It is recommended that you get a vent hood that is 6" wider than your rangetop for the best capture area, maybe that will help you determine what size rangetop you will have room for?

Aha..then it's harder, you having less choice My natural inclination would be B because I love warmer, softer. muddier colors, and choosing A wouldn't help me with other furnishings So ask yourself what's your natural preference. These are permanent surfaces, you'll always have to consider them. Especially in the open plan. On the other hand..option A..you can at least repaint the cabinets, if so inclined, at some point..(you'll be restricted by other surfaces though, to a degree)..and yes they seem to be of better quality..but hard to say by the pic of course. I also agree with cawaps..that grey of theirs seems slightly off..cooler than the rest (I'm a bit mad at your builder right now I admit..what it matters to them if you mix things? well whatever I guess)

Frankly I think as you have it, your floor plan is dysfunctional for a working kitchen. The island becomes a barrier between your sink and your fridge and freezer. Kitchen flow normally works as following. We take food out of the fridge and pantry > bring it to the sink to wash > prep between sink and cooktop > and then bring it to the cooktop to cook. It's also not a good idea to continually cross zones. Meaning in your layout, to get to the sink from the fridge, you'll be crossing your cooking zone. Additionally after you prepare your food, to get it to the dining area, you'll be passing your sink/cleanup zone. So in both cases there could be a safety issue too. Instead of a U shaped kitchen, have you considered an L shape? Yes you lose some cabinetry but you'll be surprised if you use all drawers for lowers, how much storage you'll have. I just got all drawers for my new kitchen and I have empty drawers! Here's what I propose: 1. Put back the prep sink. In reality, since this is an L shape, there is more room on the non working side to make the island wider. 2. I also made the island longer. 3. I moved the fridge and freezer to the same side as the cooking zone. It keeps the fridge and freezer still close enough to your dining area, but on the same side as needed for preparation. This also puts your fridge/freezer closer to the covered porch area. 4. The stove was moved along with the windows on either side to the wall where the sink was. I do agree that you can do a range hood the same size as the stove, but not one smaller. 5. The cleanup sink (and secondary prep area is now moved to where the stove was. (Note too the dishwasher is out of the secondary prep zone between sink and stove.) 6. The window on that wall was made much wider to allow more light into the kitchen. (What's the point of a big window under a covered porch area?)

If I had a dollar for every time I heard "I've never seen that done before" and "everyone else does/has...." I agree with cpartist. Having the hood, shelves and counter stools wood will be a good balance, along with a light floor, backsplash and walls. Between the kitchen and laundry room/back hallway in our last house, I had a floor to ceiling black hutch. No windows, only light from laundry room window (kitchen was in center of house), and the black hutch was not a hole of doom and gloom when the hallway light was off. One thing to consider is taking aways one wall cabinet on each side of the range hood to visually open up and lighten that area just a bit. What is happening elsewhere in the kitchen area, like around the corner of the far right wall? I currently have black soapstone counters on the F&B Blue Gray cabinets (walls painted the same color) with a counter to ceiling scalloped soapstone backsplash behind the range. It's countered with light French oak wood floors and light ceiling. Taking chances can pay off if executed well, but you will have to listen to a few naysayers along the way.