I am redoing my kitchen with Ikea Axstad blue lowers and white uppers. The kitchen is about 10 x 12, with a 115 inch peninsula. There is a load-bearing post that has to be on/in the peninsula. I am going to enclose the bottom part of the post inside the "covering" of the peninsula, and sheetrock and paint the exposed part white and maybe a little molding around the base on the peninsula counter and the ceiling/post.

I feel that going two-tone in such a small kitchen with no direct sunlight is already pushing it. And so I worry that navy blue on the back of the peninsula will be too much, too dark, and swallow up the dining room (which is very small and somewhat oddly shaped). So I'm thinking of shiplap for the back of the peninsula painted white. The front of the peninsula is the kitchen side and will have matte navy blue cabinets and stainless steel appliances.

The first two pics are examples of shiplap islands/peninsulas. The last three pictures are neighbor's house that has the same floor plan as mine. My kitchen will extend about 18 inches into the already small DR.

What color should the short (end) wall of the peninsula be? White or Blue? If white, how to transition from the blue Ikea cabinets? I also have to think about outlets in the end of the peninsula. There will be about 6" void between dishwasher and the end of the peninsula which will be covered in a matching Ikea blue cover panel (probably hack a pullout something in that spot - still working on that issue).

Or should I expose the post, like in the example picture? (although I don't want to have the quartz counter envelop the post, as surely there will be a seam) And "build" the cabinets and peninsula back around the post? And then the short wall should be blue, right? Ugh, just realized that it will be likely impossible to color match paint to Ikea Axstad blue. Can get close, but it will likely be obvious.

You can see from the other pictures that the kitchen is adjacent to the entry, which is quite narrow, and has low 7 foot ceilings. So while the example picture looks bright and airy, my unit is pretty dark. :-( And the peninsula end/corner/ transition will be one of the first things you see.