This looks fabulous! Just add a wow window treatment. https://www.houzz.com/products/window-treatments-prbr0-br~t_12520

Your kitchen is beautiful! If I were to make any changes, I would put in white stools and change up the red accessories to a brighter colour, i.e lime green or bright yellow. Even simple items like lemons or limes in clear vases or green glass water bottles on the counter as an accessory.

Best of luck!

I agree your kitchen is perfect as it is. Perhaps some pendant lights over the peninsula will help. By choosing this modern style of cabinetry you've made the decision to go with a clean and simple look, so anything you add to the kitchen right now will just be 'clutter'.

I don't find your backsplash boring at all. The texture and sparkle are lovely. My only suggestion would have been to extend the tile on the range wall to the base of the upper cabinets. Your soapstone counter tops are amazing!

Another suggestion for you! Check this link for a whole bunch of photos of beautiful rugs in kitchens. I think the tribal look would work beautifully in this kitchen.

A good wool rug (with lanolin protecting the fibres, not all dried out like a very cheap wool rug) will add colour and pattern, will be wonderful underfoot, and can be sent out for cleaning when needed. I've even seen nice ones on Craigslist for low prices! http://www.houzz.com/rug-in-kitchen

HI --- Oh , I wish I had this kitchen , - it's so classy ! LUV IT Maybe if you made the wall paint color just a tone darker. But really , beautiful

Nope don't change the paint! It's perfect! In fact, I didn't even register that the tile didn't go past the cooktop until michigammemom pointed it out! That was because the paint toned so perfectly that it became invisible, which is what I think is always best in a kitchen. Who wants to be looking at the drywall when the cabinets etc. are so beautiful? Paint should just softly surround and blend into the background. Here it does that so perfectly.

I still cannot believe that you wrote in complaining about your kitchen! Gosh! There are a lot of beautiful kitchens on houzz but not that many I would love to have myself. Yours is one I would love to have myself--OMG that soapstone is a star! Truly. And I can see I'm not alone in thinking that!

Thank you for saying that, Karen. I completely agree and have been in an impasse with my husband for the last year about putting an oriental (kilim) rug in our kitchen. I will begin the conversation again with new ammunition.

BTW, pvw590, I agree with everyone else that your kitchen is lovely, and I don't find your backsplash boring at all. My kitchen has even less contrast than yours (off-white cabinets, off white subway tile backsplash, dark soapstone counters), and I love this classic look. Think of it this way--in 5-10 years, nothing about your backsplash is going to scream "this kitchen is so 2012!" Instead, it is as close to a timeless style as you can get.

White stools will tie in with the colour of the tile. Dytecture's picture above is a great example of this and I agree that pendant lights would be stunning over the peninsula. I do love the clean, simple lines and as commented above adding to much will read as clutter. I would consider removing the red accessories and replacing with brighter colours, ie lime green or bright yellow. Just a few bottles of Pellegrino water and a glass vase of limes is all you really need.

I love the red accents just seems like you need a little more to back the color POP I think it does need some pendent lights in a nice red color would be a perfect touch. And perhaps maybe add more shineyness with extra accents chrome would help with your backsplash by reflecting off it.

I have to agree you really do not notice the stools , wondering if the wicker seats were painted maybe a red would help add more color for some pop? I only wish my kitchen looked like your's.

Do you really want the stools to be popping? I think there's too much emphasis on popping in little bits and pieces. I think the over all look of the kitchen is what's important and those slate countertops are a subtle star.

I would not do red stools. I like how the kitchen is softly neutral and you can add different decorative pieces in different seasons so you can easily change the colour accent. Even if you went for a bold window covering (back to my original suggestion) it could be in black and white. You don't really need any more colour than a bowl or limes or lemons or something like that.

If you are very sparing with the colour you add, it will have more impact. And yes please do get a beautiful rug. That would be the best place to put colour--on a wonderful piece of art on the floor.

I like the idea of pendants but really the peninsula isn't large enough and a pendant no matter how small would only draw attention to the fact that the peninsula is short! I assume there's a potlight directly above the peninsula for good lighting which is the main concern.

I'm going back to Cynthia's comment about the rug. There are no amount of accessories that can do the job of a colorful oriental. It will give your kitchen ballast and a sense of having had the rug from the beginning, and that you chose to design your kitchen around it. That's how powerful one rug (the right one) can be. Everything else takes a back seat and becomes the essential elements of a room with great bones. It's really that simple.

I like what you did with your kitchen! Curious to see the before picture of this project. I like the red accessories you have used throughout the kitchen. The backsplash still looks great. If you look through some of our pictures in the kitchens we have done in the houses we have built you can see some other styles of backsplashes if you ever want to change it in the future!! Great job on this project! - Vince Fratantoni with Fratantoni Luxury Estates

NO to red stools!! White stools to tie in with backsplash and an oriental rug is all you need.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Many of you mentioned things that I thought about doing during the remodel but wasn't sure if it would work so I played it safe! Such as adding the backsplash under the cabinets. There is a small piece of wall after the cabinet on the right and I wasn't sure where to end the backsplash so I kept it under the hood. The wicker stools are temporary, until I can decide between Lem Piston Stools with white leather or Bertoia counter stools with a white cusion. I do like the idea that some of you mentioned about using either lime green or yellow. Perheps the red would be nicer in the wintertime and I should use the lighter colors in spring/summer?

I knocked a wall down and the kitchen now opens to another room which still needs to be furnished I am loving the idea of a tribal or kiln rug which could help me when I furnish that room. I very much like mid century modern furniture pieces and I am thinking it would work well together.

Dytecture-I really agonized about outting in pendents but I have a header between the two rooms and I knew it would drive me crazy if they looked cut off so I went with receased lights instead.

For those of you who were wondering, I attached some before photos. My house was built in 1948 and I don't think the kitchen had been remodeled since the late 60's or 70"s
I also included a shot that shows you a bit of the other room that the kitchen opens onto. You can see the header and why I was reluctent to add pendents.

How about under cabinet lighting (perhaps it's there, but not lit in your photo)? Also a no to the red accessories, and a big Yes to the rug idea.

I think there have been a lot of good suggestions. I really think all you need is a bright color in your barstools. Accessorize with that same color. Finally, add some colorful pendant lights over your peninsula. Hope that helps. Charmean Neithart

HI -- I wouldn't have a rug in my kitchen anymore. Use to have one but it's very dangerous. Tripped on the area rug a few times while holding hot stuff . So never again for me no matter how pretty the rug is.

here's a photo with the under cabinet lighting

Maybe the walls need ot be a different color.. I think it looks nice though

I'd paint the walls a shade of red and add a couple of pendant lights as suggest previously.

I'd paint the walls a shade of red and add a couple of pendant lights as suggest previously.