I am in process of painting painting out cabinetry in our kitchen... Have been doing a lot of research, and find that gray is the trend at present replacing the brown trend that lasted a few years... From what I understand, gray is about in its "midlife" so to speak. I'm not into trends since they come and go, and have decided to paint a timeless white on cabinetry and using color on the walls. This allows harmony with the "fixed" elements in the kitchen I.e. countertops, sink, window sashes & their trim....etc. Backsplash is to be considered a fixed element too, so be careful not to incorporate too many color tones in your selection as more than (3) can create a world of disappointment ! A word of caution about travertine, I've read it can vary in hues, sometimes, reading pinky-beige and such. just thought I would mention that when choosing your cabinet color, especially, if you don't want a dominant pink color kitchen. Another good site to read up more about this is --- Color Me Happy ---by Maria Killiam. She is the ultimate fan of a classic timeless white kitchen. I have learned a lot from her blog and others who post to it... Happy decorating!

Your paint color is actually nice and fits the style of the house. What you might consider is changing out the backsplash. The size and style of the tiles do not fit with your granite. Have you looked at glass tiles in colors that will mix your cabinet color and the granite colors? The tiles can act like throw pillows or a scarf. When you want to blend colors you add something to mix them. The glass will match the sheen of the granite as well. You can get sheets that mix glass, stone and metals all in one and are gorgeous. Glass subways can change the way you look at the busy granite. Looking at your last picture, another thing that may help, would be to change the color of your trim from bright white. This would be a bigger project, but you may want to consider calming the white doors and trim.

Flo, I'm sorry for any confusion! And thank you so much for taking time to read through my ramblings and making suggestions. I will need to paint cabinets before we get the slab. Hence, my agony. I don't know how long they can keep the slab for us but I guess I could decide on the paint and actually paint right after we go look at marble slabs. I still need to strip all the paint from every piece of wood in this kitchen and it is a nightmare in this heat. I guess I could put that decision off for now and focus on other things...

I see your countertop and backsplash as almost black. am i right, or you'd describe them differently? if they are almost black-several suggestions for colors..white..mint green..shades of blue from pale to medium, just not dark...cooler, paler pink-or intense pink like fuschia(don't laugh:) was considering it for my own kitchen after all) that's strictly in terms of what you've shown us until now, without knowing other elements, your light, how correlates to other rooms, houuse's style, your long time taste preferences, furnishings, etcetera many people don't recommend painting wood because a really good job either costs you tons of money if done by a pro-or tons of time if you do it correctly yourself..and then it still more prone to chipping etc. If everything stays it can be fab solution sometimes, but you did mention you'll renovate soon, so it's a thing to consider. time, money, energy. ultimately you know whether you have all these or not, now, But we don't-so we ask. I personally like your cabinets, but of course if they bug you to no end, or you feel disconnect between them and the rest of the space which we had not seen, or they clash with flooring, etc-paint I must say that I kinda like your backsplash next to your counter. Again no idea how it looks in the big picture of the kitchen/house, whether is too dark, not to your taste, etc..but I like it