How dark are you visualizing?
In reality - ours are not quite this dark

Autumn Cherry with black glaze

Took this before we put in the new canned lights.

Pooh - now I remember why you were such an inspiration as I was heading into darker cabs! I also see that analog click in your oven

Mj - dark can be beautiful. Just live pooh pups kitchen!

Just out of curiosity, did you bother with a search for the same topic? Or something similar? These threads aren't new.

I enjoy seeing the kitchens and appreciate the patience of those who don't mind reposting and reposting their gorgeous kitchens. (If I had one, I'd love to show it off!)

But this has been done so many times, you might see things from members who no longer participate because they're done. Don't neglect those possibilities!

Actually, to address another thread, that's a value of old threads being available thru searches and resurrected. It would be nice, though, if one would take note of the date when searching. Another topic! :)

Cherry cabs stained cordovan for perimeter, espresso for island. Brushed Black Pearl on perimeter, something called Dry Leaf on island.

Thanks. Like I said, my cabs are dark and my floor is med. dark and was trying to visualize. I have done searches, but thanks for the reminder. The white kitchen seemed to be such a hit, I thought this might become one as well, with newer photos. Everywhere I look, it seems to be white, which looks beautiful, but my DH put his 2 cents in and insisted on stained wood. As I am making all of the other decisions, I thought I'd give him that one;)

Thanks for sharing the photos!
a2gemini, yours was one of the kitchens that helped steer me towards the darker tone. I was considering a lighter stain, because I didn't think there would be enough contrast between the floor and the cabs, but yours is BEAUTIFUL!
Poohpup- I love the ORB pulls on yours and am right now deciding between that and pewter. So difficult! Your kitchen is beautiful too!
Bellsmom- I see that you did 2 different counters. I have put that out to my DH and he didn't go for it. Maybe I could show him how great yours looks, so he could get a picture in his head. Beautiful, also.

This was my reveal. You can see the difference in going from the cream cabs to stained cherry. My kitchen actually looks bigger, even though I kept the same basic layout, and it's certainly more elegant and richer looking now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Small galley reveal

Mj
Thanks for the complement. I find I still, after 18 months, really like the kitchen.
FYI:
I did two different countertops because there are two different cab finishes. The Black Pearl looked wonderful on the rich dark red cordovan, but died on top of the almost black espresso. The Dry Leaf on both was too much contrast for the look I wanted.

If I had used the same cab finish on both perimeter and island, I don't think I would have wanted different countertops. But I do like the way the light countertop on the island is an eye-pulling accent in the center of the room, so maybe I would have.

Re: pulls.
I had the same situation with the pulls as with the countertop. ORB pulls were my choice. But they were great on the cordovan, not great or even good on the espresso. Brushed nickel was too flashy if I used it everywhere, so I used brushed nickel on the espresso, ORB on the cordovan, both sets in the same design and size. Works for me.

hi mjher..

By day..

by night..

KA:)

Oh, my, what beautiful kitchens! I have always preferred a beautiful wood kitchen! Our home is quite modest compared to others here. But here is our kitchen.

Here is my reveal. We had natural maple cabinets that had yellowed considerably, and had them stained darker.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dark stained maple reveal

If you want to see modern dark cabinets here's our kitchen. We kept the uppers at a minimum to keep the area from looking too dark.

Dark cabinets look awesome! After looking at those before shots that were either white or light wood and then dark, the dark looks so much richer, warmer and more inviting. Thank you so much for sharing.
Ginny-the darker cabinets look soo much better. It's hard to believe that your kitchen looks so much bigger. I always thought lighter colours would make it look bigger.
Kitchenaddict-I love the counter and backsplash! I am thinking Praa Sands from Cambria and yours looks similar. What is the backsplash?
Joyce-I love how the window surround is the same as the cabinets and there are no uppers near the window. Might have to think about that, too:) The glass in the uppers looks great!
Anna, your darker kitchen looks fantastic! So much warmer looking than the lighter one.
mary, dark modern looks wonderful too. I love the lights!
Thanks, all. I'm feeling really good about the decision to go with the dark wood:)

So glad to have company and thanks for the compliment on our kitchen. I am hopeful that the weather will be better this weekend to take pictures. Will be watching your progress!

hi mjher..

Thank you..My granite is Delicatus White (Alaska) and my backsplash is Crema Marfil Tumbled Marble.

rtwilliams..I don't think I've seen your kitchen before..BEAUTIFUL!

KA:)

rt-beautiful! I love the paint colour too:) What is that? And the lights. Wow. Such inspiration!

You will love your dark wood cabinets. Remember what my cab maker said, as he explained why he personally preferred stained wood to painted cabinets. He said that with paint, you're looking at the finish, so you see any imperfections like dings or dirt. But with wood, you look through the finish at the wood itself, so you don't notice anything on the surface. I was always washing down my old painted cabs. I still wash these, but if it doesn't happen they still look great.

Part of why my wood kitchen looks bigger than my cream kitchen is because the cabs go all the way to the ceiling, no soffit closing in, so your eye goes up. Also, it's so much less cluttered now because I made homes for everything.

if you want to see espresso cabs, email me and i will send you some pics of our kitchen.

i just have so much trouble uploading pics for some reason

Kitchen addict - Thankyou, I have posted pictures before just never a reveal post.

mjher1 -the walls are SW Khaki Shade, the lights are from Lowes.

I honestly wish I had done a white kitchen, but I was afraid in the open concept space it would be too much white. I am in the Wichita, Kansas area and you do not see white kitchens around here. Although they are starting to show up in new build homes now.

Another thing I would change if I could would be my kitchen sink. I see the large single rectangle sinks and farm sinks and love them.

I do love my kitchen, It is a huge improvement and works in the space. I should stop looking at all the gorgeous white kitchens on GW! I guess I am a grass is greener on the other side type of person : )

Our kitchen is not finished as we don't have our backsplash in yet and we haven't stained our quarter round yet. The cabinets are Fairlawn by UltraCraft in their Destiny line but with solid wood drawer fronts instead of the 5-piece. They are cherry stained Chestnut. Granite is Black Pearl. The floor is a Brazilian hardwood called Timborana. The paint is Newport Tint by Porter Paint that we had mixed at Lowes because there was no nearby Porter Paint store. We used the same color in our primary residence and love it !! It goes good with pretty much any color we put with it. The backsplash will be Jeffrey Court Fire & Ice (coming this winter to a kitchen near you!! : )

Cabinet front picture is from cabinet company and lighter than real life. Also, the stain in real life is more consistent, not as much variation in stain color as their pic shows. Picture with ovens shows true cabinet color the closest. Backsplash picture above belongs to Jodi_in_so_calif.

Ginny, that makes sense! Never thought of it that way before.
angela, your cabinets are beautiful too. That is one huge fridge! Or is it a fridge and freezer side by side? The backsplash idea is great too. I haven't decided on that yet, but I really like that one.
sprt-I will try to email you. I'd love to see the espresso.

Such beautiful kitchens!!! RTwilliams - I am in west central Illinois and people are surprised by my paint and stained kitchen cabinets. It is slowly moving our way. Your kitchen is beautiful!

rtwilliams, love your two tone kitchen!!! Love the open concept with the stain cabinets and white island! Best of both worlds!

You can thank jodi for starting the Fire & Ice craze. You can search and find lots of threads about Fire & Ice and tons of pictures with many different colors of cabinets. And it looks great with all of them from the darkest espresso (morton5) to a natural maple (favabeans5) and everything in between.
https://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&q=fire+ice+site%3Aths.gardenweb.com

It's 2 plain ole' regular top freezer refrigerators bought at Lowe's for $470+tax each. I recessed them into the wall 6" to make them look built in. This home sleeps 26, hence the 2 fridges, 2 dishwashers, 3 ovens, etc. Haha ! http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=293510-2251-FRT18IL6JM