How fun to see all the comments and eye candy. Thanks for the conversation on this, it really is something I go back and forth about. @FoozerX - I appreciate hearing from someone who really doesn't like the split. Thanks for your honesty - and for chiming in. @pawa - I'm worried about the gray-dark brown-white thing for more reasons than you know. I've NEVER liked gray and have always leaned to the warmer tones but I find I am really being influenced by the current gray trend. I can't decide if that is because the current grays are more earthy/muddy/warm/zen or if I am just that suggestible afterall... That being said, the dark lowers/light uppers really does seem practical - and easier to keep looking clean. I'm all about that! LOL @palimpsest and jterrilynn - How interesting to learn that this isn't a new phenomonenon, but rather one that is just rarely done. It really does seem to work to ground the kitchen and lighten up the upper half... @MichelleDT - What a great island that is in your inspiration pic. Your kitchen sounds great. I am totally a fan of chunky floating shelves, too. I can't wait to see your kitchen come to life, hope you share lots of pics. @sas95 - There is sooo much to like about your kitchen, including the uppers and lowers working so well together but being different colors. I have always loved that backplash - and those windows are great. @deedles - Those brown doors on white boxes in that picture is not something I would think of, either. While I'm iffy about it, what surprised me is that I didn't despise it. There are other pics that show better how they relate to the island color, but again, not really seeing it for me. If you think of that GW kitchen, please do chime in with it. @rosie - It's a good point about the need to harmonize counter/tile to make something like this work. I just don't see color really working well with it, necessarily. I think the counter would contrast with the lowers and flow more with the uppers, but the backsplash would then need to work with that whole thing to keep it working. I have that backsplash window to work with on the long wall, and remain stumped about how to work with tile PERIOD on the other wall... @chiefy76 - Thanks for the pics. Neat to see all the different ways this can work. My partner isn't sold on this idea, either. Which I find interesting, given I first came up with it as a compromise point between us. @marcolo - Are you saying you think it works as long as there isn't a lot of contrast or that brown/white doesn't work? I often hear the case made to go black/white or brown/cream, so I'm not sure if that's what you are talking about. A lot of the pics posted here by myself and others do show high contrast. Are you saying none of those work or seem intentional? @nap101 - It's interesting to hear you talk about darker lowers to ground the soapstone, and going light above. I don't think I've seen that application and I keep being drawn to light counters on dark lowers/white uppers. If you find pics, please post them. You do make a good point about how dark counters work on white cabinets and soapstone/black granites tend to be the strongest example of that. While I like the look, I've had chocolate brown counters on white cabinets for the past 13 years and am ready for something different. @loves2cook4six - You definitely have the 2-tone thing going and I've been lurking on your BS thread to see what you come up with there. How is that going? You and others show an interesting reverse of what I was thinking with the lighter lowers and darker tones in the uppers. I wouldn't have thought that could work but it seems to! @francoise47 - Egads, that picture really shows how the uppers can fade away into the walls, doesn't it? I love that... but you make such a good point about whether it is too much for the house. If it is too much for your house, it is definitely too much for this little 50's ranch stretching towards 1,000 SF. Hm...but then I look at bossanova's carriage house kitchen and it seems like it really works there without being too much? Same with the little IKEA kitchen with the beam... It's confusing to me, I admit. Thanks so much for sharing your own reasoning process and feedback from a honest friend! (Those are worth gold) @secondhalf - So glad this thread is helping you find clarity! I'm not clear what my house is really suited for, except for simple. lol @sis2two - See, you are making jterrilynn's point! How fun is that? Mixing it up a decade later. Please do share plenty of pics. @jterrilynn - What a neat kitchen. I love that it is shaped so uniquely - and those tall ceilings are great. Love that light fixture! And, the portrait of your FIL is wonderful. You clearly have talent! I like how the lighting fixture plays off the color of the lowers and brings a bit of it upwards. Hm...I was thinking silvery fixtures but this gives pause if I decide to go this direction. I'm going to keep this in the "maybe" pile and when it comes time to put some ideaboards together, I'll likely do at least one with 2 tones. In the meantime, we'll see if this thread has continued eye candy to provide! Thanks again, everyone.

O.T. Do not disrespect or underestimate small kitchens. The original kitchens on my tract house street were horrible by current standards, but these twinsie little pullman kitchens with doors on both ends nevertheless allowed post-WWII moms to make family meals from scratch, can and freeze garden produce, and host card parties, garden club meetings, and extended families at holidays. I've been told as much by the older residents. DH and I remodeled the original so nicely without adding an inch of actual space that it served me from 1976 to last year when we finally took a sledgehammer to it. Guests at my dinner parties joked that it was like the clown car from which so much entertainment emerged even if it appeared to hold so very very little. But I had to have rules and one was that no one could be in the space with me when I said I needed to be alone. We installed a long countertop which allowed me to plate things before serving and which accepted mounds of dirty dishes afterwards. Cleanup was also a one-person activity. No one was allowed to stand around to talk; guests could stand at either door if they really wanted to, but no, no, no, do not come in. The work triangle was a long obtuse triangle that covered the entire room. But the zones were there, crisp and sharp and functional.

Plevels, I've been reading and following your dilemma. I know you'd really like to have an island and you feel your peninsula is creating a bottleneck with the refrigerator but this seems needlessly complicated. Unfortunately, not every kitchen is meant to have an island. Would you ever consider just eliminating your peninsula, adding a nice pantry with rollout shelves (You could fit a 36" cabinet pantry in the current spot where your peninsula and overhang are) for storage and sticking with a table? You'll be able to seat many more people comfortably at a table. I, along with a lot of others, don't care for island height seating. It's not as easy to get in and out of and a lot of folks like their feet on the ground when they eat. The 9.5 feet you have is plenty of room for a table for 6 that can be used for eating, homework, doing a puzzle or playing a game, or just sitting and chatting with the cook while they're in the kitchen. As partim pointed out, you have a nicely arranged kitchen with a good working triangle as is and not having to move plumbing, electrical, etc. will save you some money. You can use that for things like lazy susans, lots of drawers on the bottom instead of cabinets to add to your storage, organizers, etc. It's just a thought but I figured I'd make the suggestion.

Wow, decoenthusiaste many thanks for the tips!! The window coverings - didn't really think of this earlier - but yes - matching color for the walls and curtains does make sense! The see-through window we think more of - matte/frosted windows - to increase the privacy, although this would certainly lower the light passing through :( I've just received news, that the windows on the very bottom of the drawing will be covered in a special 4 season layer to prevent heat from getting out in the winter and heat from entering in the summer. Apparently some specific silver nano-coating will be applied, which however will reduce the light passing to about 70%. Flooring: we will go for laminated tiles except for kitchen, bathroom and hallway as a cheaper and more versatile option. Colors we also thought of wooden accents which should be rather light. I am thinking how it will look like if we focus on a tad darker floor with more white-ish for the walls and furniture? Would this look nice or would it make the room darker? Rug/Carpet: what combination should work if we go for a light wooden floor, with presumably brown/blue sofa and a xxxxxx colored rug :? :) Walls: in all honesty we will be using wallpapers (including one colored wallpapers with some elements maybe). This will give us more versatility + some materials/textuers also offer additional soundproofing as opposed to pure walls with paint coating. I was thinking a blue-ish tint would work good - exactly like in the examples that you provide? Is there some general guide as to what tints we should opt for to make the room feel bigger without going into sterile mode - we would want to make the room feel cozy. We originally wanted to go white with brown furniture, but now that you mention brown being a depressing color we might have to rethink. Maybe brown for furniture (dining table and sofa), white-ish wooden floors (maybe a few nuances darker than white), and white-ish walls. Also white or whiteish for cabinets, chairs and the kitchen sets. Furniture sizes ... 1 meter = 3.28 feet. I guess once the rooms are built we can use tape prior to purchasing to get a better feel of the volume of the furniture. This + 3d visualizations ... :) Dining: is there some general guidance as to how much space should be left - or we better just test ... :? Master Bedroom: built in closet ... this could be an option and could go all the way to the ceiling (being a wall with shelves and the same sliding doors we are thinking of). With reflective white-ish surfaces for the doors to imply more space. Is it cheaper/easier to create as opposed to a regular 2.40m(tall) wardrobe? Lights: really great advice here. Will surely think of how to incorporate those. We will do the wires after the apt is ready as there will be a hanging ceiling for insulation put in place and just then shall we cover the cables etc. This being said - we should add loads of those. The LED panels are something we are thinking of and actrually saw a really nice artificial window in IKEA (lead panel + curtains). However the DIY won't cut it and we might go for store bought 60x60cm panels (around 50$ each - which is fair @3600lumen for example). If we add 2 or 4 for an artificial window this would mean a lot of light ... I've read that the calculation should be approx 200lumen for each sqm of surface and this should be 2x or 4x. Again many thanks for the tips and links. We are discussing everything - as we have not yet finalized our selection (but we have time) :)