This is a cool article I came across while looking around for ideas to remodel my kitchen. I think this tile would be perfect for your color scheme, while also adding a touch of elegance. Look around this whole website, they have a lot of different options! I agree that a dark floor would look really great!

Here is a link that might be useful: Counter Top Biz, Great Tile!

i'd avoid doing the floor in the same color as the cabinets, as it tends to look very monochromatic and it's usually impossible to get a close match and just ends up looking a bit off.

i think your idea of darker stained floors would look better, but if you do that, you may want to re-think that red wall color, as it'll make the room feel pretty dark overall.

1. What is a keeping room?
2. Definitely not the same color floor as cabs. Probably a walnut (darker, not too red) color would be the traditional choice.
3. Definitely a light neutral backsplash, either in the rustic family (tumbled marble?) or subway tile. I think the samples to the side of the sink are a tad too dark and you need to go into the white/cream range. If you love that beautiful rich red color (I do!), little pops of small red tile accents.
4. Efries, aka gwstevens, go away!

I was looking into walnut for the floor so thank you both for confirming what I was thinking...makes me feel like I'm not too far off (I stink at trying to pull elements together).

Dh brought home those tiles and I thought they may have been too dark too so I'm glad someone else feels the same. I've looked at so many different styles of tile that I feel like I can't even organize my own thoughts about it anymore!

I really like the look of subway but would that go with the rest of the "feel" of the house. I have no idea what my style is, traditional I guess?

Our granite fabricator suggested a tumble marble. I'm not a "plain jane" type of person so I really would love a pop of something in there.

And I'll admit this here...I love Susan Jablons "bling" tiles to use as accents; the silver shattered and the glitter tile (red maybe?). I know, cheesey but I like the sparkle :)
I like the mini subway she has too, 1x3 I think? Not sure if that would really work with style of the house and I keep playing with the custom but can't get it to look good. Would that look cheap though, to have mini subway in a mix of very light and then a few sparkles?

Our kitchens have some similarities in terms of color and style and I'm also searching for backsplash advice. In fact, I started a thread on whether it's OK to mix tumbled and polished marble.
But while I have no backsplash advice to give, I can say we are very happy with our floor choice: Sinai Gold limestone. Our kitchen also opens up to a dining area with a wood floor, but I thought wood in the kitchen would be too much. Anyway, if you are interested you can look at our photos to see how the limestone looks with a warm-toned cabinet. (Ignore the white kitchen in the beginning -- that's the "before.") Sorry i don't know how to embed photos --Here's the address of my kitchen pictures where you can see the limestone floor.
http://picasaweb.google.com/alanagresti/Kitchen

Your floor appears to go straight through your living area. Did you intend on replacing everything or just the kitchen/eating area? To be honest; I really think it already looks nice. On my monitor it seems as if the wood cabinets pick up on the the lighter tones in your floor. HOWEVER... dark wood floors are very rich looking. I've heard that they show scratches easier but I don't speak from experience, just research. If you're intent on replacing your floor, and your not going to replace the entire living area; then I would put another vote in for a lighter but warm stone color. A larger tile on a diagonal would give the area the appearance of added width.

I LOVE your kitchen~~~ My first thought was white cabinets also, but my DH wants stained wood (must be a "man thing"), but yours turned out beautiful.
What color and wood did you chose for your cabinets and your granite. They go together great. I love that pop of red that you did also. As for the backsplash...I guess I will be different. I happen to like color between the countertops and cabinets....so would paint it and use some type of tile over the stove area to help with the splatters. Other than that, I have no other suggestions.

Sorry blue, forgot to answer...

a keeping room is a small room off the kitchen, usually where guests or the family will sit while the hostess does prep work. When we were looking at the house I called it the "sun room" and was corrected by my realtor because it doesn't have 3 exterior walls, just two.

I wanted to keep the floors and just have them refinished but we changed the footprint of the kitchen slightly so we have a few voids that are now filled with plywood.

We are replacing the entire floor in the lower level of the house and floating it on top of the wood. Right now we are just doing wood laminate (dh works for one of the laminate companies so we get it dirt cheap). Eventually we will tear all of it up and put real wood down when the kids are a little easier on the floors.

Phoggie, thanks for the compliments. We used Kraftmaid maple with a ginger glaze and the granite is called portofino gold. I should post a before pic...we used to have white cabinets and white laminate counter with a wheat paint color. I was so used to having a light and bright kitchen that the wood was a big change for me.

If you get the floors close to cost and your achin' for dark then go dark for sure! I'd lighten/brighten the wall color and go for something lighter that maybe reflects light (like glass) on the backsplash.

I wish I could find the link on HGTV but there was I think a Design to Sell episode where they painted the kitchen walls a light expresso color - and the kitchen was open to another room of the house so the idea was to do something different but that coordinated. With the backplash - I am picturing something with a diagonal pattern somewhere and metal accents.

I think your kitchen looks great! And obviously I respectfully disagree with edlakin's opinion on the red piant b/c my kitchen is the same shade, LOL!

If you do change the floors, go darker rather than lighter. For the backsplash, I think you'll want to keep it light in tone. I actually think whatever cream paint you have there looks like a nice color. Perhaps a creamy golden travertine wuld look good?

Here is a link that might be useful:

alku05..LOVE your kitchen. It looks so clean and uncluttered.

I also LOVE red so that color will probably stay. I would have liked it more with my original plans (the white cabs) but that isn't going to happen now. When we sell I'll paint it neutral to appease the buyers...lol

I think using a light backsplash will help soften and brighten the space just as yours did. Maybe I should consider a light, creamy glass tile, either mini subway or maybe harlequin...and maybe no accent. I'm just not sure I have a focal point in the kitchen then? Or maybe less is more.

I guess I need to hit the tile stores again.

Thanks for the explanation! I've learned so much on this forum!

You could also do a light wood floor. Maybe a very light natural oak -- most natural maple floors will "amber" as they age, and I don't think yellow tones would go that well with the cabs. I know darker is traditional but light would also look nice IMO.

And I like the red too -- it's actually my favorite shade of Not-Blue.

I think the floor looks nice as is. If you change to a darker wood, be warned that they show EVERY speck of everything. I have dark floors in my house and am fighting the idea of extending them into the kitchen for fear of how bad they'll look on a daily basis. I'll never do a dark stain again unless I can afford a full-time maid. LOL.

Amen to not changing your floors to darker....as said before they show EVERYTHING...but if you want to be a salve to keeping them clean, it is up to you. I'd NEVER to it again.

So would you do something similar to the tone of the wood cabs then?

The floors have to go. We have large voids in them where we used to have base cabs or wall. They have been filled with plywood for the time being.

This is one of the largest voids. The penninsula used to be there and we bumped it out a bit to open up the U in the kitchen a bit more:

{{!gwi}}

Right now it's too costly to try and fill the voids and stagger so it looks natural again, strip the entire floor and refinish. The laminate is a budget choice because we can redo the entire lower level of our home for about $300 (1000sqft).

Thanks for the compliments! On an everyday real-life basis, my kitchen has it's share of clutter...I just took the picture on a day when it was making me look good ;)

If you'd like to do a light tone, go lighter than the cabinets. Or go darker than the cabinets if you prefer, but don't match them. If you don't have any contrast either in tone, or like on my floors, variation in color, the cabinets will disappear into the floor. Your cabinets are beautiful and you want the floor to compliment and highlight them, not drown them out.

New floors don't necessarily need to be different, especially when you have a good thing going. Like I said before, I think what you have there is really nice, and since you have to replace the floor, choosing something in a similiar tone would be a nice choice.