Hi ItsmeCCB-

Nice to hear back from you.

In addition to those samples you listed, I'd like to add SW7042 Shoji White and SW7013 Ivory Lace for cabs and SW6079 Diverse Beige, SW6072 Versatile Gray, and SW7037 Balanced Beige as options for wall color. I do like Creamy too. :)

I understand about budget constraints, but there are inexpensive alternatives to the pricey SS tile you desire. I think the thermo plastic (tin looking tiles) would be a good substitute for now. They come in a variety of patterns and colors, easy to install (you could do it yourself), and will give your kitchen a more finished look. Lowes and Home Depot carry these tiles---approx. $19 each and they cover just over 3 feet. You cannot beat that! If you do decide to go for it, make sure to have your contractor rip out the 4" granite splash before installing the tiles.

I hope you find this helpful. Keep us posted and Good Luck!

Natalie, thank you so much for your great suggestions. I am loving & seriously considering the Versatile Gray color. I'm still waiting for color samples for the cabinets from my contractor with my 3 original picks but I do love Ivory Lace as well. I'm researching the tiles you mentioned as I think they would be a great alternative as well. So many choices...but I feel the tide turning & am now more confident & actually excited that my kitchen will turn out great in the end.

Thanks ItsmeCCB... I'm glad you liked the suggestions. Looking forward to seeing your finished kitchen. Good Luck!

I have just a small update thus far. I finally decided on SW Creamy for my cabinets. My contractor is starting to prime & paint them this week so I'm holding my breath & praying that I made the right choice.
I also think I'll be going with Balanced Beige for the wall color but I have a bit of time before I have to commit on that. Thanks Natalie for your suggestions!
And I did finally find the temporary stainless steel backsplash for behind my stove that I'm really excited about! (Picture from website attached).
Anyway demo for the first portion ( master bath )...replacing floor, vanity top & shower surround is slated to begin Sept 14th. That should be complete by Sept 25th then the big project begins. I'm getting more nervous & excited by the day!

This is Fabulous news... Keep us posted---Best of Luck with your project! :)

Hi, I was wondering if you could give an update? How did your cabinets turn out? I am currently looking for just the right "creamy" as well!

While we're waiting to see the results I wonder if someone could help me with my dilemma. We are redoing our kitchen and family room. We have medium brown oak cabinets which we plan on having painted white or cream (I like warm colors) in the near future. Have looked at a gazillion white/creams from both SW and BM -- and like CCB have multiple patches of wall color all over my walls. Nothing is working!!! The problem is I have a limestone arch over my gas stove. The stone is a cool white-ish look with rust showing here and there -- and it has grayish grout. My counter tops are black granite which we plan on replacing with gray of some type (I guess). Not that I like gray but feel I have not choice because of the grout. Our old flooring was removed yesterday and we'll probably replace it with the oak flooring we have in the rest of the house. I want to go warm and charming. How do I make that happen with a huge limestone arch which is definitely a focal point? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. BJ

barbara, why not copy and paste this into your own new post, it will get better attention.

I'm getting wood floors and never thought about the fact that the distressed look could be hard to clean. It is beautiful what you're putting in though ItsmeCCB. If you think of it, after it's in, or if anyone else has this kind of wood would you mind telling me how it wipes up? I'm currently choosing between a flat more generic look and this distressed look which I think has a lot more character. Thanks!

My kitchen remodel is underway...4 days in. So far I've been faced with where to place the recessed lights - there were some placement restrictions due to ceiling joists so they are not exactly in the spots I would like but I can live with them.
Now I'm faced with what to do above my sink. With the soffits gone the ceiling is now a normal 8' which means there is now a larger space above the sink. My contractor asked if I want to add the small glass front cabinets that will match the ones to be installed above my existing cabinets, leave it open or add a valance.
I CANNOT decide. I've found pictures of all options & they all look good (attached). BTW I would love to insert a larger window but the header beam holds up the 2nd story so that is not an option. Would love to hear your thoughts!

I say go for the cabinets, the more the merrier.

The first pic is a before with the old soffit...the 2nd pic was taken yesterday

Hi ItsmeCCB!

I too, am in favor of additional cabs with glass fronts. I do like the cornice, but only if you are adding a backsplash up above/around the window as shown in the photo. :)

Thanks for the update...

Thanks Dana & Natalie for your opinions...I appreciate them very much. I do like the looks of the glass front cabinets as they will be above all of my existing cabinets however they are only for displaying items vs storage. Thankfully I still have some time to think about it.
Right now all the stuff that I consider boring is being done (plumbing, electrical etc.). I'm anxious to get to the fun part where I can start seeing (hopefully) my vision come to life!

Sorry Dawna, I didn't mean to type Dana

Oh no, another dilemma...my contractor asked what kind of bulb would I like in my recessed cans. Went online to find options & OMG I had no idea it would that difficult! He installed 5 6" cans...I prefer a soft white vs bright white but where do I go from there? lumens, LED, halogen, PAR, BR, it's all a bit overwhelming & I'm starting to hyperventilate.
What is the standard choice in this situation? Ceiling is 8', kitchen is small, not sure if exact dimensions but somewhere around 12x14 not including the breakfast room (which will have no recessed lighting just a light over the table). Here are a couple of pics.

Also, he is installing insulation tomorrow & now I'm concerned that these lights may be a fire hazard because I read the bulbs get rather hot. Is this something I should be worried about or are these lights ok in insulated ceilings?

We put in warm white LED. We really like them! I know what you mean there is so many options. The contractor & first electrician(awful experience and he's fired), but anyway said LED we're expensive. Well we did more research and found we would save more in the long run by getting them. Also we ended up buying some at regular price and then the next time they were on sale so we saved there too. I'm sure others are more experienced in lighting, but we like ours!

Thank you poshky for you comments! Warm white is what I'm thinking as well. Yes I read that LED lights were very expensive upfront but are more energy efficient saving $ in the long run which is great. What brand & wattage did you use? Do you know if they are safe to use in insulated ceilings?

The way I understand it, is that the box has a censer on it and if it gets to hot it will make the light stop working to let you know it went bad.

They are safe with insulation if installed properly. The first guy we had did not do some things right and it could have been bad, if we had insulation and something would've shorted out! Makes me furious!

Luckily we got that problem taken care of. I shouldn't of had a problem it was new construction.

Anyway we got 60W! These are from Lowes.
Hope this helps.

Poshky, thank you again, you've been very helpful!
So glad you were able to fix the situation before it went bad. I can relate, I've hired & fired many "professionals" in my life that have been anything but professional. Unfortunately, my present contractor is paying the price for my hard lessons learned as I'm constantly asking questions & checking various sources to ensure what he is telling me is the truth. I'm sure he thinks I'm a loon but I refuse to have anyone else tell me "this is the way it is or has to be" only to learn later they lied to save them time & pocket more of my money.

You are welcome! It is really sad because we hire these professionals as you say and you don't know what you are getting:(. I've had people tell me that these people are great and you trust them and then they do an awful job! We've had more redone than what's been done right! It's all frustrating but I guess I will be stronger. You are right, I question everything now over and over making sure they don't mess up. And I do my research so I know what's going on! Thank you for listening to me:)

Okay I'm down to the wire with choosing a wall color for my kitchen. I used SW Balanced Beige in my master bathroom & really love it in there (also had vanity painted navajo white - both colors look very nice together) but I was thinking BB was too dark for my kitchen so I brought home a sample of SW Accessible Beige (which is a shade lighter than BB) & Versatile Gray but after painting samples on wall, I feel neither have enough color or contrast. Although I love BB I don't want to use it in the kitchen as well.
Unfortunately I still don't know how my creamy cabinets look as there have been plumbing & electrical issues delaying their installation so I'm in a pickle about how to choose the wall color.
Other colors in my home tend to be all subtle shades but I want my kitchen to be bright & cheerful (without being too bold). Does anyone have any suggestions for paint color that will go with cream cabinets? Attached is a picture (provided to me by Natalie-thanks again!) of my existing granite & the wood floor sample. I also will be installing a stainless steel sheet panel behind my stove & am keeping the existing tile backsplash (for now) which contains creams, tans, & beiges....as you can see I'm in need of some color.

Hi ItsmeCCB---

I'm out and about right now, but will get back with you in a bit about the color. Let me understand, you're looking for a lighter wall color that will contrast more with the counters---a color other than gray, correct?

I would try a green. The one in the pic is Sherwin Williams Sensible Hue. A green would go well with the creams and browns and give you some color.

Hi Natalie! I'm not really sure...I'm going back & forth between thinking I need to go lighter or darker. I think the Accessible Beige & Versatile Gray are maybe too light & my cabinets may fade in the background. After doing some preliminary searches I'm thinking maybe SW Tony Taupe but is that too dark? I really do like the Balanced Beige in my bathroom but I feel like I need something different in the kitchen.
Here is a pic of the bathroom...the shower glass was just installed today so this room is officially done except for a few accessories. I had the seat added & changed the shower surround to a brighter/cleaner look. My contractor built the vanity, and replaced the old brass fixtures & hardware to brushed nickel. The last 2 pics are the before. I'm happy with how it turned out considering the very small budget I had to work with in there.

mrskain1...thank you for your suggestion...I do love how the green looks in the picture...I will definitely consider it!

Sorry these are the 2 before pictures..they didn't come over on my last post

Oh and i also replaced the old tile floor with darker wood look tile planks.

I also removed the old jacuzzi tub & moved my washer & dryer into this bathroom. They were formerly in my kitchen behind bi-fold doors so although I'm not thrilled that the tub was removed (although I'm a strictly shower person), I hated having them in the kitchen area. Here's the before & after

Bathroom looks Great! Nice budget friendly improvement-well done.

As for color, I think any of the colors I mentioned before would work, but since you're in that space and not "feeling" the colors are saturated enough, then I'm in favor of Tony Taupe, Taupe Tone, Renwick Beige, and Sycamore Tan---all Sherwin Williams. Let me know what you think. CheerS!

Thank you Natalie once again! I will pick up samples of the Tony Taupe & the Renwick Beige tomorrow. I am drawn to this family of colors the most so I feel like my choice lies somewhere on there. I truly appreciate your suggestions & your impeccable designers eye!

Sounds good ItsmeCCB... I'll keep my fingers crossed. Keep us updated and Good Luck!

Antique white will look nice with both.

Exiting updates! Kitchen, breakfast room, hall, powder room & sunroom painted-Accessible Beige. Very pretty color but I'm a little worried about it looking a little drab but holding out hope that in the end everything will brighten up. Living rm/dining rm painted Kilim Beige...looks a lot brighter than the old tan color. Hardwood floors are arriving right now. I have just a few pics by its hard to tell true flies based on my current lighting ( even though the receded light bulbs are in-75 watt bright white but the island pendants are not yet installed which is baking the island a bit shadowy. Anyway here is what it looks like today. (The doors still have to be painted)...first 3 are kitchen & hall...the biggest wall currently has my refrigerator in front so I can't take a picture of that yet. Then pics of LR/DR -with the boxes of flooring & ceilings minus the old popcorn texture. Final is a plank of the floor on the island along with paint chips, sample of cabinet color (creamy) & sample of current backsplash.

Sorry...autocorrect really messed up some of my words :). Looks like several pics didn't come over...

Next choice will be the floor lay out. I've investigated how to lay out hardwood floors - everyone has a different opinion but it seems like laying the planks perpendicular to the floor joists is the better choice. My joists run north/south upon entering the front door, so wood would be east/west. The only issue is the hall, north/south would make it appear like a bowling alley but east/west might make it look choppy. Also the floor planks are 3 different sizes, 3", 5" & 7". I'm assuming that no two of the same size should be next to or touching each other, is that correct? And how should they be staggered? I've heard differing opinions on that as well.

I'm loving your updates. Cant wait to see the kitchen.

A few pics of the floor. The house is not put together yet as work is still being done in the kitchen & baseboards still need to be installed so excuse the dirt. I'll post more pics later.

The kitchen is almost complete! There are still quite a few minor things that need to be done: fix 2 glass cabinet doors, install in cabinet & under cabinet lights, install knobs & pulls, install coffee bar counter top, install stainless steel backsplash behind stove, fix outlets behind & under stove, replace some tiles in the backsplash, install baseboards, replace 2 light switches with dimmers & install false back wall in the niche above refrigerator.
I'll post final pics once everything is done but here are a few pics taken today.

Looks Beautiful! So happy for you.

Thank you Natalie! I'm glad you like it...that means a lot! Thank you so much for all of your valuable advice & suggestions. You're a very talented designer & with your guidance I was able to navigate my way thru the wilderness of my first (& last) remodel!

Oh thank you so much ItsmeCCB! You had made wonderful choices, all I did was connect the dots. LoL! Please, keep us updated and post photos---can't wait to see the kitchen completed. Have Fun! :))

3", 5," and 7"s should be staggered randomly (mix them up, close your eyes and pick) - no pattern.

I'm looking for engineered hardwoods with the distressing like you have. What was the name and color of hardwoods you chose for your home. They are beautiful!

What color on cabinets did you go with ?

Sandee McColm..thank you! The color is hammer Glow. Here's a picture of the label on one of the boxes & a picture of a little more info I found on the Internet...hope this helps

tammra2, I went with Sherwin Williams Creamy. My kitchen is about 90% complete but here's some recent pictures of my cabinets. I am thrilled about how they turned out!

A few more pictures of my kitchen remodel. There are still some things that are not done but I am happy with how it turned out!

Really looks good ! Thank you for the photos