My Aunt has a black kitchen in CT but it is HUGE with tall windows and fits her early 19th century home. I wouldn't attempt it unless I had the scale she does.

You could finish your lowers in black and the uppers and pantry in white/cream.

With the black you need to balance with light. Notice your dream kitchen the counter tops are white, lots of light coming into the room, and very open spacious room. I agree with Amy black lowers with lighter uppers might work. Maybe consider a white with a tint of gray like BM Classic Gray.

I have been looking at kitchen ideas online for years and I always go back to the black or navy cabinets. I love the brick and I would do spanish or morrocan tile backsplash on whole wall above sink. Kitchen is west facing in a large great room in so Cal with two sets of french doors and six windows so should get enough light. I would do a whitish countertop. Do I start with a kitchen designer or go right to a contractor?

Terri, we went to a kitchen designer after agreeing on a price and time frame with our GC. The process took a couple of weeks - honing our cabinet choices and options to stay on budget and then getting the thumbs up from our GC.

I have some questions after looking at your current kitchen ... are you planning on changing your flooring? What about that beam? The green walls, are you going to change that as well? Can you post pics of adjoining spaces so we can get some perspective? How far are you willing to go to get your dream kitchen?

If you think you have enough light and space to pull it off, that's wonderful.

If you're keeping all your cabinets and just doing paint/counters, you shouldn't need a kitchen designer. Just get some paint samples to try out in various parts of your room and then get a good painter lined up.