Your kitchen has a Terence Conran vibe to me, or at least my fuzzy memory of kitchens in one of his (older) books. The cabinets do look way too nice to rip out! I would simply update the counter with plain white corian or something of the like. It will compliment the back splash. Also I don't like the busier granite patterns with the cabinets and with the tile floor. If I had to choose one, it would be the sample on the right.

Embrace the yellow. Those cabinets are marvelous.
I agree 100% on going with white, great idea from
onedogedie.

My idea is calcutta marble. The soft medium browns
swirled around white would really show off your cabinets
to their best.
Do you have to keep the backsplash? Wall paper and
wall color?
Changing those would be a wonderfully simple update.

Here are some ideas of what I mean.
~boxer

Here is a darker green granite like Hollysprings
suggested. I like this but I am falling for the white
marble with natural maple these days.

I really like your kitchen.

Personally I'd just declutter and give everything a really good clean.

Like Pups above I like the idea of a lighter, natural stone counter and perhaps a tile backsplash.

OP,

WHY can't you change the backsplash? You don't have that much and it shouldn't be too expensive, no?

As you already have green in your wall border above the cabinets as well as that green free-standing cabinet, I second the suggestion of going with darker and/or "muted" green.

And if you decide to rip your cabs off, I'll take them, LOL.

The cabinets are gorgeous.

Another vote for your lovely and functional cabinets. If you need to freshen up, as suggested by others, remove the backsplash and change the counters. Ditch the 4 inch backsplash and continue the counter just til the wall. Paint the bs area--but after you remove the wallpaper-all the wallpaper. You have nice, nice cabs, the color is fine, just fix it's surroundings. Keep the cannisters, mug places. It will look great.

New sink, single large, and new faucet and you will have an up to the minute gorgeous room.

Just a thought if possible changing the knobs and relocating them to three inches from bottom of door would be fun, too : ) Love your cabinets, Colonial Cream, Ivory might look nice with it, tricky as each slab varies. I do like the suggestions of white counters as well as long as there isn't too much gray in them and pink. Seems like the whites can have a lot of that. Good luck! You have a lot of good things to work with there.

sadieo, I love your maple cabinets! They have aged beautifully -- very mellow. If I may make a few suggestions, and please ignore what is not useful to you, I would:
-leave the cabinets!
-cabinet hardware, I wouldn't move it (you will never match the wood color) but perhaps swap it out for black or dark oil rubbed bronze
--remove the wallpaper border and what looks like wallpaper, perhaps paint the walls a very creamy yellow
--replace the knobs on the door (closet?) by the dining table, again I would use black iron or oil rubbed bronze
--remove the clothes hanging brackets (I think that is what they are) from the closet door
--I would leave your dining table but replace the chairs, perhaps inexpensive unfinished wood chairs which you could paint to match the dry sink

and finally the question you actually asked

-I would look at soapstone (dark green/gray/black) or green polished marble (which is actually serpentine, not marble, so it doesn't share all of marble's potential problems)

Those are my suggestions. Enjoy your lovely cabinets, Lilly

I also like your kitchen a lot, and the cabinets as they appear in the pictures, but then I like yellows, golds, ambers. It's the finish that's yellowing, though, not the wood, which fortunately is a maintenance issue that wouldn't require sending the whole kitchen to the landfill. A pro could tell you what would be involved in either refinishing or maybe just applying a glaze over to adjust the color.

You know, you have very little backsplash area, and replacing it would be a small job kitchenwise. I typically feel most people are spending way too much on their kitchen binge. In your case, though, I think it would be a false economy to invest in an expensive counter and have it topped with a generic backsplash that probably would be very noticeably outclassed by both the counter and the cabinetry.

BTW, since the backsplash could always be changed later in a staged approach (a fun project to look forward to), I definitely wouldn't choose my expensive counter to try to look good with it.

Also BTW, I personally don't like those little counter rises in the back, one of the relatively few "old way of doing things" I'm happy to see go because they were usually about economizing on installation, not style. If you look at the pix posted, you'll see none of those kitchens have them, with the single exception of the one that doesn't continue tile above it but uses it as a transition to window trim and then directly to plaster or drywall. Another argument for doing the backsplash now, with the money you'd spend on those granite blocks applied to the tile instead.

I have maple too and it is a love/hate relationship. Yours are wonderful because of the design. Mine have an arched top door and seems dated. But not yours.

Also, looking at your pics, I thought the left side where you had glass storage jars was (at first) an idea for a backsplash or colors. Then realized what they were. The natural fillers and tops work really well with your cupboards.

Your cabinets are very nice. I agree with everyone else that a white or a muted green would look nice.

I might consider rehanging all of the uppers (except maybe the hutch piece) so that they meet the ceiling. You could then run a shelf underneath at the height they used to hang in order to avoid changing the backsplash.

Did you know you can paint tile? There is a special paint you can buy. If you are up to it, paint some or all of your tile in a color you like. Various shades of blue or green with a white counter would look nice.

Finally, please be careful with your little birdie in the kitchen. They process a lot more out of every breath than we do, so a burnt dish, or ANY teflon/non-stick fumes, can cause them to hemorrhage and die. You might want to find another room for him.

Thank you so much for all the replies and inspirational pictures. I have included links to show the other side of the kitchen. It gives a little more perspective on my backsplash as well as the other accent color I have in my kitchen.

My thoughts now after reading the suggestions are

Take down the wallpaper border-dated I know, but then what paint-change to sage green, paint rest of kitchen in terra cotta color or ?? The kitchen currently is painted plantation beige (on the same paint strip as tobacco road by duron. My dining room which joins my kitchen has an accent wall in the same terra cotta color (other side of the refrigerator/ stove wall if that makes sense)so I would like to keep that color in my kitchen if possible.

I am still torn between the light and dark counter tops.I love the look of marble but it is too delicate for my family. I will look at the colonial cream and ivory suggested-I do worry about staining with the light granites but I like the clean crisp look of a light counter.

I had researched soapstone-I think there is one called Julia that has a green undertone? I love soapstone and was wondering how that would look in my kitchen. I also looked at Tan Brown granite which I thought might be a nice contrast with my cabinets and flooring. Since I have to keep my current back splash for now, would the 4 inch counter splash that I will have to use look OK?

Thanks again for the input. Many things I would like to change but have to work pretty much with what I have!!

PS. Still working on the wire mess behind the little flat screen TV! Sorry for the links, I am having trouble imbedding my pictures tonight.

http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u381/ladybug1100/Kitchen1.jpg
http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u381/ladybug1100/Kitchen.jpg