I just looked again at the trap door space, and gave it some more thought. Here's my take: Stain treads a dark shade Match floor color to stain Paint risers white Paint trap door AND bottom stair same as floor Beware! You may need a small colorful rug under the last stair/on floor(hard to see stair at night) For the rails,etc. The most common/best,imo, look is white paint on the rails and stain on post and newel. Oh! New thought re. last stair: Stain it in a light honey and stencil a design in floor color.It will stand out( for safety) and neat effect! Hmmm, you could instead, treat that trap door with that special effect. It's going to be charming, whatever you do.

I would love to see how it turned out. We're doing a very similar renovation. So far our walls are alabaster and we've only purchased lower cabinets. I painted them Mindful Gray (BM). We just purchased our counter tops yesterday and they are unfinished butcher block. So now I'm panicking on what stain to use on them (our floors are Allen + Roth Russet Oak Laminate). I don't want the floors & counter tops to be too matchy and I'm considering just oiling them without staining. So many decisions!

The fact that your renderings include a cat is adorable. I love the cadet grey all over. You could bring in some brightness by playing with color and reflective/shiny surfaces in the backsplash, appliances, and accessories. I notice your inspiration photo has shiny stainless appliances, lime green placemats and blue glass. These are good ways to give lightness to a grey space. Orange, Yellow, red, and lavender are also good colors to brighten up grey (choose one or two or don't choose and just let your favorite bright colors find their way into the space in whatever amount feels natural over time). The glass door uppers you are planning on will be awesome for bouncing light around the room. Can the insides be painted with a white wash like the soft white cabinets? That could be nice, though it isn't necessary. I'd definitely put lights inside of those cabinets. I notice that you don't have a backsplash tile on your rendering. Might just be the render, but it's worth mentioning that with a messy teenager cooking, some kind of backsplash will be your friend. Glass tile is expensive so without knowing your budget I won't suggest it for the whole backsplash, but you could do a small feature wall of glass tile behind the oven to bounce the light around on that side of the room. It could be the same color as your backsplash, a grey like your cabinets, or a completely different color. Whichever way you go on color, the finish of glass will be a nice contrast to the finish of grey stained wood. Large format tiles seem to be in fashion, so if that's your jam, good news! They make large format glass tiles! Or, you could go the opposite direction and do a 2-3" glass lantern or hex to really stand out. Whatever you do for backsplash, I would not do a matte finish. Same with your countertops. It will make the whole room look too flat. Another thing I don't see in your renderings, but I do see in your inspiration is light. Every counter surface and every walkway needs some amount of direct lighting and you need good light diffusion so that you can see into your cabinets well. You may already have this figured out and just not showing in the rendering - just wanted to be sure it was mentioned (it may also be making your renderings look darker than the reality will).

@K H, yes they put down quarter rounds yesterday and the builder said that they will put another coat of poly.... after which final paint touch-ups will be done.