Hi. We're trying to renovate our kitchen around cherry-stained cabinets that were given to us - both base and wall cabinets. The appliances are a combination of black and stainless steel. We also have a large wood stove that is a speckled gray. The wood stove is against a brick wall. I have brick red and white windowpane plaid cafe curtains (actually have not put them up yet).

I'm going crazy trying to pick out paint colors, and also decide on flooring. I've been leaning towards greyed off-whites, or even light, light grays or a pale gray-blue for the walls and ceiling. I would think that cherry cabinets would warm up the kitchen against the cold stainless and black appliances.

But then I'm thinking: well, red and green are complementary colors, so maybe I should paint the walls a pale green like a pale apple green color, and that would complement not only the cherry cabinets but the red curtains. On the other hand, a creamy yellow wall might brighten up the kitchen. (You can see why I'm going crazy choosing a color).

We'll need to get new countertops, and I thought that matching the blue-grays in the woodstove might be nice.

As for the flooring: we have a very busy household that includes a thundering herd of dogs and cats. We live in a rural area, so it seems we're always tracking in mud and manure, etc. I actually would love to get the real linoleum (Marmoleum) in tiles, and I have always loved the classic black/white tiles, but with the perpetual dirt, I've been leaning toward a black/gray combination, or even thought about a blue/green/black look. Heart pine was the original flooring here, and probably plain pine-look floors would do the trick, but it seems there is always water or some mess on this floor (As you can guess, I'll never win Housekeeper of the Year award). I'm up for all options on the floor: ceramic, slate, vinyl - whatever.

Any suggestions? The only thing that is definite is the cherry cabinets. By the way, on a sunny day this kitchen has a lot of natural lighting. Thanks for any help or suggestions.