Congratulations on building your new home. I would be in heaven! I am glad you are bringing an island into the mix. The space, in my opinion, is very cubic and angular, so if you bring in some curves with your island it will soften the look quite a bit. Shaker cabinets are hard for me to imagine in white. Is off-white a possibility? Or am I being too literal? White is very "Ikea." That said, Expresso sounds very dark and dramatic. So keeping everything else nice and bright will be important if you go in that direction. I like both ideas, assuming the white is not "white." One thing I have noticed in many modern kitchens is a lack of pop colors, so I am envisioning that with either direction you decide to go, you incorporate some fun color in the backsplash, towels, the toaster, etc. A bit of whimsy (just a bit) goes a long way when planning the look of a new kitchen. Have fun with it!

Let me try to post some Houzz photos that illustrate both looks. That may help with visualizing the look.

If we decided to use white perimeter cabinets our island would probably be darker than the one in the image.

Contemporary Kitchen · More Info

The image below illustrates what the kitchen may look like if we used all dark cabinets.

Modern in Montvale · More Info

One other thing to note. We are hoping to use a porcelain slab (10'x5') material for the counters and backsplash. I think that it may pop against the dark cabinets more than against white. That decision is not final yet. I am hoping to have the material sample in hand this week. The material is being used for the floor in the pic below.

Plane / Fantasy Bright · More Info

Regards,

David.

If your floors are that gorgeous light color, I would absolutely go with the expresso. Otherwise it may end up being too bland.

Will there be white in other parts of your home (white trim, for example)? If so, white cabinets will fit. If not, do expresso. White cabinets are lovely and I like them better than off-white (which often read yellowish or almond), but if the kitchen is the only thing in the home that's white, that's not good.

What color is the floor?

I agree about being careful with off white, as with white

Linda, the white color of the floors in the last pic I posted is actually the material that I want to use as the backsplash and counter. For the kitchen floor tile I have 2 options.

One is Marvel Moon Onyx by Atlas Concorde: Floor tile. I can use that for the floor of the kitchen. The other option is No 4 Mirra: Floor tile, which which will be the flooring for the living room and dining room and possibly the kitchen depending on what color we use for the cabinets.

Emily, we are thinking about using white trim in the house. We are also using white cabinets in other parts of the house. We plan to unify everything by making them all shaker and using similar hardware like handles.

Oh, I see. It's gorgeous! I love that you are unifying... although that doesn't mean you have to be "matchy matchy" throughout the house with every little thing. All shaker cabinets, but maybe a different color in the bathrooms is okay, for example. Where I WOULD stay totally unified if possible is to have the same flooring throughout your house -- it will look fantastic! I really like the onyx floor you are considering, but since you are using so much white, I think your living room floor color will look quite rich with either white or expresso cabinets. Put samples of all your materials together and make sure your "eye" is pleased with the juxtaposition. And remember, if you are not sure about the selections you have boiled down to... you can always reconsider. It's your dream home! Because you are starting from scratch you have so many options! Sometimes one thing looks great, and another thing also looks great another day. But when you finally see everything together, maybe not so great. Just be really careful. All your choices are beautiful. Now it's about harmonizing them all together.

I agree, one floor in whole house.

And for some unsolicited advice (sorry)... Center the sink on the window. It's too close to the cooktop and no reason why it can't be centered, from what I can see. Am I reading the plan correctly?

Hi Emily, thanks for the advice, and you are spot on. The drawing is actually incorrect. I had to point it out to the cabinet maker. The positions of the sink and the cabinet to its right are actually supposed to be reversed. That would leave the sink next to the space allocated for the dishwasher. It would not be completely centred on the window, but it would be roughly equidistant between the cooktop/oven and the built-in microwave that is located in the right corner next to the fridge.