Threeapples, Gardenweb has an entire forum dedicated to Kitchens. Your best bet is to post your question over there. To find it, look in the green band underneath the Gardenweb logo at the top of this page. Look for "Gardenweb.....blogs.....forums....photo galleries," etc. Click on Forums and then on Home Forums. Go through the list to find kitchens (Home Decorating is another great resource). Here's a link: Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenweb Kitchen Forum

This might sound like a lot of work right now, but have you considered painting the cabinets white? I love the chair rail and the wainscoting in the dining room, but your cabinets do not really match that style right now. Your Kitchen would look fabulous with white cabinets and a white subway tile back splash. No matter what you do, I would suggest changing the hardware to a stainless steel. In the mean time have you considered a brown/putty color for the walls? I think that I too would go more neutral. Stay away from yellows since your cabinets have a lot of yellow in the wood. For example a brown like this picture. I think it would really play up your current kitchen cabinets. I would stick with the same color below and above the chair rail. Brown- Benjamin Moore Branchport Brown, Benjamin Moore Woodacres, Benjamin Moore Stampede, Sherwin-Williams Cobble Brown, Sherwin-Williams Van Dyke Brown (shown below), Behr Traditional.

Looks great! I am the worst at picking tile and I think they all look great so go with your gut... I did the white on white look and it was so white I ended up doing grey grout to balance it out. I think a grey tile probably would have balanced the counter better but I fell in love with that white herringbone I ended up doing. I also picked a matte tile and kind of wish I had picked something with a glossier finish for some more sparkle. Your choices look like they will do that and have more dimension. Good luck!

Thanks for your response and feedback! I was looking through some books on Green and Green homes and they had subway tiles and ceramic hex floors. To me the hex floor felt busy. I put a marble mosaic in my master. Here's what I did with 12" x 12" tiles around the outside which helped break up the 12" x 12" a bit. And I ran the mosaic in the floor of the shower too. Here's my shower. Mine is mostly enclosed with just a glass door. If you like daisies, this is what I did in my upstairs guest bath although the pattern is a bit earlier than a 1940's bungalow (I was going for an early 1920's feel although as you can see with the above master, I didn't quite keep the look): We do have square tiles in the guest bath. I guess I was trying to do a bit of a riff on the traditional look. Maybe it's not working. Thanks for the dope-slap on the daisy tile. (shoot, now I want to delete the comments on the daisy tiles but it's too late!) No don't feel bad about the daisy tile. Secret? Our house is a brand new built craftsman inspired house. One that several folks thought was an original I renovated so I must have done one or 2 things right. LOL. However, I got seduced by the same tile as you! I love that tile and a few of the other water jet patterns Do you think any of this could work? The 12x12 floor? I think you could get away with the 12" x 12" if you keep the other tile more in tune with an older style. I apologize as I think I was reacting even more to the 4 x 8 and the 12" x 12" tile laid on the diagonal. I thought the 4x8 subway was at least in keeping in the proportion of the older ones. No. That is the one that really is off. If you're going for an older look than 1940's, then stick with a 3" x 6" subway. However if you want to stick to the house era, go with a 4" x 4". To take it from the ordinary, what about playing with them by doing a half offset similar to a subway tile? Is it possible to add a marble accent that would be in keeping w/ the style? The basketweave, wicker weave and spiral mosaic I believe have been around forever. Check out Subway Mosaics too. This is the company I ordered my daisy floor from. They have different sized marble tiles too.