We are building a lake house in a craftsman cottage style with lots of wood and rock features on the fireplace and columns. The center room will be the gathering room for family get togethers. It's a large room including the kitchen with a big center island, dining area and living area with windows looking out onto the lake. There will be a large window above on the outer kitchen wall and a matching window on the wall facing the lake giving lots of natural light to the room. We plan to have wood floors and a wood cathedral ceiling. We picked out this granite today "Golden Flower from the Santa Cecilia Mattacheas series http://gkgraniteslab.com/product/golden-flower/ with the 6 x 6 center island being the focal point of the kitchen.

My question is, what color of backsplash should I select to go with it? We're going to run the tile backsplash from the countertop to the cabinets above (no granite backsplash).

My second question deals with the color of the cabinets. We love beautiful wood cabinets and used them in the house we built thirty years ago. However, with so much wood in the room (ceiling and floors), we thought painted cabinets in a sage green might look better. We're considering a shaker style cabinet bead board insert. The walls will be a neutral tan color. Another option would be to make the cabinets sage green and have the island in a wood similar to the floors and ceiling. By the way, the outside of the house will be a board and batten sage green hardy board with brown trim and rock features.

Thanks for any help or suggestions. Sheila Clopton, Kathleen, GA