I'm bumping this for you. It's been a busy posting day and it might get lost. Usually people have a lot of suggestions for this kind of thing.

I think maybe the thing is that you have so much chosen it's hard to tell what you need help on! Cabinet color and wall color? Is that about it, except the toekick thing that I can't help with?

I think I'd stay with a creamy color for the cabinets, rather than white, because it seems the white would be kind of stark with the laminate and black appliances. The backsplash tiles in browns clinches my opinion. But I don't think that's too light...I think it'll brighten up the other choices and the room, as a whole.

Maybe wait til the rest is done to decide backsplash accents, etc?

I am looking at your cabinets and thnking that they are beautiful with your surface choices (tile/stone/laminate). I'd think long and hard before I painted that wood. It has started to develop a nice patina, and the cabinet proportions are fairly nice for the room.

If the finish is scuffed and nicked there are several products on the market that will basically dissolve the existing finish and let you smooth it out and let it dry again. A bit more work than paint but the results can be pretty incredible. Minwax makes a good one.

The pulls and things have to go.

Hardware in brushed nickel or satin chrome or something similar with faucet/pulls and sink all kind of matching.

Can't see what texture you've applied to the wall - hopping it's a Venetian plaster type of thing. Would look wonderful if you did a tea-stained effect - parchment with a few tan-coloured blotchy areas in the corners and where the walls meet the ceiling - think 15th century monasteries.

Hard to see what is going on with the floor, but I think it would be nice if you could get a higher degree of contrast there. Perhaps a nice laminate in a tone that is similar to your stone tiles...or something very, very dark.

Another possibility - if you end up with parchment walls and IF the current flooring is a stone tile - would be to stain or paint the existing floor to make it look old. Not sure exactly how to do this but it must be possible.

The things that really make a kitchen wonderful are the architectural details so I say go for as much crown moulding and finishing as you can. Brackets, corbels, crown, casing, rosettes, whatever you can work in without going too much OTT. If you use plainer/simpler profiles they'll look well with everything else.

As far as the baseboard goes - are you sure that you want to remove the recess for your toes under the cabinets ?? It is there for a very practical reason!

Behind the stove...I would probably try to cut the stone tiles into 2" wide pieces and use them to border a block of the glass mosaic. Be careful about incorporating too many different colours and textures - you have four happening now and that is plenty.
Good luck !! - keep posting so that we can follow your progress.

About the textured wall

Your tile choices are good color selections, but there is a big contrast in textures there. You should look at pencil trim or other tile molding above and below the glass tile. This will help transition between the two textures and set it off from the stone. You could also use it to outline behind the stove. I have been seeing the mix of glazed/glass tile with matte or stone tile a lot lately in show houses and displays, but mainly with a trim to make it look intentional. Turning the 4" on the diagonal above could be little busy. You want that beautiful glass tile to stand out. Look at putting the 4" on diagonal only behind the stove and give it a mosaic look. I know this is the opposite of sailormann, but that's what getting advice is all about.

Wait on cabinet paint until everything else is done. The colors you have chosen could work great.

Crown molding pieces are available in small sizes. Unless you really want to remove the soffit, try that first. You might be able to get some to fit your cabinets as they are. Also look at a cabinet trim called "light rail" for the bottom of the uppers.

Are you thinking of removing the toe kick at the bottom of your cabinets? Don't do that. As sailormann said, it's there for a reason. I once had a built-in hutch without a toe kick in my kitchen and I banged my toes everytime I went to get something. It's the one thing I remember about living in that house and we sold it 18 years ago!

Hope this helps.

I agree with waiting on painting until counter and backsplash is done. Right now looking at what you have selected I think a creamy off white would be beautiful especially with the brushed nickle hardware you mentioned.
I had all my kit done with no toe kick except the sink and so far it has not caused a problem at all.

Okay, yes I realize I was a bit eager posting the first post! A lot to think about, but I am questioning almost everything! LOL

Sailormann, I'm not sure what you would call the texture on the walls. I used a 4" spackling knife, slapped some mud on the wall, and painted over it. If that is a technique at all!

Forget about the toe kick thing or taking the soffit out. After my initial thoughts, I decided it's too much work for right now, but I do want to look into the suggestions about the mini crown molding...thank you! Or I could keep the cabinet tops as is and put crown molding around the ceiling?

The wood color for the cabinets has got to go. Sorry, I do love wood, but I hate the orange color. :(

The floor is currently laminate. Not decorating around the floor though because we'll eventually change it...just not right now.

Okay, here are my questions...

1. I'm completely lost with the backsplash. I really do like the glass we picked out. I think it flows with my style and with the browns we have throughout the house/kitchen. What I'm unsure of is the stone that we have to go with it. Does it go with the glass? The glass does have a few scattered pieces of what looks similar to the stone which is why I picked the stone in the first place. I have changed my mind about the thin line of the glass all the way around. We have so little counter space, that everything that is sitting there will cover up the glass unless it is a thick line. Should I go all glass? Or is that overpowering for a small kitchen? If I mix in the stone, I think steff was probably right in that it will be too busy to turn it also. Could I do something like this (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/ny/3.25kitchen1.jpg) with a thicker band of the glass all the way around with the stone as a trim on top and bottom?

2. Do you have any color suggestions for the cabinets? I agree that I don't want a bright white, but I also don't want ivory...it seems a little too country-ish for me, and we're a bit more contemporary. I would like something creamy, not bright white, but not too yellowish either.

3. We picked out a black sink. I think it flows with the counters, but just wanted to make sure I'm not making a bad decorating decision since I've never done anything like thie before!

Okay, I know that's a lot, but bear with me as I get started! Thank you!!!

One more question:
DH and I are disagreeing over the windowsill! Would it be better for him to build a wood ledge for the windowsill and tile over it, or should we buy a wooden windowsill more like this (http://www.onewomanslife.com/home/uploaded_images/kitwindowduring-749696.jpg), paint it white, and tile around it?

I think he is thinking he will tile the windowsill and keep it going all the way up around the window. I'm having a hard time imagining this and think it might be better to texture and paint around the window, put an actual windowsill in, paint it the same color as the cabs, and tile just the backsplash, keeping a straight line across.

I don't know...maybe we'd have to decide on what we're doing with the tile before we make this decision. This is crazy! LOL

The picture(apartmenttherapy) is great. I really like the glass tile you selected. They are definitely what you should keep. The other tile works okay, but you might look at a tile that is smooth like the ones in the picture.

All glass backsplash might not be too busy. That's a very individual decision. I have seen many that look great and some not so great. The shape of your glass tile is rectangular and that is less busy than the small squares. If you can, mock up a few feet and live with it for a while.

You could do both crown at the cabinets (small) and the ceiling (larger). If you do the ceiling, you might need to run the crown into adjacent rooms.

For cabinet paint, consider taking the deeper colors from your glass tile. If you like the dark color, you might be able to stain the cabinets a chocolate color and get rid of the orange. Check out the new thread on trends today. Seems we might be moving away from white and cream.

One new thing I noticed this time. If you can replace the spindles on the half wall with a square post it will give you a more contemporary look.

For the sills, there are a number of finished kitchens in the FKB with sills done all different ways. Tile usually works best if the window is deeper than standard. From what I can see, I wouldn't recommend running tile all around the window.

The black sink. That's a decision that is harder to change than some of the others you are making. You might want to post a question getting feedback on the black sink. Be sure to include the type of material and under/overmount info.

As for the crazy part. It's tile, paint and some pieces of wood. If you need to, put it aside and focus on really important things in life for a few days. Don't worry about bad decorating decisions, you have made some good selections so far and whatever you do will update your home and add to your enjoyment of it.

Thank you, Steff! You're a great help!

Decisions made today:

1. Wooden windowsill with no casing underneath. I didn't realize until the Lowe's guy pointed it out that the tile will create a ledge underneath the casing because it will be thicker than the thin part of the casing. Works better with paint, not tile backsplash. Oh well. Still doing the plain wooden white sill.

2. I think I also decided on some paint colors for the walls today. I'm going to try to bring some color into the kitchen by painting the walls above the sink and stove a light green. It looks sage to me, but the color is called Olive 4 on the Laura Ashley. It's a really soothing color but still bright enough to blend with the greens and blues in my LR which are on the brighter side (or more saturated as the paint guy called it). Then on the pantry wall (not much of a wall) and my big wall, I'm going to go with a dark brown called Coffee Bean. It will be dark, but I think it will be striking, especially since the LR color is a light khaki along with the rest of the house. It will give it some depth in here. Also found what I think might be a good color for the cabinets. Not too yellow but not too white. Paint chips

3. Still thinking on the backsplash. I think you might have a thought there with the mocking it up. Might try that. Also not taking the tile around the window but texturing and painting that instead. Definitely think you were right on that one.

Love your idea on the spindles too!

Thanks, SCgirl. Glad I could help.

Good to know you are making decisions. I saw some of your other posts and see you are getting great responses from the group.

Just this morning I saw a post here with glass tile mixed with almond subway tiles. You might consider that for your backsplash. Very current and timeless at the same time. If I can find it again, I will link you in. Because your glass tiles are linear the subway tile shape might just enhance the shape and not compete. I also saw a post of the glass tiles with stone 4" done square and then diagonal above. Their glass tiles were square, so they worked a little better with square stone tiles.

Love the chocolate brown on one wall. I will work on the other paint colors for you and write back. Mixing different blues and green paints near each other can be a little complicated. Love the chocolate brown on one wall. I have a light khaki color in my FR and one darker accent wall of a dark olive that runs into the kitchen.

Is there green in the glass tile? It's hard to see colors correctly on the computer.

Don't pay too much attention to color names. A color can change a great deal from light to dark along the same value scale, becoming warmer or cooler depending on what it is mixed with.

Found it. Scroll down for the pic of subway with glass tile.

Here is a link that might be useful: Subway with glass

Subway tiles might be something. Do you happen to know what the material is on that green wall (the one with the green mosaic from apttherapy)? The dark above the mosaic is so pretty, but the almond might be just as pretty. The colors in the glass that I have are dark brown, khaki, cream, and then there is a stone or marble (not sure of the type) that is a creamy color as well.

I'd love the links to those pics if you run across them again!

There is no other green or blue paint in my house. I'll get a pic of the LR today and post it here so you can see. It's a wreck right now from dinner guests and children last night! :) I have a khaki color in the rest of the house, but I have a green oversized chair in the LR and green and blue curtains that really look all green from a distance. Actually that's really the only blue in the LR. I think the chair and curtains really blend with the green paint chip that I posted above. If you have more ideas, though, I'd be glad to hear them...just wanted to make sure you knew there were no other green walls competing.

Thanks!!!

Thought I posted this earlier, but can't find it. Here it is again.

The tile in the photo looks like porcelain 6x12.

You can also google "porcelain slate" for more options.

Here is a link that might be useful: Porcelain tile

I looked at the paints you posted and if you want to paint green above the sink and stove, you will need to have it directly relate something else in the Kitchen scheme. This would mean you would need to find a glass tile that has the green in it or go with a totally neutral backsplash like the 4x4 tiles you are showing with the glass tile. A viewers eye will look for a relationship between the paint color and the backsplash or other features in the room and not find it. Even if those colors exist in an adjacent room, the relationship needs to be clearly there in the Kitchen. In this case, I don't think matching accessories will get you there either.

Now for a little design editorial. I think the basic design concept that you should bring colors from one room to another throughout the house is a good one, but has been overused. The theory is that having each room relate makes the house flow. Whether that works or not really depends on a lot more factors. The premise is that each room should not be a completely different color, yet in some cultures it is the norm to paint each room a completely different color and looks quite wonderful in context.

Okay, enough of that. In effect, you do have a color relationship between your rooms already and it is your basic neutral Khaki. There are some advantages to keeping the backsplash completely neutral if you want to use accent paint colors. You can change your color scheme very easily without having to change tiles. Basing your scheme on the neutral allows you to paint accent walls while the overall effect remains pulled together.

Either choice is a good one. It's what works best for you. If you decide to keep the glass tile as you originally selected it, and still love the green, try to find somewhere else to use it. I used my green in the Laundry room.

Okay, so any color in the kitchen is out unless I use the same color tile? Because all of the tile is tans/creams/browns, I was thinking it would be easy to put a splash of color in the room because all the rest of the colors are neutral. I'm not worried so much about tying the two rooms together. I just wanted a splash of color in the kitchen and picked this color because it blended enough with the living room since the two rooms are open to each other. It's not the green that I'm in love with or having to stay with...just the idea of having a little bit of color but not having the tile colored. I hope I'm making sense.

I did decide to keep the glass tile in a thin line across the bottom of the backsplash...one 4" tile straight across the bottom, then 4 rows of glass, then the rest of the space above the glass will be the 4" straight. Above the stove, I think we will put the glass tile also...not sure exactly how yet...maybe with a pencil trim?

I definitely want the tile to stay neutral, no color, unless there would be some way to incorporate the color above the stove, but then we're talking about the 4", the glass, and then something else above the stove. I definitely love the glass tile. I definitely want the chocolate brown paint. So does that leave me with only having one choice of the rest of the walls having to be tan? Or are there any other options to tie a bit of color in?

Thanks!

I can see your point about having some color on the wall. It is difficult doing this through photos, etc. without the actual samples in front of me. My opinions are based on my experience and what I know will look best. That doesn't mean you can't have color. Okay, you want color. Let's go with that. Paint is pretty cheap and easy to change. The type of accent color you refer to definitely needs to be different enough to make it clear that's what you are doing. That's much harder to pull off. Since you are tiling behind the stove, the area of paint gets smaller and you can have more fun with it. Even in small sections that glass tile will have an impact. Since the brown seems to have a lot of red in it and red and green are complements, you could go that direction and consider it a complementary scheme. The window treatment could be used to bring it together.

Regarding the tile border behind the stove: Have you decided on the neutral background tile? Depending on what it is, you could use that. A liner is great too.

Steff, I think you have great ideas, and I really appreciate all the time and thought you're putting into my kitchen! I can't tell you how much it helps me. I think I'm going to wait until the counters are in (probably 2 weeks) and reevaluate. Maybe I'll get a better idea of what everything will look like?

I think you're asking me what tile I'm putting with the glass, right? Here is the pic of the glass again...

...and I did decide to use the tumbled stone with it...

I'll keep one line of the stone on the bottom (straight), put 4 rows of glass in, and put the stone the rest of the way up to the cabinets (also straight). Then above the stove, I'm thinking about putting a block (not a single 12" block but however big will look right in that space) and bordering it with the 4" stone...maybe add the pencil trim around the glass for a border.

Is that what you were asking?

I came up with a color that works well with brown. The color is aqua. It is more blue than the Olive 4 and is very stylish right now and there are plenty of really nice accessories and window treatments available to tie it all in.

Hope this helps.

That sounds so pretty, but aqua really would clash with the LR since the two rooms are open and right next to each other. :(

I guess I thought that green/brown looked good together? Both earthy. Not so much? I really could just paint the other walls khaki. It's not really a big deal. Was just trying to pull some color in there so it wouldn't end up looking drab.

Here is a completely ugly pieced together picture, but I was trying to get an idea of how this would look. Not sure. LOL

Hey Steff, sorry you've been helping me blindly! Here's a pic to give you an idea of what I'm working with. Excuse the mess! :)

Are those paint chips stuck in the cabinet door? Looks just like mine. I'm trying to decide on cabinet color now also.

If you go with the stone tile, you can either use a tile pencil trim or molding that matches the stone or take sailormann's advice and cut pieces of tile set on the diagonal.

How much of the light green do you have? Can you switch the furniture so the green isn't in line with the window and do whatever color you want.

Yes, do you think I could get away with just double-sided taping them all over the cabinets? LOL

Tell me why again you don't think green will work in the kitchen? Maybe I wasn't understanding. I was thinking you were thinking that only browns would work, but you suggested aqua, so I am confused now!

Curtains and chair are green...the curtains currently are directly in front of the chair. You're looking at the back door...the front door is in front of the green chair across the room with a wall of windows. The LR is super small, so there is no room to move furniture and no way to hide the colors from flowing as you move through the house. Which is fine if I stick with all browns, but if I'm going to throw any color in there, it should probably be greens.