amw33629, I didn't post this yesterday as it probably won't help but I did pull out my kitchen mags and do a thumb through and I found a couple of examples. Kitchen Makeovers Fall 2008 Again a vintage white stove, 18" white dishwasher and white fridge in an alcove away from the cabinetry with no cupboard above. They had their Cabico cupboards hand painted (they wanted brushstrokes) and the look is very vintage with built in feet on the inset cabs, butcher block counters and vintage accessories including a 30's Hoosier cabinet. Kitchen Makeovers Fall 2008 Quite low budget kitchen in a 50's era home. Kitchen has a retro feel with white trim, white appliances, white cabinetry and a sheet vinyl white floor in a tile pattern. Walls are a stong colour that matches the laminate counters (no backspash) It's a U with uppers on only one side. Cute very simple and appliances seem to blend but overall the room has a stong retro feel. Kitchen Solutions #45 pg 38 Creamy white shaker cabinetry with Cleopatra granite and wood floor. Very contemporary (not modern) kitchen with a strong use of earthtones. In all honesty awful it looks like they cheaped out on the appliances (wall oven and micro combo, fridge and cooktop are visible). The appliances just look like they are waiting to be replaced. I like white appliances but the kitchen I'm working on is in a 50's row house and we are pushing the retro by doing a two tone composition vinyl tile floor, mixed cabinetry, open shelves and chunky hardware. Quirky not slick. Smilingjudy's fridge is very contemoporary and her only white appliance which is probably why it works with the more traditional white cabinetry (fridge and cabinetry have very different finishes as well) and those gorgeous Richlite countertops (very matte and just slightly mottled - quite different from a traditional granite). Probably not much help without pics, sorry.

I'll have to be the odd one out and say first that quality SS appliances are very rich -- it's a natural material. It's an expensive material. It picks up light in a way that adds something to the room without being glary. I'm looking at my georgeous GE Monogram SS fridge right now and love it as much as I did when I bought it five years ago. It really addds to the room. In this house I have cherry cabinets and it looks great. In the last house I had white cabinets with a cocoa glaze (i.e., beige cabinets) and it looked fabulous. You cannot go wrong with SS. White with white is good. But you said your cabinets are going to be CREAM, not white. The stark white of appliances is not going to go well if you're having anything but pure white cabinets. If you're getting warm rich creamy ones, stark white will not be good. Rabbit house had the best idea of having the cabinet panels over the appliances. If it's in the budget you could do this with fridge and dw, it would be so beautiful. Then get rest of appliances in same-brand bisque to avoid the problem marciagaye mentioned, or stainless steel. Or just get them all in same brand bisque. I agree about black not going well in a white or cream kitchen. Last idea is wait till you have a cabinet door, then go shopping for appliances with it.

You can make this work. It can actually look very pretty. Check out these kitchens: https://www.houzz.com/photos/deephaven-mn-cottage-completed-in-2009-contemporary-kitchen-minneapolis-phvw-vp~1255280 https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-traditional-kitchen-dc-metro-phvw-vp~1222996 https://www.houzz.com/photos/gold-river-fun-classic-nar-fine-carpentry-sacramento-el-dorado-hills-traditional-kitchen-sacramento-phvw-vp~6391660 https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-traditional-kitchen-seattle-phvw-vp~157322 https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-traditions-mid-century-oven-traditional-kitchen-san-francisco-phvw-vp~3383631 https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-traditional-kitchen-los-angeles-phvw-vp~121048

This is the name and manufacturer of the countertop. https://www.lghausysusa.com/viatera/color/view.do?pid=2020011011194700708 I honestly hadn't thought of replicating the same wood as the entrance for the fireplace floor but could certainly consider it. I'm not sure that we would be able to find the same wood color and plank size now 15 years later which is the same concern we would have with adding the wood floor to the kitchen. If we chose wood, we would wait until we could replace both the kitchen and the entry floors at the same time. One question regarding the wood floor option for the kitchen - the kitchen also connects directly to our door from the garage, laundry room, and a 1/2 bath so they currently all have the same tile flooring. I have some reservations about durability for a wood floor in a laundry room and garage entrance that has potential for water on the floor. The kitchen also has doors to go to our deck and backyard which the kids and dog are constantly coming in and out of also bringing in dirt and wet feet/shoes. Obviously we use rugs in these places but we live in a climate with snow and ice and winter is just messy. Is that a legitimate concern or am I just underestimating the functionality of wood? I would say our current wood floor must be a softer wood because we have some scratches on it that are very frustrating considering that area of our house isn't really very high traffic use. The short answer as to why we are looking at changing the fireplace because the surround now is the same tile as the kitchen floor. We had picked a ledger stone for there at time of construction but the installer couldn't get the stone to lay right (at that time it was larger stones) and because of construction timelines we eventually just had to put that tile around it. I love my mantle but I have never loved the tile surround. The long answer is a very frustrating and complicated story that I won't bore you with here but in general the fireplace has never worked properly and if we want an actual functional fireplace our choices right now are to take out and repair the current one or take out and replace it. Either option requires removal of the tile surround.