Paint the island - pick a colour from the granite

Put glass inserts into the cupboards on either side of the window as it will give the illusion of a bigger window.

I love your cabinets. I wouldn't touch them and so many!!! I'm jealous.

i love your granite with your cabinets. It's the same granite I have in my master bath with my dark cabinets (like yours). The backsplash is the problem IMO. I think you need a light tile i.e.:Benjesbride pic.

live with it awhile longer before you make any decisions.

White Corian counter-tops and island top, white subway tile backslash, and polished brass hardware and it will be a showpiece!

Agree with Suzanne. But, for finances - I recently spray painted some hardware and it is fine. Maybe try to get some polished brass spray paint and an extra door pull or two and see what you think. Also, for the backsplash - you can do that yourself - really. And there are very inexpensive tiles out there. If you aren't that handy, you could just do the cooktop wall and leave the sink wall painted. That window might be hard for a DIY. I've never been a fan of multicolor pencil tile and as others have said, it isn't letting your pretty cabinets SING.

If you can't do anything at the moment but add some art leaned up in the backsplash and the lighter rugs is a great idea. In the long run th only piece that should change is the backsplash. its just too busy I think. your cabinets are beautiful. adding glass would also help as others have suggested and painting the inside a lighter color would also help.

enjoy it, it looks really fabulous and nothing drastic needs to change for you to love it even more.

It is a beautiful kitchen and it doesn't appear dark to me, but instead very elegant.

Diane

My thought is that switching out the backsplash for white/off white/cream would make a tremendous difference all on its own.

Edited to add: in addition to changing the backsplash, you could get white (or off white/beige) island stools.

On my monitor, your countertops and backsplash do not look dark to me. I especially like the backsplash with your undercounter lights on. I have a much darker backsplash and counter in the house we bought and after we installed the undercounter lighting, we put in a timed switch on the wall and have the UCL lights come on before we get up in the morning and turn off after we go to bed. I also installed rope lighting on a timer. I like seeing a bright kitchen first thing in the morning. Your island looks very nice, close to the size I had in our last house. We loved using it to serve buffet style when we had company.

I agree that glass in a couple cabinets would be really nice. Buy some pretty colorful dishes you'd like to show off. Glassware would be pretty too.

I think it looks great when the UCL are on. I think putting the rope lighting above the cabinets is an excellent idea and will add layers of light. Beyond that, the only real changes I would consider, if I were you, is putting in a couple glass door uppers. That's it! I think the rest of the issues you are having isn't lack of light but lack of color and personality.

OK, before critiquing the changes I made, I realize I probably overdid it with odd, colorful items, and I realize these might not be at all to your taste. I just quickly grabbed a variety of items to illustrate how some pops of color would make such a huge difference. It doesn't have to be these colors or these items. And if you hung a Chagall print on your backsplash, you surely wouldn't want to hang a second print of the same Chagall.

I would add some personality with some color to it using things I love and then live with it for at least 9 months, through fall so you can see how the light plays in the space during the different seasons, before doing any other expensive changes like ripping out and replacing backsplashes, counters, painting islands, etc.

I think your kitchen looks really pretty but needs some color and some bigger deco. Maybe a real pretty kitchen-aid mixer! I'd change the kitchen hardware to stainless, nickel and try some brighter bulbs. Bright color area carpets are a great idea.

Beautiful floor, beautiful cabinets. You have a lovely kitchen but the backsplash is not working. Even if you are not a DIYer, you could (really) replace your backsplash as a DIY job. A solid creamy white subway tile that coordinates with your countertop, ie benjesbride's picture. Lots of other great suggestions regarding lighting, glass doors & accessories.

A sun tunnel or other skylight will fix this, without changing anything else. Even in a two story house, you can often run a sun tunnel through a closet or against a wall.

I think the backsplash is the culprit. If that were lighter the whole thing would be an elegant show stopper. But live with it. It's still a gorgeous kitchen!

Beautiful kitchen. I would do 3 things:

1) light tile backsplash (didn't someone post today about using an epoxy paint to paint their backsplash tile?)

2) a couple glass cabinet doors to break up all the dark uppers

3) above cabinet lighting....this makes a huge difference, it makes the room seem that it is filled with daylight without having any direct light shining down on you.

Pretty sure it has been said, but I would take down the backsplash and put in white (or light color to match granite) subway and maybe paint the island white. Changing the backsplash would make a huge difference.

You could remove a few of the upper cabinets. That would lighten up the room immensely.

I second Jillius although I would paint and not tile most of the newly exposed wall...and I would consider inserting glass or if you are in NYC beveled mirrors on the uppers on either side of the sink.

My first thought is that the cabinets are gorgeous, and your kitchen looks very functional. It's all quite handsome. Although black is dark, it's bold and masculine and less expected than a white kitchen - and you were drawn to it initially. Why not run with the look and see what you can do?

I understand very little about lighting, but fun accent lights - and supplemental / additional light if the current lights are not illuminating the space really well, would probably do a lot.

I really like the idea of throwing in some colorful accents that will catch they eye and surprise / add some levity. Art? Colorful canisters? Runnner rugs? Dish towels? Invest in a vase or two of fresh flowers each week for a pop of pink, chartreuse, orange, yellow - whatever floats your boat at the moment? Nothing expensive, just a little something from a local shop -- or raid the local grocery store's $5-$10 selections.

If you replace an element in the kitchen, the backsplash tile might be the biggest change for your buck. A picture of a very light (glass?) tile with darker finishes:

I really like how the white subway tile works out with black upper cabinets in the picture benjesbride shared (fifth reply). Here it is again:

Eclectic Kitchen · More Info

That said, your backsplash doesn't look all that dark, esp. with your under cabinet lights on.

I'm so sorry that you're in this position, you have a very pretty foundation and I'm sure that some of these ideas will work out.

Here's my 2 cents - white subway backsplash, and lighten ceiling with above cabinet lighting and possibly lighter paint color.... and as Fori suggests, add cat.

We actually love our backsplash. It's the one thing we know we want to work around. I think for us it's the granite. We thought it was more gray and white but the installed piece is more brown and cream. In a few years we'll change it out for something more bright! Right now we're going to focus on our backyard oasis! Lol this new kitchen is so much more then we had before and I think I'm just so overwhelmed by all the newness and change. I always second guess everything. I need to go stand in my old outdated kitchen so I can be reminded of just how beautiful my new one is! Thank so much for everyone's advice and please keep it coming. I'm loving some of these ideas!

What I would do is add a double strip of LED lighting all across the cabinet tops to bounce soft light off the ceiling and light up the room and push the ceiling visually higher. Then I'd add a single layer of the same lights (on the same circuit so when the above cab lights are on so are the toe kick strips) under the toe kick. This would suck out the "black hole" effect of such dark cabinets in the space - the darkness is especially pronounced at the base cabinet bottoms, if you study the picture. With the extra soft lighting opening up the space, I would leave everything else alone. You already bought those components once, try not to buy them twice when what you have is perfectly good!

If you were to talk to a lighting engineer, what they would tell you is that the way you light a room is to wash a surface with light. While you have can lights on the ceiling, what they effectively are doing is pointing down and only washing the dark cabinets and dark floor with light. (However, they ARE providing you with good task light, onto the counter surface.) The light gets sucked up by both, rather than lighting the room. The uplight LED strips would wash the back walls and ceiling with soft light and LIGHT the room, as would the toe kick lights. (On the above cabinet strips, you would mount them at the front edge of the cabinet tops at 45 degree angles, pointing toward the wall crease between back wall and ceiling. On the toe kick lights, you could point them straight down or back 45 degrees at the crease between toe kick and floor.) This could be done without MAJOR remodeling or REbuying components you already spent good money on, and it would be not too expensive to do, relative to the other suggested remodeling ideas. And it would transform the look of the space, because the lighting would be actually LIGHTING the space. Your undercab lights are working to light their space correctly, it's just that your overall room light is getting sucked up by the dark cabs and floors. The surface you need to wash with light in this room is the ceiling, due to dark walls (cabinets on the wall) and floors.

Your can lights are actually accentuating the incomplete lighting design in your space, at present. If you study the picture, what they are doing is bouncing off the countertop back UP and casting a shadow of the upper cabinet crown molding into the soffit space, making it appear EVEN darker up there. That space is your holy grail to open up this dark room and must be lit, and right now your "lighting" is casting shadows in that very space!!

And one more - this is using tile from benjesbride's picture. Gives a warmer feel.

I like the cabinets, backsplash, and countertop. The colors tie in together so well. White cabinets will show the kickmarks on the island. The only thing that would bother me is that you said that you had 3 children and I only see space for two barstools. Do they still have enough of your granite for a longer top? You could add a bookcase at the end next to the sink and extend the top one more foot, which would let you have three barstools.

The first thing I'd recommend is move in and don't make any major changes for a few months until you've had time to let things settle and get used to it. Decorating with some colorful items is a good idea that will help make it your own. We moved into a "new to us" house last summer and hated the kitchen but as the weeks and months have passed we realized parts of the kitchen do work well and there are just a few things that really cause problems.

Get some accessories, rug, art in your favorite color.

Fori, lol, I missed the cat advice--I should have remembered to read your posts more thoroughly.

I think if you change your backsplash to something simple and light such as an off white subway tile it will make your entire kitchen brighter. For fun I changed out your light fixture for something a little more noticeable (horrible mock up sorry). Maybe not this fixture but I like the idea of a larger brighter fixture as almost being the focal point of your kitchen.

Even if the granite had been lighter, the mosaic backsplash would have been too busy with the speckled granite. Since you love the backsplash, I would plan on a solid quartz when it's time to replace your counter.

Mayflowers...I agree! I think that's what we'll do eventually!

I'm surprised to see an over the range microwave in such a sizable kitchen. But you said upgrade costs were a factor, so this may have been something you couldn't change during the build. I like Jillius' mockup where she removed some uppers, changed the backsplash tile and change to a stainless hood.

Oh, I just saw where you said you love the backsplash. Maybe you could get extra tile now if you wanted to change to a real hood later.

@ccollas -- love the cat in the pic and it seems like you had some great advice. Swapping out the counter in the long term might be warranted, but live with it for a while.

One thing to consider -- you ended up with rather warm temperatures on your lighting. Swapping the bulbs out with 3000K or higher LEDs will reduce the creaminness that is being accentuated in the counter. Your UCL is even warmer -- although many people love the warm light reminiscent of incandescent bulbs, a cooler color might be worth exploring.

Great tip to change the Kelvins. I prefer 3000K because they are warm and reminiscent of incandescent light, but in your case you'd probably like cooler light.

I will echo the recommendation to be sure your lights (if possible to change) are at least 3000k. The other thing that struck me as something I would change is the over island pendant -- to something larger, with more presence, whiter --- my first thought was a Chinese paper lantern style (although really, I don't really like those, but that is the feel and presence). Maybe a classic white drum or cone lampshade or something like this:

That IKEA light looks great, but I returned it because it gives off very little light.

Thanks nosoccermom, this idea is to have more light indeed! I guess the material isn't translucent? At least it can illustrate a possible shape.

I love funkycampers mock up! I am on my phone so I can't see that well, but are those chickens or pitchers above the cabinets? :)

I like your kitchen too. I think it just needs some personal touches as Funky and others suggested. Colorful stools, more colorful light, etc.

I tend to criticize every choice/decision I make especially if I just spent a lot of money. Sounds like you were on a budget so I wouldn't redo anything just yet. Live there awhile and then decide what if anything you need to change.

LOL, those are Fiestaware pitchers, Lily. I think if you see the picture bigger than your phone, you'll see that I kinda overdid it, probably to the point of getting a bit tacky even. But, yes, I still think just adding color and personality will make a big difference.

I personally wouldn't change a thing, because I think we built the same themed kitchen LOL! Mine has a little more wall showing with the pantry and mudroom, and some big windows in my dining area, so maybe it doesn't seem as dark. Live with it before you commit to anything too drastic, but the lighting changes suggested above are all good. I went brushed nickel on the hardware and light fixtures, so I have a little bling.

And I know they aren't popular here, but I like my OTR microwave. It is vented outside at least. :) And I feel your love for the glass mosaic backsplash, I love mine too.

To enlarge the island, you could just replace the top and extend it 18 or 24 inches and use legs that match the island as the support and keep the existing island base.

aktillery9 - love it! Your little sleight of hand works beautifully.

Love aktillery9's light fixture! And I adore oldbat2be's ivory subway. Total improvement. I do not care for the existing backsplash, and it is an easy replacement. Overall, love the kitchen and don't mind the granite. Enjoy your new home!

I love your kitchen - the second photo with all the lights on looks great! You may be able to up the lumens of the light bulbs if you need more lighting. I love the contrast of dark cabinets. We just installed dark cabinets too, but went with shiny white subway tile to brighten up the backsplash. That might be an inexpensive thing to do - our subway was very cheap. Maybe you can put white posterboard up to see if you like the effect.

I wouldn't do anything major just yet. I mean, its a brand new kitchen, ripping out counters or even a backsplash at this time seems premature. Aside from the additional expense this would entail, its wise to live with it a while first. I do think the post (can't recall who said it) recommending both above cabinet light and toe kick lighting was a great idea. Lots of light is all it needs, IMO and its a small investment. I'd do that first, and just live with it for a bit and see how I feel. Sometimes, when you change something so drastically, once you get used to it, you find that you love it. If money is tight, as you seem to be saying, just live with it and save up for any future changes (backsplash, counters, whatever) you may want to make. Seriously, that is a beautiful kitchen, just as it is. Lately, I am seeing more black cabinets, I think black is the up and coming new trend. Its bold, dramatic and elegant.

@rae: Side thread here: No, the material of that IKEA lamp shade is not translucent, but the copper inside is just soooo gorgeous. It's more ambient romantic light. Now there's an idea for a kitchen.....

To OP: It may just be buyer's remorse at this point or kind of "feeling a let down after the big event." You say you love the cabinets and you love the backsplash, so get more light and more color! If you still hate it in a couple of months, think about more drastic measure.

Played around with your kitchen. Changed color of pulls a little brighter and just added some decor. My work is far from perfect!

Where did you find those rugs? I love them!

I googled area rugs png. I just checked my history and not seeing it but I'll see if I can find it again

Edit: [area rug[(https://www.houzz.com/products/salerno-area-rug-rectangle-vines-silver-16x23-prvw-vr~10075935)

It was right here on Houzz

Thank you everyone for all the advice! I went out today to grab some colorful accessories and I have some rugs on the way! My space is gorgeous (that's what I keep telling myself) and I think all the drastic change is what was getting to me! I just need to go stand in my old kitchen to be truly grateful for what I have now! That morning was the first very rainy and dreary day since we've been here and I think it made my room seem much darker. Things are looking up! If I still hate the granite down the line...it can always do changed! Thank you again! Keep the suggestions coming! ❤️