Yeah,pretty much every concrete kitchen photo I saw is paired with white cabinets:)

Curious why tv on that dining room area wall? How will you fit your sofas to watch TV? Will you be adding the dining room across from kitchen and changing up flooring?

We had no other options after taking that wall down, we did put our sofas across the tv wall, and it is perfect, Yes ,we are planing dining room across from kitchen and new floors.

great countertops. since that concrete leans blue/gray, I wouldn't do warm, yellow white. Do be on the safe side, just do a neutral white with no undertones. Simply White or Super White would work.

or pick the darker gray color that's in your granite and do the island in that color.

Kendall Charcoal is beautiful.

We were thinking navy blue for island, would that work with our countertops?

Bojan I hate to be a bummer but navy blue will be so hard to take care of with kids it shows everything;/.....

Can the new island wood used be stained? That would look very pretty with the concrete and be cohesive with your rustic TV wall...than just paint the all the cabinets soft white or very light tan.

yes, it can be stained. we didn' t even think about that.

Look how gorgeous and it looks like concrete counters!

it looks good!

no no no! lol. you used plain plywood! it will look like crappola. if you knew you were going to stain it, you should have used a stain grade plywood like a birch or walnut. Ditto the trim pieces. those aren't high end wood trim suitable for staining.

that one in that pic looks like alder

plywood is birch and extra smooth. other pieces I think birch also,not sure.

those pieces in front are birch? did you put the good side toward the front? lol. kidding. I believe this is Baltic Birch. is this what you got?

go ahead and stain it. you have nothing to lose but a little time. if you don't like it, paint it. use General finishes Spiced Walnut or an antique walnut

Varathane has a nice Dark Walnut. no minwax.

Oh my, the island is quite something isn’t it. I was going to suggest keeping the back splash, and painting the Cabinets a pretty white like SW Alabaster. (Must check all paint colors in real life space) ..... but that island..... I’ve got to tell you that this is one of the most frustrating things I deal with as a designer. Money lost, and clients who hate what they’ve just done, I feel so badly. I’m sorry this happened to you.

Put simple, pattern free, subway tiles that compliment your counters and cabinet paint on back splash.

Re do island with trimmed out wood panels painted the same color as your cabinets. Keep it simple, I don’t suggest trying anything crazy with island color since kitchen has been so overdone......takes experience, play it safe, you’ve got enough going on with your floors and counters. This should work well for you and be very nice. Enjoy!

Barbara Brown you should read the thread first......

I know for sure its birch,I wanted paint ready one,not sure if that was a great choice, we will see :)

Paint-ready is not a good choice for stain. That's why I made my comment.

gotcha:)

Did you have a contractor build the island? Ask him or her if it can be stained...

See if you can do a sealer or conditioner on the wood before staining to ensure that it stains evenly not blotchy.

no,we did it.

HIWE, of course it can be stained, but it's paint grade. that means they got the 'uglier' wood with the thicker graining. Stain grain looks like the picture I posted, above.

But if you like the various wood detail, then you might like how it turns out. try it.

here's an article from woodworking that tells you how to do proper staining. you can adjust to the colors you like

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/aw-extra-82213-cherry-finish-for-birch-plywood

this is stain quality plywood

don't you have oak cabs?

Ok so you need to ask a professional at the local paint store if the wood you used can be stained and if it needs to be conditioned first.

dark walnut stain it should look nice...

from your images you picked some really nice sheets of wood....stain grade just means it has less blemishes and is not perfect but takes stain the same as stain grade...

I have stained many pieces of wood over the years and of course stain grade is perfect and with lighter stains the grain shows and you want it to be perfect...but with dark stain a nice piece of wood (not perfect) but nice will take the stain just as good...but darker is best in this case.

do you have any extra pieces of the wood you used....worth doing a test on it see what you think...

Yes, as I've said, it can be stained. the guys at Home depot are clueless. if you bought it a lumberyard, you can find out if you got White Birch or a Yellow Birch.

Paint-grade birch ply has face veneers that vary in color and pattern match.

Top grades of birch
plywood are white and
uniform.They’re the
best choice if you want
a clean, pristine look.

All of the plywood can be stained. you will need a water based conditioner. The article I posted above runs through the steps on staining and how to avoid blotchiness.

Brush on water-based wood conditioner,
let it dry and sand lightly before you stain.This process
helps the wood absorb water-based stain evenly. Each
coat of stain adds a little more color.You can tweak the
color by using different colored stains, one over
another.Water-based stains dry fast, so you can put on
several coats in a day.

I think a dark walnut is a good choice as HIWE mentioned. just don't use Minwax

Curly figure is subdued when you apply water-based wood conditionerbefore you stain.In our experience, two coats of conditioner maybe needed for best appearance.

I can speak from experience on these plywood sheets. I've done many. this is the last one we did, in walnut ply, for my sons bed.

you have to be very very careful when sanding or you will burn through the veneer and the stain won't take evenly. this was Espresso/walnut mixture.

It photographs a lot redder than it actually is. The color in person is a dark walnut w/no red tones.

we got this plywood.

all other boards are poplar.

If you have any extra...try some dark walnut on it...

Worth buying a small piece of the plywood and whatever was used for the trim around the island...put stain on it and see how it looks....it can be stained.

we got some extra left.

Ok girl...give it a try and keep us posted:)

bojann,,,the poplar might be a little more difficult to match w/the birch. that's usually a paintable wood. But your birch will take a stain ok. try it on the spare piece following the conditioner and other steps. just know that all those swirls and grains might take a little bit darker than the surrounding parts. I'm more worried about the poplar.

remind me again, are you keeping the oak cabs as is or painting? If keeping as is, any reason why you didn't get the oak plywood?

Yes,our plan was to keep the cabinets,replace.with new doors and paint.

The backsplash tile goes better with the cabinets than it does with the counters. I don't like it either. I would replace it with something simpler that matches a color in the counter. It's a less expensive correction. You may have enough tile to use elsewhere if it comes off the wall in whole tiles. Decorating mistakes are not fatal. Call it a learning experience.

oh ok. I just wanted to verify that you weren't keeping that oak stain color on those if you wanted to do a darker stain on this different wood island! that was going to look weird. So you're painting the boxes, refacing w/painted doors/drawers. now would be a good time to get your sample colors and paint them on the doors you have there now. Give a quick spray w/the spray can white primer, then do your sample choices.

good idea

We are almost done with our new countertops,before we start with the flooring
we cannot decide if we should extend our cabinets on the left or not...

I.will use.this.old picture

Yes for sure...will really open up the kitchen will be amazing..can never have enough cabinet storage!.

Great progress, dedication and decision making.

We just installed our 2nd countertop, and we just realized how much we hate the placement of our fridge. that corner is so closed up because of it...

Are you keeping that big closet next to it? I would move pantry closet down to other end of room and it will allow more space for your fridge and counter...I think we talked about that way back in this post.. you want the fridge there so it is not facing into your Family room.

We wanted to move that pantry on the left side at first, then we were thinking about extending cabinets ...if i go with cabinets i am stuck with pantry or other way around :)

I would remove that pantry move Fridge down add more cabinets and extend counter up next to the fridge...add a finished panel to the side where fridge will be.....you will gain all that space the closet pantry takes up sticking out into the kitchen..add pantry like this down at other end...

What sucks is that we installed our countertop on that side ...sorry for bad picture,damaged phone.

Leave the fridge where it is and countertop.....remove that big closet pantry and install more cabinets with a counter on the other side of fridge..it will stick out less than that closet and provide a more open feel..

how do I close them,should I leave some kind of wall?

What do you mean?....if you put in upper and lower cabinets on the other side of fridge it would be open and you would see finished side of painted cabinets.

ok,.I got it now:)