THank you sooo much! I will do just that. I've been wracking my brain on what to do!

I have medium oak color stained cabinets and black appliances and a lighter colored floor. I wish I had gone with lighter cabinets because I can never get enough light in kitchen - even with a small window and sliding glass doors.

Good to know! I don't want a dark kitchen. I look at pic's on here of dark colored cabinets and with the lighting they look great. How do I know how it will look in my kitchen?! I don't want to make the wrong decision in our new home. We'll have 4 recess lights and 2 dome lights, with a window and sliding glass doors so I'm hoping that's enough light! Also will go with light backsplash and counter tops ;-)

You will probably end up adding undercounter lighting in the near future. That light will reflect even more with your lighter counters. I love having a couple small lamps in my kitchen as well. It makes it very inviting. (And...you can add more recessed lights or stronger bulbs in the future)

I never thought of putting small lamps, good idea. Under counter lights would be nice but too pricey for us at this time. Stronger bulbs would work but I worry if I go higher than the wattage it states to use. Thanks, I like the small lamp idea for now.

use LED recessed bulbs, and LED bulbs in the dome lights if you can.
they're a little more expensive, but they're MUCH brighter. they last longer too.

I love this kitchen with black appliances:

I do too. THanks for the picture! That really helps!

Now I'm thinking it may be too dark. I won't have THAT much lighting! Boy that room is bright. I just we could afford stainless steel and then I wouldn't have to design around black appliances :-(

Micki, the LED lights I just had installed are nearly blinding me. They are 65 watts each. I have them on dimmers and I'm still not used to it.(BTW, LED bulbs will not dim down all the way like incandescence. These only dim about 50%) Much of it depends on the time of day and whether any daylight is softenening it by adding to it. Yes, just the LED light at night is hurting my eyes its so bright. Believe me, there are too many variables that can make or break this scenario. I loved these same lights(3 of them plus sconces) in my tiny bath but not so much in my kitchen. My new paint is semi gloss and is a creamy yellow in the kitchen. This reflects the light that the wallpaper used to absorb. My shiney oiled cabinets are reflecting and bouncing the light around. The appliances can reflect or absorb the light depending on how shiney they are. Its not all about stainless or not. Don't use flat paint on your ceiling. Use semigloss! My bathroom has a matte finish creamy subway tile and a greyish purple paint. Again, its semi gloss but the light is not glaring at me across the room. I'm assuming my ceiling heights are the same in both rooms. So, I think you will find you make adjustments after you move in. Allll this said, its not the colour of the appliances. Its the finish. Its the finish of the appliance, its the finish of the paint, it's the height of ceiling, its the type of bulb sometimes more than number of watts. Its having the glass window reflect light back at night as in photo above. My undercounter LED task lights are bouncing light back up from my white countertop. I've tried decreasing wattage in my lamps bc the lamp now seems so bright. It's got to be the paint. My kitchen was dark before with light olive wallpaper, stainless appliances, flourescent and incandesent lights and potrack. Now my kitchen open and too bright. The appliances never changed. SO THE STAINLESS has not made or broken the room. Neither did the pine flooring or cabinets. Its the lights and reflective value of paint. Good luck! I'm loving my bathroom but the kitchen is not working for me. My cabinets may be too bright? Maybe i shouldnt have put so much oil on them?? LOL. I got my recessed LED lights for $30 each and undercounter puck lights(3 in pack with dimmer) for $44 @ Home Depot. My problem was not and is not the appliance colour. Your black appliances may actually reflect more light if they are shiney than a brushed stainless. You can't worry too much...just move forward and realize there are many variables. Don't kick your black appliances!

So glad to hear all of that! I worry that black appliances are out of style and I'll look stupid in a new home with them. By the way, they will all be brand NEW appliances because they come with the home. The stainless upgrade cost WAY too much. Thanks for the prices on the lights. It doesn't sound too high and I can always get them later. Something to think about with the LED's being too bright. You're right, when I get in the house it will be all about trial and error! It's hard to relax about the whole thing though. I feel this is my first and only chance I'll get into a brand new home and can pick whatever I want! I like the look of oil based painted kitchen cabinets. I bet yours look great! And yes, stainless steel can make everything too shiny. And back to the LED's, I do like to use a dimmer. I'll ask the guys at Home Depot what to do also! Thank you sooooo much! So helpful!

This is the newest line by GE who took a young designer to brainstorm for the new young urban homebuyer. It is so cool looking and certainly you are NOT going to be out of style with black. I am so tired of stainless. I would love to do all black except one punch color stove in red or teal. Check out the website elmirastoveworks.com or Big Chill for all the snazzy colors. They have a snazzy price tag too but they are going to be more commonplace in the coming years and prices will come down. I think upgrades by builders seem to really gouge for that stainless steel because I don't really see that much difference in price in the big box stores. Where I really see the price difference is the brands. Samsung and Electrolux are super expensive compared to Frigidaire for example. I'd want to know what is my appliance allowance from the builder.This new black GE SET all total is about $2500 for the fridge, microwave, dishwasher and stove. I saw a displayat Home Depot and thought how cool, I want that!

Yes that looks really sharp, thanks for the pic! I will show this to my husband and also ask the salesperson for the builder how much the appliance allowance is ;-)

The undercounter LED pucklights are reduced from about $51 to about $44. They are the Hampton Bay with really good reviews. The LED recessed lights were $29, now down to $19. That's the bulb, trim and baffle, I think it's called. It's more than just the bulb but not the metal can part in the ceiling. Some ppl are getting their recessed LED from Costco too for around $20. I could not afford to pay more than double that price for Halo brand.. I've read reviews about how much "delay" there is between hitting the switch and split second before light appears. I wonder if builder would prewire for you at only slight charge extra. Do get cans that have a damper so that they are not losing energy through your ceiling. Make sure to save receipts for energy star things like paddle fans, LED lights etc for rebates from your energy provider. Washer, dryer, caulking...all kinds of stuff..water saver stuff...ENJOY AND CONGRATS!!! (I know...it IS nerve wracking worrying about "Gotta get this right!")

I agree with Royal Kitchen and Bath Cabinets, dark cabinets would look nice with black appliances. We have a couple blogs that may help you when you are choosing the perfect cabinets.
http://budgetmybuild.co/kitchen-design/tips-perfect-kitchen-cabinets/ http://budgetmybuild.co/design-budget/purchasing-cabinets/