Stainless steel counters and backsplash in a diamond pattern.

Your kitchen is similar to mine. I used a cafe creme granite, but looked at the Tigris and loved it. You definitely want a lightish counter. Decide on the counter and have it installed before bringing home samples for the backsplash.

I also have a galley kitchen with the same globe light fixture that you have. Before we painted our cabinets white, they were dark brown like yours, but not the same quality. Ours are laminate. We first replaced our counter with a Caesarstone quartz countertop in the color Nougat, which is like white with bits of glass. It really brightened up the kitchen. I think Caesarstone's Bright white countertop would look great with a light tile backsplash. Below is a photo with dark cabinets and a dark floor and the white countertops.

http://houzz.com/photos/98498

Correction, the countertop color is called Blizzard not Bright white.

Thanks, everyone for your insights!

Any suggestions as to the cabinet pulls? I was looking at Schwinn stainless steel collection. Also, is there a rule of thumb as to the length of the pulls? I know it's a matter of preference, but is there any suggested sizing that will not drive me insane 3 months down the road by being too short or too long? I've read somewhere on using 2/3 of the drawer width. On the other side of the kitchen I have 2 cabinets with drawers, 30 and 36 inch wide. Can I use same size pulls for cabinets of varying width (and/or height)?

White Carrera marble might look really good depending on the surrounding space. It is really hot right now too!

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-z0JXUvMjMLU/TnGLxLqWKPI/AAAAAAABKT8/0eE1VscBf14/Snap381_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

granite or marble or quartz , as white as you can,