Hi. We have done a couple kitchens. It was a bit overwhelming. A couple of things we discovered… loved the look of our old kitchen’s black countertops, but it was super shiny…. It showed every fingerprint and smudge. Keeping it looking clean was a battle. I’d aim for the one in your inspiration pic. It doesn’t look too shiny. It might not be as bad as ours at showing the smears. We put didn’t put a pendant over the sink in the latest kitchen ( just can lights). It looked better since there were already pendants over the island. If you are able to go to a lighting store, you’ll get advice and get an idea of the size pendants you should be looking for( Maybe someone on Houzz could advise on size with some kitchen/ island measurements). The lighting stores have a lot of under cabinet lighting choices to explore as well. When it comes to drawer pulls/knobs… I was completely overwhelmed myself. What I did learn from some past mis-choices… make sure you can grab a knob or pull easily where you don’t scratch your cabinets with your fingernails. Sounds weird but we had a set at our last house that seemed fine until we used them everyday at an everyday fast pace. And we scratched up the cabinets and drawers around the pulls🤷‍♀️ frustrating. Good luck.

Thank you for the thoughtful response Chris. I appreciate all of the words of advice and encouragement I can get!!