Photos would help. The colour of the counter top will also help. Your own personal decision for colour will also point you in the right direction. And remember: the kitchen is only one room. If you want this throughout, you may want to work with ideas for EVERYTHING else rather than just "one room".

Do some research on vinyl flooring: it out gasses toxic chemicals which are bad for you, your children, your pets and the environment. There are many other options out there!

Thanks to all of you! I have just read about the toxic gas issues so what would be a healthier option? I'll try to upload a pic soon.

Guess what I was saying is that I don't want to paint my nice oak cabinets just to make them more modern ie. white or black. They do look wonderful with wood plank but this is just a phase and oak will probably be the "in" style again.

Great progress Fay! I'm going to wait for your photos!

Keep in mind a large area rug in the living space will also help to break up the flooring!

Different vinyl floors have different levels of variation. Getting larger planks helps minimize this, since there is more room between repeating planks. No vinyl floor will be 100% random, but by picking a color that doesn't have obvious repeating features you can help minimize repetition. Take a look at the Modin7FT collection, which comes in 9" x 86" planks and has a lifetime residential warranty:

http://www.flooret.com/modin-7ft-vinyl-plank/

Sanford Vinyl Plank - 7 ft long · More Info

Anura Vinyl Plank - wood look 7 ft long · More Info

Armstrong floors makes eco friendly vinyl plank I would go lighter

I would go lighter as well. A very light gold (like a complementary maple or a faux hickory). Ideally a "stone look" vinyl would work very well in the kitchen...but not everyone likes the look of stone in a living space.

What you will need to do is have a 7 year plan. The counter tops and the cabs are dated. In GREAT SHAPE...but dated (counters especially). Often times counters and floors are "matched". Which means you will want to decide upon, and thereby shop for, the floors+counters AT THE SAME TIME.

You can see that the previous owner matched the counters to the floor (white and white). This is part of the design process. If you add new floors WITHOUT THINKING about the counters (I would also add the cabinets but you are loathe to touch them) you will paint yourself into a corner. If you put down flooring today, you are pigeon holing yourself into a counter that matches the floors. This happens ALL THE TIME in "one step at a time" renos.

I suggest you have a strong think about what your END goal is for this kitchen...and then WORK towards that end goal. Because there is nothing worse than putting in $5-$10K in flooring only to realize you made a mistake. That is a rather unhappy moment.

If you believe you will keep EVERYTHING in the kitchen for MORE than 7-10 years (counters, cabs, lighting, backsplash, etc) then go ahead and change out the floors without a second thought.

If you feel you will change SOMETHING in that kitchen in the next 7 years, then I suggest you sit down and create a story board for your renovations. Follow the story board as you do your renovations. A few weeks of "think" right now will help save THOUSANDS of dollars of "redo oopsas" in 3-7 years from now.

Good luck. And BTW: slate/soap stone looks MAGNIFICENT with oak...as counters AND as flooring...