Victoriajane, your description reminded me of deanna's gorgeous kitchen. She has corbels and white subways. She didn't do the beadboard but this might give you an idea of how it could look.

Here is a link that might be useful: deanna's kitchen

beadboard and subway tiles are timeless and beautiful together.

brutuses is right. Timeless and beautiful. I have both in my kitchen along with
T & G ceiling and it is wonderful.

Will the beadboard be used as a bsplash on one set of cabinets only?

If you are looking for an unfitted hutch type of effect, I would use the beadboard backing between the shelves in the wall cabinets (they would be open cabinets obviously, lol) and then continue it down for the bsplash.

Your idea reminds me of catmom's contemporary space in a sense. The pronounced horizontal lines of her cabinetry run combined with the very vertical lines of her bsplash creates a gorgeous juxposition. I think you would get a look especially perfect for a victorian space.

I love them both! Here's a pic of mine. Note, since you were asking about white/offwhite in another post, that the island is off-white (cream) and the subway tile is white (Daltile from HD). The colors are a little off in this pic.

Thanks for the photo, bluekitobsessed. I'd been thinking that an off-white (antique white) for cabinets would look nice against very white, glossy tiles.

We had the exact same fear for our bathroom, but decided to go for it. I wish I had pictures for you, but we are mid renovation (of our whole apartment) so I am not there at the moment to take some. I will say though, that I love the combo and think it's not busy at all together!