Beautiful cabinets! This is a hard one because I do love the look of black counters with those cabinets. However, if you want to create more light in the kitchen, I would go with lighter counters than my cabinets.

I would recommend you to install a light quartz counter top and a darker counter top for the island as an accent. You have beautiful cabinetry and I think a light countertop would really go well with it.

I meant to say wood cabinets, not oak. That is what happens when I cook a large dinner and try to answer questions at the same time:)

I like the idea of light around the sides and a dark island, but someone above (Bruce) mentioned the dark showed everything and I had heard that before but have no personal experience. I have butcher block on my island and that will stay. In your pictures I feel like our cabinets are similar in color, but computer monitors are not good for getting color true - and mine are oak and yours are pretty maple. I think yours may be lighter. Maple also has less grain which I think gives you more options. The grain in oak has movement, so I wanted to be cautious about over doing the movement in my countertop and backsplash.

Bruce you are going to get teased - some of the ladies on the forum believe it is in a man's DNA to love oak or any wood, while they prefer painted woodwork:) I actually prefer my oak cabinets too and spent the summer refinishing them. My trim is painted because it was dark stain pine and in poor shape.

Perhaps it is related to living in the Midwest where there runs a strong streak of practicality (wood is strong) and a bit of a leaning towards rustic.

Hi Dawn. I have natural cherry cabinets and they aren't too far from the color of yours. I chose light beige Corian counters when we bought our home. Over time, I just felt it was blah and boring. So, a few years ago, I chose a dark charcoal quartzite and had just the island counter replaced. I had planned to see how it looked with my light beige perimeter and replace the perimeter with something else, if need be. Well, I love the dark island with kind of interesting dark quartzite and the simple, plain, light Corian perimeter. I liked it right away and have not been tempted in the least to change it. So, I think it would look great to get a kind of special dark granite or quartz for your island and a plain light colored granite or quartz for your perimeter. That's the choice I'd make in your kitchen. It's quite common for the perimeter counter to differ from the island. It's also common for the perimeter cabinets to be a different color from the island cabinets. I'm not as fond of kitchens where both are different but I really like kitchens where all the cabinets are the same and the island and perimeter counters differ or kitchens where all the counters are the same and the island and perimeter cabinets are different colors.

One nice, dark and affordable granite variety is Virginia Mist. I wouldn't worry about mixing materials if you go with different counters. For example, if you chose something like Virginia Mist granite for your island, you could use a calm quartz for your perimeter. I prefer the more interesting material to be on the island and the more simple and boring material to be on the perimeter.

Your house and kitchen are very pretty!

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