It's not installed yet (about another 3 weeks or so - woohoo!) but ours are natural maple w/white appliances - that wasn't necessarily my first choice (I prefer "period" style painted white or dark quarter-sawn oak) but 1. we have a tiny space and everybody talked me out of anything too dark 2. we are on the tightest budget imagineable and wound up with a set of excellent condition complete set of 2ndhand KM Mission-style cabinets that I picked up on Craigslist for $1k. I really like natural maple, although I think it does lend itself best to a more modern look - lots of sleek ss and nickel etc which isn't necessarily the route we'll be going in our older house. However, I'm really happy with what we've got style and qualitywise. That said, I recently started considering whether maybe it's worth staining them down a couple of shades darker.... which would also help tie everything together (we had to buy 2 extra cabinets to round out the set and, while they match perfectly on the WRONG side of the old cabinets, the side exposed to sunlight has turned slightly golden - normal for lighter cabinets, I gather). In any case, I'll post pix as soon as there's something to share!! (And, despite all my musings and ruminations, I know full well there's a very good chance that once they're in I'll love them exactly as is since they're beautiful wood in a classic design!)

When picking out types of materials, especially for countertops, you should be realistic as to what will be happening on or near them. For example, my husband is a bit of a slob. Yep, I said it! Therefore, I would never put marble countertops in either the kitchen or bathroom. He sloshes water everywhere and leaves it! He spills stuff and claims that he didn't see it, so the stain sits there for who knows how long. Now, if it were, say, tomato juice/sauce on marble, well, the marble just got ruined. Anything acidic can and will eventually eat through marble. Water continually splashing onto marble will eventually dull it. If you're pretty neat, and clean up spills right away, then go ahead and use marble, but if you're not, you may want to rethink materials. Just my 2 cents. BTW, your color choices are beautiful! Nancy

I love the color but there really is too much of it. First of all, does it go with your furniture? If yes, perhaps just keep one accent wall. If no - repaint a neutral color for now, you can always repaint if/when you get some new pieces.

change the teal trim and lines of detail to a deep bronze or black. then change the backsplash. not that hard..it has to be prepped so the new doesnt chip off . let a pro do it.. a few doors/drawers at a time. the teal is odd,,,, quite unusual. thats all I'd do initially . no drawer cabs//no venting in poorly placed cooktop..older fridge..etc.....at a later point look at things more extensively. You could live with the teal if you dont want the bother but a darker brown/black color would be better.