@Quentin Parker, your post renewed my appreciation for checkerboard floors in kitchens. :D Here are more pics I found that show off the pattern's versatility. Might give you ideas on mixing materials and colours with the high contrast floor.
Below is a butler's pantry in a designers' kitchen. Door trim is painted black (a lot of glass). Backsplash looks like mirror.
A whole post on checkerboard floors from House & Garden UK. Includes vintage and contemporary decors.
Pic below, a prewar NYC apartment with a b&w marble floor in Architectural Digest. Black cabinets and a few touches of black on the counter and vertical plane.
Checkerboard floor with a lot of white and natural wood below (Joanna Gaines?):
From Country Living magazine, more white wood and touches of stainless:
Below is how Studio McGee did a black & white kitchen floor:
ETA: Soooo many pics out there! I've started my own collection/addiction (I blame you ;-)). This floor is painted. Notice how the rest of the room was kept light. I'm not seeing these b&w floors as bossy at all, more grounding.
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Brick
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