Thanks for the response. We love black too - have you seen the gorgeous Cambrian, Nordic Black and Virginia Mist samples in the antique finish? They are spectacular with golden honey oak I think. Our concern is that our condo kitchen is small and has no windows so our lights have to be on almost all the time we are working in the kitchen day or night. The kitchen is open to a great room and sun room that face east and south and we get lots of light in those areas but the sun seldom reaches the kitchen except in the morning - thus the thought of looking for a light countertop surface. Also love Crema Bordeaux but it varies so much in any one slab, but it would be nice with oak also. If you end up choosing black please let me know what you end up with. Saw a beautiful kitchen a couple days ago where Ubatuba was used on the countertop of a u-shaped kitchen with blonde stained maple cabinets and full height backsplash in Ubatuba as well as a surface for the base of a big bay window in the kitchen. The Ubatuba read black from a distance but up close it was dark green with terrific gold highlights. Hummmm . . . wonder what Ubatuba looks like in an antique finish? jb

I don't know where you guys are, but actually around here everything gets painted white..:) (ah unless it exterior-they're suddenly into a tad darker browns. The builders I mean) I know there's gray trend but I know because I'm here and I read blogs and such otherwise I wouldn't know probably. (we re in OC, CA) so I wouldn't care whether gray is a trend or not I would just care that whatever color I choose(if deciding to paint at all) it's the color that makes sense with other colors that are there to stay..and with my own mindset that's probably to stay too, at least to some degree all these whites and grays and greiges are so different too..like, hundreds of them they also change in different lights..that is our brain that assigns them a constant definition, really I have a very warm greige kitchen and sometimes it's totally oatmeal and sometimes it's more greenish off white..it doesn't even have a name since the color is custom, and it's somebody else's custom color, so I just called it after myself lol, to make things easier. and recently I got so confused, like majorly confused, since I read on one blog "greige is white with some gray in it". I thought white with gray in it is an off white? don't you have to have beige-a light version of brown-thrown into it to get greige? I think that's a hard-to reach-consensus since I'm not even sure of definitions. and I'm very into everything about colors, so would make sense for me to become more sure, but it doesn't work that way lol. Somehow. What I know though-until we have our world and nature around us, all the colors that are there, be it sea or sky or snow or sand or leaves..they're timeless..:) to us they are, since we have much shorter expiration date..:) ah, and I love that idea with foam too..much easier to apply and to switch and to change

I don't think you will be able to get that light look consistently with red and white oak. You probably need to go with a medium neutral stain on all floors, one that has green tones in it. Green is the complement to red/pink, and mixing complementary colors neutralizes them. I've had success with Special Walnut stain throughout my home. The floors in the original (1920s) part of the home are oak, not sure if red or white. The new white oak floors in the kitchen were installed in 2014; all are stained special walnut. Here is a photo of the transition area between dining room (above the saddle) and kitchen (below the saddle). The color is not too dark and not too light. Depending on the light it can look warmer or cooler. It's my "go-to" color for me and my clients for many years.

I bought a house with a kitchen somewhat like this one two years ago. :-) It does seem like a shame to change out a functional kitchen that isn't even 20 years old, but you're right, that is a lot of orange wood. The previous poster is right, the current wall color is too white, and since they put the granite backsplash on, another one is usually not done on top of that.