Oh, and I forgot to say that our island is one solid cabinet (not with the leg room like shown here) and we would paint or stain that dark brown (like walnut) or black.

I have photoshop, but no idea how to use it. Sorry there. I do think that the island painted an espresso and the main cabinets painted a warm white with an espresso glaze over them with ORB knobs and dark granite would look fab. I have tumbles backsplash and I love it. I think you will really like how it all looks. I cannot wait for PS pro to do it over.

I am currently planning on redoing our kitchen in close to the palate you describe--white cabinets, black countertops, the same beige tiles, ORB hardware. I went back and forth about wood flooring vs the tile but durability won out for me.

There was a kitchen reno on HGTV yesterday with the same colors and it looked great. It put my mind at ease, because I had the same concern as your husband.

I'm waiting till the cabinets are in to decide on how to finish the island. I'm leaning toward a reversal--black with a lighter top.

Bumping this up so one of the pro PS'ers see it. If not, I can try to show you how the colors might look. I'm just not that good at vertical surfaces and making your island look like you want. But better than nothing, right? LOL

I love what Summiebee is describing with the glaze on your white cabinets. The darker island and dark counters and tumbled splash would look fantastic. I don't think I'd do a black island if you're doing black counters. But a nice warm brown stain would be pretty.

On a side note, what happened to Chicory? She used to jump all over this kind of stuff. Hope she's doing okay!

Like this?

{{!gwi}}

That looks great leahwalker! Now she just needs her dark countertops and darker center island. I was playing around with it but not doing a very good job. I should stick to painting walls! LOL!

I'd be happy to add more, I guess I'm just confused about what's wanted. I don't see a thing about countertops, and I'm not understanding what part(s) of the island would be walnut/black.

* painting them off-white
* adding dark knobs/pulls
* installing a dark granite, tumbled backsplash
* stainless appliances

(all done)

* we would paint or stain that dark brown (like walnut) or black.

So... would the whole thing be dark? Or just the parts that are, in your original picture, cream? Would the part that's painted be dark too? I know you said you don't have the same legroom, but I'm unsure of the materials change as well.

Leahwalker - Thank you so much!
Sorry for the confusion, but I meant a dark granite countertop, & a nuetral beige tumble marble backsplash.

As far as the island, it is all wood and it all would be dark brown or black. I'm thinking I need to do that to break all the cream/white up.