking through some of the hundreds of results you get. It's a great source of ideas. After you see some you like, you can probably come up with more words to add to the search box to narrow things down. You can also go to google and enter "site:gardenweb.com dark cherry stainless" and you'll find lots of threads on this site too. I don't know of a way to limit it to threads with photos, unfortunately. Laura

I found some options from Lowes in your price range that would look good with your materials and have enough contrast not to look too beige. You can order them online and pick them up at your local store for no charge. Big box stores can be great places to find a good tile value. And I love that you can buy 3 or 4 sheets of tile, bring them home to see if they look good, and return them if they don't. Here's your space. Tile options start below. My favorite is the lantern tile. The hexagonal tiles are a very sexy look, but I'm not sure you have enough height in your bs. The glass and stone mosaic is a subtle look, but it has a nice level of contrast. The marble mosaic might look a little busy, but the colors are good. I hope these are helpful.

That is a truly beautiful and elegant kitchen. i can see why you'd want to replace the backsplash. I think you'd tire less of the lighter tile in the long run. For starters on the lighting, I'd check anything by Visual Comfort & Co from Circa Lighting. The light quality from those lights is superb. Also take a look at the modern designs from Hinkley Lighting. On your floor, you might consider a product like Loba's 2K Invisible Protect or Loba 2K Supra A.T. without a stain. White oak in lighter tones is very popular right now without any stain. Here's a video showing how Loba products prevent tannin pull in white oak when applied correctly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbu7kCzd1P0

Okay, first get cabinets redone. Once you see the actual brown they are in your space, you can choose flooring and backsplash and paint. Personally I would not do gray with brown cabinets. Also, you want to keep in mind the transition between the LVP and it's color wave, next to the kitchen. How about using luxury vinyl tiles for the kitchen? You might be able to coordinate colors better. The vinyl is much easier on your joints that porcelain tile.