Anita,
I was talking with a cabinet specialist/interior designer. She stated that you do not need to do exactly the same cabinets everywhere. Years ago, the contractors or spec home builders ordered exactly the same for kitchens and bathrooms because it was easier and they did not need to put effort in selecting and combining. That is how there are a lot of houses that look blend.
If you want the custom home look with some caracter is better to do different colors, woods or style and also different countertops (materials or colors) to create different atmosferes.
Making them different does not mean making them cheap.
For example if your mudroom does not have a window you could use a very light color.
I went to a parade of homes and most of the house had different color or style for the powder room, the kitchen the laundry and the bathrooms and most of the times they tie everything together with the pulls, hardware or faucets (using the same material and finish in the pulls)
I am amazed how the mud room is so important now a days.
Good luck!

Hi Anita - I redid our mudroom in conjunction w/ the kitchen renovation and I copied the lockers that I had just done in our last house (we moved across country unexpectedly). It's a design that I came up with after being frustrated over kids boots/shoes being left all over my old mudroom floor. I love this particular locker design because it incorporates two spots for shoes AND a spot for boots (rain or snow boots) for each kid/locker PLUS it has a drawer for seasonal stuff (hats/mittens, lunchboxes, scarves, sports gear) and it has a shelf above for more stuff. The space is an L-shape and on the short end I did a bench for DH and me w/ hooks above on the beadboard wainscot but left it open below for some of our shoes. At the corner of the L, I did square cubbies where I keep water bottles and backpack snacks, video cameras, extra sports gear etc. Along the wall opposite the lockers, I continued the high beadboard wainscot and put up hooks for guests' coats and bags. It's not a huge space but it really works great! Here's some pics:

Marthaelena, can you help give me a more specific recommendation on what might look good? Because I started out thinking I could change materials and just couldn't hit on an idea that would work. Kitchen will be warm contemporary with medium stained shaker cabinets on cherry; dark granite or soapstone, and oak hardwood floors.

The kitchen is at one end of the mudroom, and at the other is the back hall and then the laundry. Laundry floor is tile that relates to the kitchen backsplash but basic white slab melamine cabinetry. So I feel like a third look in between might be too much. I can see keeping the same color and switching from shaker to slab in the office/mudroom area, for example, but I have a harder time picturing switching to a different wood tone.

Maybe something like this - maybe I paint my island and then carry that color into the mudroom? I am one of those people who cannot figure out how to put things together visually. I know what I like and what I don't when it is done, but I have a very hard time visualizing what will work and what won't.

mnhockeymom, love your lockers. Who did yours - cabinet company or finish carpenter? I want something very similar with the bottom portion being deeper than the top, and then I'll have cabs with doors over the top. At the end of the run I'll have my spare refrigerator. We also have one locker with a door that is dedicated to shoes as we have many, many shoes and they all live in the mudroom. We take off our shoes as soon as we come inside so the kids don't have any shoes upstairs at all. DH and I have some but most are mudroom-based.

Anita

we used these in our mudroom. they come unfinished and in a number of styles. i painted them and installed them myself over a weekend.

they're great. very sturdy and good-looking. less than a thousand bucks for the whole project (four lockers).

Here is a link that might be useful: arthur w. brown mudroom cabinets

Here is our mudroom. It matchs all other cabinetry in the house. I love them.

nomoreblue - I had my cabinet maker make them from my design. They're done in the same stain and glaze combo as some of the cabs in my kitchen but the wood for the mudroom is alder whereas the wood in my kitchen is cherry.

Here are my lockers: