Hi, I think to calm everything down, you will want to match one of the lightest colours out of your granite for the backsplash. I also think that a larger format tile might help offset some of the busy-ness of the floor. I'd go with coordinating colour for the grout, or just slightly darker than the tile...but not a lot darker - you don't need more action in that kitchen. How about something like this which appears to have a bit of surface texture but is still very simple. That one is from Tilebar and I know they have a great sample policy so it is worth hopping onto their site and choosing a few you think might work for you and ordering them in. Yes, a solid colour rug and big enough to cover most of the tile (Ikea is your friend on this) will help until you have budget to redo the floor. Flippers who use the cheapest materials available are just wasting so much time and effort, not to mention money. I've seen so many houses where a flipper has come in and used the cheapest tiles and fixtures and covered everything with a fresh coat of paint. Then they want a 200% return on their investment and cannot understand why it isn't selling. And it isn't long until all the cheap finishes end up in landfill. Sigh.........

Probably not the answer you want...but I think your kitchen looks good the way it is, I would just wait until you re-do the whole thing. I think painting the walls may make a big difference to start. I'm not sure what 'reasonable' is for painting the cabinets, but it's usually not an inexpensive endeavor and I don't think I would spend the money to paint them if you're planning on remodeling in a few years. It may be more cost effective to just replace the counters instead of painting the cabinets.

We used BM White Dove In different sheens on the walls and woodwork to complement the polished TM Counters (but we have natural wood cabs). Our kitchen has north facing windows with lots of green trees. We compensated for the low light with 3000K (the warm-ish colored not the blue-ish colored) LED undercab and in cab lighting and sconces etc. The updated kitchen doesn’t seem dark or gray now which I was concerned about. I would definitely wait until you have the cabs installed, the counter in and some of the lighting wired in before choosing the backsplash. I was very surprised at how my original white tile choices didn’t do a thing for my counters and cabinets. good luck!

Not your desired response but the swap of counter and backsplash to light choices along w already light floors would accomplish nearly all your goal of a less dark kitchen. I’d absolutely do that wait on the expensive cabinet paint aspect. Walls can wait It’s just paint.