Your kitchen is beautiful! Very inspirational to me :) Are you familiar with Ballard Designs? They have a huge selection of "outdoor rugs" (although I can't imagine using one outdoors where I live!) But we have a few as door mats and one in our Dining Room, and they are perfect! Easy to wipe down to clean. But they look really, really nice! Take a look--they are all on sale right now. And maybe one or two will inspire you? Just a few examples... OR Now, under your eating area, I am going to just caution that it will get MESSY under there one your little eater is eating independently. But you can enjoy the rug until then, and then see how you feel. It's just hard to get under there and clean, with the built-in there. Also, I had wooden fabric seated chairs, and they will be getting re-upholstered in a few more years--they are trashed! Even the wood backs are "gunky" from so much wet hands/jelly/cereal/yogurt/etc. I switched to industrial style metal chairs from World Market (so not very expensive!) and I love them. Sooooo easy to wipe down--even easier than wood! And I have the coordinating wood table, so it does look good with wood tones, too. And my kitchen is white, Here they are: Finally, go into stores, like World Market or Pier One or anything that floats your boat. Find some napkins or placemats that inspire you. They are a good way to bring in some color in an inexpensive way, test it out in the room, and use it as inspiration for your room. Here is a link that might be useful: Outdoor rugs

Hi island. Our banquette was built (several years ago) by the same guy who did our cabinets. There is no back on it ... just loose pillows, which we sort of toss around depending on how many people are actually sitting on it. It does have storage. There are sliding doors on the long front of it (this is not easy storage to access but it's for the cookbooks I pull out once a year, etc.) and a "morgue" drawer that comes out from the end (where we keep all the dog leashes, collars, etc. Super handy storage!). I will take some measurements tonight or tomorrow for you, but I recall that the seat is about 19" tall after the cushion is on. I made the cushion extra thick, 4 inches, and raised it up a little because I prefer to sit a little higher at a table. The chairs came with the house and I sort of painted them on a whim. I used Annie Sloan's chalk paint, which was OK, although I'm not sure it was any better than any other kind of paint, other than not having to prime them first. They do seem to be wearing well though. Hope that helps for now. More to follow.

Thanks all for the feedback! The cabinets and appliances were ordered, so there's not much I can change there. I agree with mayflower about the range hood, which was in the initial design, but then I have no where to place my microwave and I'm not willing to trade counter or cabinet space a vent. As for the floor, that wasn't even an option. The floor flows into the breakfast nook, which flows into the family room. Actually, the whole house (with the exceptions of a few bedrooms) have the same floor. It would kill the openness of the house to compartmentalize any part of the house. Besides that, we have no budget for it. So my thinking on the gold granite is that it blends well with everything else in the house, like chandeliers (bronze w/orange glass) and the furniture in the adjoining rooms. It has to work with 2 other rooms, since you'll see it the most from those rooms than from the kitchen. I do love the MOP, but I know it may not look awesome. What other backsplash would you use? I'm not a fan of the white ceramic subway tile with this combination. I'd like something to make it look more modern than traditional. I think the 3rd and 4th pic on the hardware post is gonna be it. Not too detailed and the fluted handles match some of the fluted legs in my furniture as does the color.

Like your kitchen and its dark cabinets. Agree that tile would be better for the flooring than wood. Would not (at least not initially) make the drastic change of painting the cabinet exteriors unless they're actually damaged -- they don't appear to be. Would (at least temporarily) remove the island from the kitchen until you get the flooring you want. Then when you add back your island and any seating, make them have a more upbeat vibe so they become the focal point of your kitchen. You might consider a wheeled table for your island. Since it is so very near your dining table, you might seek to match or at least coordinate the two sitting/dining areas. If your dining table has a straight end, it might be practical to find a rolling island or table the same height so you could put the two dining surfaces end to end when you need to seat more at your table but keep them separated when you want to use your island for prep space. If you actually use the seating at the island, you could reuse seating you have and repaint the painted surfaces in your favorite bright cheerful color. Rethink your neutral kitchen window valance and have your window treatment create the lighter vibe you seek. Perhaps add a stained glass sun catcher hanging or a few individual small individual sun catchers that attach to the glass via suction cups. Repaint any painted wall surfaces a light shade of the same color. You could even paper (w/same color in the pattern) or paint the INTERIOR of any overhead cabinets w/glass doors with some of the same wall color.