I'm thinking of doing grey CaesarStone counters for my kitchen. Possibly something like the 'Oyster' or 'Urban' greys. My question is, if I have stainless steel appliances sitting proudly on my grey counters, won't it look a little too cold and clinical? Kind of like a grey/silver overload?

Since my kitchen is so small I'm using mainly white (white walls, white cabinets, very light floors). I would have also looked at the CaesarStone 'Linen', 'Haze', or 'Seattle Sky' but they just won't give enough contrast with all the white in the room...I think it would just end up too white.

There are some beautiful lighter (white) counters, but you need to balance white counters out with coloured cabinets or floors which I just can't do, as it would make my kitchen look too small.

sparkelkitty posted this image in a grey cabinet thread.

And white cabs with grey counters are beautiful too

But if you want some warmth, why not pick a warmer neutral for your counter?

These are white cabs with Pebble CS and SS rangetop

Of course your backsplash can help you warm things up as well, but Pebble might be a good option for you.

I was thinking something along the lines of the attached photo here. A warm floor, cool counter, with the walls and cabinets 'keeping out of the way' if you know what I mean. I have seen grey cabinets but the kitchen is directly visible from the living room which has a huge grey floor, so I don't want a visual running line of grey all the way from one room to the other. I do like white. It's neutral. Nobody ever complains about white when you try to sell (which I may later on). But I hear what you say - thanks!

The pebble seems to be a honed surface and has the 'splotches' which I'm trying to avoid. Perhaps those Linen, Haze or Seattle Sky colours may work somehow...I really wanted a grey in between those and the darker Urban and Oyster colours.

The backsplash helps to add a bit of colour here, which is an idea I like.

What about Silestone Unsui? Very uniform, a warm gray, and doesn't look as dark as Caesarstone Urban. On the cooler side, Silestone also has Kensho.

I agree with EAM44 that you don't need to go all white/light to keep your space from looking small. In particular, I don't think the floor color has that much effect and may be an area where you can add some color or warmth.

I have seen oyster and my biggest problem with it is the splotches. I prefer a uniform finish. I was thinking about making the floor a warm colour, something almost like a warm white without being yellow, if that makes any sense. The problem I have with the floor is that it adjoins the living room which has a grey granite floor, and I would like to have a separate colour to visibly separate the two spaces.

But every time I think I've made my mind up, I end up second guessing myself...

I know you aren't asking about floors really, but if you want to visually separate two connected spaces, you might want to integrate the cool color in with the new warmer color with interleaving tiles of grey and cream, for example, so that you get a harmonious transition. This is much larger format than I would recommend for a small space, but will give you an idea.