I wouldn't do seeded glass. It's the original glass essentially, and I think it belongs in old homes and traditional kitchens. I think it will be too much pattern with the strong grain of the cabinets.

Pick your LVT before counters. There's a limited selection and it can be frustrating to find a counter that works with those tiles. I have them in my bathroom and couldn't find a perfect counter. Plain quartz works.

Do you have samples of the two tiles, and compared them with the Marine Blue? I find blues wickedly hard to coordinate. Maybe I'm just picky about blues, but for me, a miss is as good as a mile when it comes to color.

If you want to pull the kitchen more toward modern (when you said "veered into transitional," I took it to mean you were originally planning something more modern), you might look for something other than a subway tile. The Fireclay is lovely, but the subway shape is definitely pulling the look toward transitional. They offer lots of other shapes that would be more in keeping with where you seem to want to go with the light fixture.

Maybe consider a 3x12 format for the tiles instead of the typical 3x6 for a more updated look?

Stacked format would be okay even in the subway shape.

2x2 or 3x3 square would be great in my opinion.

The Adriatic Sea appears to be much too bright for the island, although I like the color.

Ribbed glass, reeded glass, fluted glass, yes, seeded glass, no, that's antique-ish.

The light fixture is a miss, sorry, that's for an Italian lacquer kitchen, and very little else, I think.

I agree. Blues are extremely hard to coordinate. Too many variation in colors. Also the boxes you order from the supplier might be from a different batch and be really "off". Blues are just hard.

I agree that blues are hard. It's not my first choice, but my BF really likes blue and I'm kind of exhausted with trying to come up with a backsplash he'll agree to. I had kind of talked myself into accepting that I could make the blues work. Now I'm concerned about the time crunch to get samples here in time for selecting a paint color for the islands that won't clash.

Ideas that I've presented that haven't been embraced:

Star and Cross in white with gray grout behind the cooktop with subway tile under the cabs. (minus the inset shelf)

Tessera Mosaic pattern Kaleidoscope from Oceanside Glass Tile

And more that are more modern with larger format tile in a stacked pattern. I can't find the images right at the moment.

You're going to love your Plato cabs! We put walnut cabs by Plato in with our remodel and they are beautiful. I love all your choices so far. As far as BS for the most recent pics just above, I like the middle one, the Tessera Mosaic. It's more modern than the other two - which look like they belong in an older home. I agree with the comment about the seeded glass. If you're obscuring the contents anyway (which would happen with seeded glass) why not go with a simple frosted glass? Still lets light in/out but breaks up the cabinetry. If you're leaning modern, I'd go with some sort of light-colored quartz. And I'm a fan of Grohe faucets, fwiw.

Love your cabinets, but I don't like the teeny handles in your picture -- larger handles would be more functional /easier to pull.

I love butcher block and think it meshes well with your other choices. No, it's not forever, but with its low price, you can replace it later and still be ahead.

I like the Kaleidoscope tile much the best. Subways are overdone, and I do agree with the concerns about matching blues (though you could easily hold off on the backsplash 'til you've seen the island installed and then make your decision). Though I adore hexagon tile, I think it's your worst choice here -- it doesn't mesh with your modern vibe.

I'm with the group in saying no to seeded glass; plain clear or frosted would work best.

I don't care for the inset stars-and-crosses niches ... but the stars-and-crosses could be a great backsplash ... if not used in a niche.

Love the circle chandy. Super cool, yet simple. It'll be the focal point of the kitchen.

Thanks for the input. We're at a campground for several days and the Internet connection is really weak, so it's hard to respond. After relaying the feedback about doing blue backsplash with blue islands I think the BF is willing to walk away from that. I really love the kaleidoscope tile, and he's said it's nice, so hopefully he'll give it the nod. We can't hold off on making a selection, because our GC requires everything to be selected prior to our start date.

Mrspete, we'll definitely being doing larger hardware than the cabinet picture. I used that image simple because those cabinets look just like the Walnut door we have from the cabinet guy.

A number of you have suggested a white, low patterned quartz. I have been thinking of White Moon Quartzite, Luce di Luna, Quartzite Bianca, or White Macaubas Quartzite. We're going to a stone yard on the 6th, so at this point in time I have no idea if those stones are available in our area. We're in Madison, WI. Anyone on here local to us that knows? If they are, do you think those stones would work in our kitchen, or are they too busy?

If we go the quartz route, what are your suggestions?

Glass cab doors: I'm not set on seeded. That was a last minute idea. I think I'd prefer clear glass actually.

Thanks for your help!

I love the glass tile, too.

It's incredibly hard to make sure it all works without seeing it in place and in larger samples. However it's better than my GC who I kept asking,"what do I need" and he would be silent for a week and then tell me at 5pm he needed a tub tomorrow. What?

Sounds like you're in better hands, so I'm excited for you.

Don't make hasty decisions on anything permanent or hard/expensive to replace. Spend a hundred bucks on sample tiles so as not to make a thousand ++ dollar mistake. Do not let the contractor push you; it's your kitchen and he works for you.

I love your cabinet hardware but I have one question: Are the small knobs sufficient to pull open a full drawer that size? I ask because I am choosing knobs and pulls for my project and thought I would be limited to use pulls on larger drawers. Thanks!

@sperk - OP said that is just a representative photo and they are going with different, larger hardware.

Counter tops: last night I saw Gooster's fabulous kitchen reveal thread. One of the things that both the BF and I really liked about the kitchen was the counter top material, Caesarstone Piatra Grey.

What do you think?

ck_squared, are the depths of your drawers deep enough? How about the extension, adequate?

ck_squared, we picked out Grohe faucets. It was nice to know that they came recommended by someone who has them, thanks.

For the clean-up sink we chose the Grohe 32298DC1 Supersteel Ladylux Pull-Down High-Arc Kitchen Faucet with 2-Function Locking Sprayer, and the Grohe 30026000 Starlight Chrome Ladylux3 Pilar Cold Tap 1/2" for our filtered drinking water, and a soap dispenser from the same line. The prep sink is the same line, but smaller. We got a second soap dispenser for the prep sink. The sales guy said that we are the first people he's ever had do that. (He's been in the business for eons.) That surprised me. I thought, "I bet GW'ers do it." We foresee the kids using the prep sink a lot and having a soap dispenser there may prevent them from cutting through the cooking side of the island to wash their hands if they can do it at the prep sink. We debated about adding a second faucet for filtered water at this sink, too, but thought it may be too crowded so we didn't do it. We are also getting a pot filler and I think the salesman had no clue what that was. Seriously. We had to explain what it was used for and where you put it.

I hear you on the lighter counters, that's my preference also. Lily'smom, I'm in the same boat as you. Initial plan was for a white kitchen. I must say that I'm quite happy that we've settled on walnut, but it's been quite the process of trying to find something that pleases both of us. Especially when I was being told that he liked modern, but consistently dismissed modern cabinets. In the end, it was transitional that won the day.

He's been mentioning gray, and metallic colored counter tops, so I'm trying to find a happy medium. I remembered this posting from 2010 that speaks of a designer encouraging a client (the OP) to use absolute black counter tops with his/her walnut cabinets, so it's not total crazy pants. I also remind myself that we're going to have a big window on one end and a sliding door, plus glass panel to the side - which basically makes the one end of the kitchen all glass, at the other end. Hopefully, the windows will bring in enough light to offset the darkness of the cabinets and countertop (if we go with something dark.)

We're still planning on looking at stones on the 6th, so maybe we'll have beautiful quartzite before this is all done.