I'm glad you like the natural! Do you think the natural maple will look good with all of the pine paneling? I'll have to post another picture showing it.

Yes, the slate is staying in the living/dining room (it's one big room outside the kitchen). However, im hoping to remove it completely from the step/platform area, to help with the transition to the kitchen.

so maybe a light grey marmoleum for floor? Or perhaps just concrete

This is an old picture, obviously, (goodbye stone walls!!) but shows the pine paneling and slate floor (pre-cleaning--it looks better now).

It's hard to comment on colors. On my monitor, the maple looks more pinkish, compared to the pine. Personally, I like the idea of mixing painted cabinets with your pine. I also don't see it with your jungle backsplash (love that!).

Of the two painted doors, the darker one goes the best with the backsplash. I don't really see the light bluish gray with it. I usually am not into linen/khaki, but it may be worthwhile to sample that, too.

How many painted cabinets would you have? Are you leaving the pine cabinets that are there now?

As far as floor, I'd go with a gray or the grout color.

Daisychain01: The red counter is 100% NOT staying! I wanted quartz but it's apparently ridiculously expensive now, so I'm going to look for a quiet white/light grey granite.

I'm glad you think the cork won't work! One less thing to think about (esp. since hubbie doesn't like it for kitchen).

i would definitely not want people to think I was trying to match the wood paneling by using natural maple! Perhaps I can bring home that linen color sample door to see how it looks. The dark grey does actually match the slate pretty well. I didn't know if it was too dark, though, considering the kitchen has no direct natural light.

The stone wall on the left is actually part of a huge fireplace, so it's staying. You're right that light colors look nice with it. The master bedroom (which features some of this huge fireplace rock) used to be a totally 80's neonish teal green and we painted it a very soft sage green/grey and the room looks SO different. The stone looks beautiful with it.

Nosoccermom: We are replacing the island and all cabinets except the tall pantry ones on the right. I am planning to paint those, probably (going to confer with contractor first-- the doors need to be rehung and latched somehow, they get all warped in the humidity and don't stay closed). Yet another color choice to make, but i figure that can wait until much later.

So... perhaps dark grey painted cabinets, light whitish granite counter, light greyish floor, with crazy fabulous jungle backsplash? I can see that.

oh, we also have new stainless appliances we're putting in. So that's some more darkness for the room.

Another thought on cabinet color: I like the darkness of the darkest cabinet, but not necessarily the gray. [I do like that color, but not necessarily in this space.] How about the same degree of darkness, but in a grayed-green vs blue? These are Benjamin Moore pics that might be headed in an interesting direction. The second one doesn't look as dark in a larger view.

Hm, if you're painting the pine pantry cabinets, would you go with a color that's different from the rest of the cabinets?

Given that lack of light is an issue, I'd probably go as light as possible --- but then, I've always had a white kitchen.

Are you going to have uppers, too?

I agree with grey-green cabinets and most DEFINITELY the jungle backsplash. I can envision your kitchen being a wonderful, retro gem. NOT cookie cutter.

Suzanne-- I agree about the grey. I'm very limited in color, however. Custom paint is out of my budget and I am not up to painting them myself (ugh, perish the thought!). I'm going with Marsh maple cabinets, Apex (slab front), and they don't have a ton of colors. The only other two that may work are the "canvas" (that's actually what it's called, not linen), and there is a black stain, Onyx, I think, which is nice.

Once we decide for sure about the jungle backsplash we're going to buy a sheet of it and then make our final choice based on that. I think we really need to see it in person, and in our space. I wouldn't even mind buying it and then just putting it in our bird room if we decide not to use it in the kitchen! I really love that pattern and the birds (parrots) would appreciate it.

Nosoccermom-- yes the tall cabinets will be some kind of neutral color so they don't stand out. We aren't going to have any uppers, just some floating shelves. The ceilings are too low, there's an immovable soffit, and we don't need the storage. Works out great because I never liked upper cabinets and doing it this way will help with the "contemporary" (yet retro?) look. It's also much cheaper!

Lisadlu-- awesome! That's what I'm hoping for. Thank you :)

I was looking at the marmoleum samples again and I love the moss/sage green-type colors. There are a few different ones and they are rather neutral, I think it could work... It's a risk but I'd hate to miss out on a chance for more color! Green also looks awesome with the slate, the field stone, and the orange-red wood paneling. We bought a bright moss colored couch and brought in some plants and it brings everything to life!

I think it sounds like a game plan to decide first about the jungle background and then pick the cabinet color.

Have you played around with this:

https://wilsonart.visualizapro.com/

They actually let you use the Lush jungle laminate as a backsplash/wall color.

We are finally getting our kitchen installed and I thought I’d update with in progress photos.

I ended up going with the natural maple mainly because I wasn’t in love with the painted and didn’t want to deal with damaged/bad paint on delivery.

The counters are Wilsonart Vapor Strandz. We’re still doing the jungle laminate backsplash, it’s just taking a long time to be delivered. The floor is going to be Marmoleum click in Pine.

And a mock up of what the backsplash will look like next to the natural maple and counters.

I’m really happy with the cabinets and glad I went with the natural. I’m hoping that since the kitchen gets no natural light the cabinets won’t really change color too much, but maybe that’s inevitable.

in any case, it’s a million times better than it was. And it’s not even done yet :)