I live in an apartment and my landlord has pretty much given me free reign to do what I want with the place. I HATED the kitchen before. The walls were yellow, the cabinets were cream, the countertops are a taupe color, and the back splash is mauve and grey. Nothing went together, and the cream cabinets looked super dirty.

I have plans to paint my counters black (not worried about toxicity because I do most of my food prep on the kitchen table since there is very little room).

Now that I feel like everything flows really well, I need some suggestions on curtains. I was thinking of something with light pink. There is already a lot of grey, so I want to bring out more color, but I don't want anything too dark.

Attached is a rather poor picture of my kitchen because the photo was taken at night but there's also a link to my Picasa album with a couple more:

True black would be pretty dominating. How about a charcoal gray for a slightly softer effect that would continue your gray and pink theme?

I really like what painting the cabinets has done. That backsplash really pops and gives a very distinctive geometric look. A light but definite pink as the major color in a fabric that has gray or gray and white (or?) print would look great. I'm thinking the little scalloped wood trim doesn't quite go with the bold tile, so maybe go with the winner and pick a fabric that goes well with the geometric lines of the backsplash?

The backsplash definitely doesn't go with the scalloped trim, but neither did the cream cabinets, yellow walls, and tan counters. All of these colors really competed with each other. It's so much more pleasant on the eyes now, and I can't believe that I've spent less than $50.00 so far.

My apartment is somewhere in Central Florida over a little garage. ;) I do love it, but I'm slowly outgrowing its 425 square feet.

As for what to do with the counter that doesn't cost anything and be nice? Dunno. A thin 4x8 sheet of laminate would cost about $30 and on up (temptation lurks everywhere--you can't even look at displays of stuff like this without craving next price tier) and can also be another remarkably effective investment. You'd also need to borrow or rent a router, buy glue, etc., but on the plus side you have nice square edges and a standard drop-in sink, and you'd feel like you could probably install a whole new kitchen afterward. :) For your own place maybe, though.