Please rethink a combination of yellow and dark brown, especially with white. There's only one thing I can think about when I see that color combination and it's definitely NOT something I'd want to see in a kitchen (and it's a VERY popular exterior color combination around here, ugh). Very high contrast can be tough to work with. Try getting your colors a bit closer together in value - since you're going for a white on your cabinets and a pale yellow wall (BTW, BM Rich Cream is a very popular light yellow, although it doesn't look very yellow on the chip it goes quite yellow on the wall; BM Windham Cream is a nice soft yellow that has absolutely NO business being called cream), think about lightening up the color of the trim and wainscot to a midtone at the darkest. If you drop down to a semigloss on the wainscot and trim the "bashed-up-ness" ;-) should not show as glaringly with lighter colors as they do with a high-gloss finish; with such a reflective surface the light "catches" in the dings. It doesn't need to match the other rooms, and trim in a color-color is quite period appropriate for the 1880s - the Victorians were MAD for color. It's just not seen that much nowadays because white/off-white trim is more "in". What about a just-slightly-lighter-than-midtone green that picks up the soapstone's green for the trim/wainscot (a somewhat clearer green than the muddy tealish green that's there now)? Say third or fourth down on a BM strip? Green and yellow is a lovely pairing and will be cheerful and happy with the white. We have the same orangy old pine boards in our ca.1900 "Victorian Lite" (a very plain millworker's cottage, makes your farmhouse look elaborate!), although ours are random-width and mostly nicely wide, and it goes swimmingly with almost any green. I'm having a very hard time resisting using green in every room. :-) Blue is a color to consider, too, since it also goes marvelously with yellow and white. Classic combination. There's a gorgeous upscaled-old-fashioned kitchen in the kitchens thread in the Gallery area of this forum decorated in yellow and slate blue (photo #9). #22 uses a pale, pale yellow on the walls with white trim and a pale blue on the cabinet, there's no reason why you couldn't have the cabs white and the trim blue, especially if the kitchen is bright (IME light colors work best in bright rooms, they tend to go drab in darker ones). It's impossible to tell because these pictures were taken at night! :-) #25 is a great example of the green/yellow/white combination in a traditional country kitchen setting. Just wondering - won't it be a bit crowded up by the ceiling with the plate shelf AND crown molding? I'm puzzled. Love your island, the t&g doors, the transom... beautiful.

I would leave the cabinets alone. That dark-wood look you want is about 5 years gone already. I also don't know how you'll be able to tackle the amount of work involved with painting cabinets when you don't have the time to clear your clutter. Your clutter says to me you don't have any spare time. Also, I don't advise the "black stainless" appliance finish if that's what you meant by "dark stainless steel". It's just low-cost painted-on black and will scratch. I feel like each day this forum gets a dozen posts saying people are buying the black stainless - the manufacturers must be pushing it very hard for that much of an avalanche of buyers for that finish. Just get regular stainless appliances; it'll look better and you'll be better off in the long run. New lighting, de-cluttering, stainless appliances, and removing tchotchkes from on top of the cabinets will do a lot toward making your kitchen look more current and fresh.

I have to go, but will post actually tmi .. but youtube helps, and chalk paint is found in box stores. PRO/ Colleen Price: "I did layers of french linen, then dry brushing paris gray, then dark wax and then more dry brushing of the french linen, the paris gray and a mix of pure white with the paris gray until I got the look I wanted. It was really just experimenting with those three colors and dark wax in many layers. Cant say how many, it was just until I was satisfied with it. I used french linen, paris gray, pure white, dark wax and clear wax. I started with a layer of french linen. I put dark wax over that, then dry brushed paris gray over that to kinda make it streaky. Then i just started sort of experimenting and applying dark wax then a mix of paris gray and pure white. I really cant tell you exactly because I just kept adding layers until I got the look I wanted. But I think the key was really the dry brushing technique. I think if you just play around with those three colors, some dry brushing (with a very dry brush) and some dark wax here and there you can get the same look. Its all about trial and error. French linen first, then layers of dry brushing Paris gray and white, in between layers of dark and light wax. It's really hard to say exactly. It was just a matter of experimenting with the three colors and the waxes, until I got what I wanted. Dry brushing is just dipping the brush in the paint lightly, and dabbing off much of the paint before applying. No real formula for this piece, it was just adding different layers and techniques until I was satisfied with the look. You just have to play around with this paint a bit to see what you can make happen." https://www.houzz.com/photos/chalk-painted-dresser-eclectic-bedroom-dc-metro-phvw-vp~597768

I'd do the same color throughout the space. When you start creating "accent walls", a space can become very choppy looking. Keeping it the same color creates a calming sense of cohesion.