What is your countertop budget - wood, quartz, real stone?

Will you get under cabinet lighting?

Are you getting recessed lighting in the ceiling or doing something to improve your overhead lighting?

This all goes into what colors I would consider for countertop and backsplash.

Obviously the attention is in the direction of the windows out to the back.. you can do something at the backsplash for interest but id say its optional. bring in various samples and see what you end up liking. paint all the window trim white? id skip that part , but anyway…

Budget-wise we don't want to go crazy but we're willing to spend for good quality and durability. We want quartz countertops and were possibly thinking to have part of the countertops quartz and a smaller section as butcher block... not sure if that will work or look great but we thought of it as an option.

We are thinking about removing the light fixture that's currently facing the cabinets and going with recessed lighting and we do plan to have under-cabinet lighting.

The ceiling light fixture needs to go and recessed lights, under-cabinet lighting will make a huge difference. Get new lighting in before you paint so you get a sense of actual color in your home. As far as counters, do you like light or dark counters? I love my black quartz counters with teeny flecks of white and subtle teeny sparkle flecks as well with white cabinets. White and lighter counters will need to work with your white cabinets.