Walnut Kitchen · More Info

http://www.houzz.com/projects/794477/family-residence-blue-ridge-seattle

Pay the upgrade for just a few and do the mix. I wouldn't say the color on the left is dated but it is very traditional (which goes in cycles). Pay for white on your island only in kitchen, but split the baths with him (guest / kids bath white - your bath dark) - instead of speckly stone, get white quartz tops. Granite is not advancing your look forward here. Then it will be fresh and you'll have your mix.

I must say I love the darker cabinet! What will the floors be? Love libradesigneye's idea of white quartz top! That would really balance the darkness of the cabinets and feel fresh and modern.

I have been with many clients at just such a cross road. Budget is always a concern, but I can hear your decision in your comments. Pay for the upgrade. Give up something less pivotal to the whole scope of YOUR vision. Maybe something that can be upgraded later. The other option is to pay for the clear finish now (least expensive), and save for the painted white upgrade later. Not a prefered option, but will work in a budget crunch. As you can see your budget is a concern for me, but it may not be such an issue for you. Either way, the "dated" cabinets will haunt you, if, heaven forbid, you sell. Have a Merry Christmas!

We are not doing quartz because that is another $1,250 for that. To include white cabinets in the kitchen it's around $1,500. Since we already made changes adding to the square footage etc we are trying to keep the costs reasonable with the design pieces yet find something we like. The granite shown here is the only option that wasn't black or golden tones so this was our best option. We are upgrading to the glass tile because I don't want the stone tile that comes with the package. Sounds like I should make a push to get him back on the shaker side. I'm not such a big fan of the medium brown tones because they feel a bit more rustic to me. We live in Washington state and a lot of people do the outdoorsy look, but it's not so much my style. (Our current house is natural maple floors and cabinets - it's very light and bright.)

We haven't picked hardwood floors yet, we get engineered hardwood with the house. My husband love Acacia natural, I have concerns that will be to busy. I am going to look at one this weekend that just had it installed to see what I think. If we did that floor it would have to be the Shaker Cabinets. It would look terrible with raised panel door I think.

I thought this would be fun, it's really quite stressful. The builders design center doesn't have a lot of things that I love so trying to balance both our likes and dislikes and then pick from what our choices are. Yikes!

Appreciate the input, keep it coming!!

looks terrific---glad you went with the white! Please post the finished result.

How exciting! It's looking beautiful. What kind of floors did you end up picking?

Ooh, I think that's going to be lovely! Smart to contrast the bold, statement floor with the serene white cabinets and tie in the deeper wood tones of the floor with the island.

wood tones look good together . .

beautiful--looks like a high end custom home!