Is this what your granite looks like, more or less?
{{!gwi}}

I wouldn't be so worried about polish on the granite. I'm a little more concerned about this:

The wall color I selected is similar but a bit lighter

That is a pretty high contrast kitchen, between white and fairly deep browns. The floor is the one midtone element. A lighter wall color will produce a different effect. What color did you choose?

I think so, but you may have to tweak the paint color and backsplash.

I'm not super-familiar with brown antique, but I think honing would ruin it. I would definitely see it honed in person before doing it. And I agree with Marcolo that the polish isn't going to be a problem.

A lot of people love jbrodie's kitchen, so you're in good company! It isn't the white inset cabinets and soapstone that make it so special - so many people have those! The trick is to figure out what exactly makes it so special to you.

When I was looking for pictures of brown antique I found this picture that was once posted by boxerpups (who else?):

I believe this has brown antique and full overlay cabinets, and while it isn't is special as jbrodie's, with a cozier layout it could be. You might take a cue from this and go with lighter walls and a darker (but not dark) backsplash. Just a thought.

Interestingly, this photo also has high contrast white and brown, plus a medium tone. In this case the dark is on the countertops and the floor, the medium tones are on the chairs and range wall. Pendants are dark in both.

I think I agree, I like jbrodie's better. In addition to the cosier layout, the pops of black are also important.

Marcolo-Thank you so much for responding. I've seen some of your design board threads and you are so talented!

So, yes, that is my granite. I should add that I have selected a medium brown stained island with the same Brown Antique granite. I noticed that all of my inspiration kitchens had a mix of painted and stained wood. Although I love the all white kitchens, they're not me and the I've felt like the contrast in the white kitchens with the dark granite with no stained wood always looked too harsh for me. Also, we have a lot of heavy trim and I am afraid the house would be too white if I only had painted cabs.

I was wondering about the wall color too. I chose SW Universal Khaki for most of the first floor, including the kitchen. It is an open floor plan, but with heavy trimmed arches as visual dividers. There is a morning/keeping room off the kitchen with large windows on each of the three walls and wainscoting and it will be painted SW Retreat. I selected SW Superior Bronze (two down from Universal Khaki) for the dining room, which will also have wainscoting.

So, what do you think? How can I achieve something like that beautiful kitchen? Also, do you have any sense of what kind of look and feel the kitchen I have planned will have? If it will be different from than picture yet still have a similar feel, then I'm ok with that.

Again, thanks for taking the time to help me out. It is so hard for me to make these decisions about such an abstract space. We just started framing!

I also think jbrodie's picture has just the right amount of "stuff." This one gets a little busy with random plants and candles and jars of peanuts(?) all over the place. Bring on the green apples for goodness sakes!

Thanks mpagmom! I think that's a beautiful kitchen too, but like Marcolo said, not as cozy. It feels more formal to me. Why? But, it does help me feel confident again that I love Brown Antique and that I don't need to hone it.

As for the backsplash, I know it's trendy, but I love the cream subway tile I chose. I also love the darker colored glass subway tile, but that's out of the budget at this point :-)

You are choosing a lot of medium tones rather than the dramatic ultra light and ultra dark that your inspiration has. Your kitchen can not look at all similar unless you eliminate those medium tones. Editing your choices to be in line with your design vision is how you achieve that design vision. You simply do not choose items that do not fit that vision, like the medium paint and medium wood island. If you are firm in your choices, then you have to change that design vision. Find a new inspiration kitchen with less of an emphasis on contrast.

I would love your kitchen with your choices just as much as the one you admire perhaps even more since I love the full overlay and brown antique. I would hesitate to hone brown antique, I have seen it that way and hardly recognized it, it just seemed sad to do that to a stone with such depth. But it's your kitchen and you are the one who has to live and work in it. Wishing you all the best! It is going to be beautiful. You could use a different granite on the island since it's darker in color. A light color?

So here's the SW Universal Khaki:

White cabs:

Granite
{{!gwi}}

Medium toned cabs (random image)

Here's the keeping room SW Retreat:

Here's the DR SW Superior Bronze:

I am not seeing the repetition of the dark brown color that you seem drawn to.

Did you say what color the floors are?

Ok, my island is more like this

{{!gwi}}

The floors are a similar color.

Also, the sample of Retreat is much deeper than that and not as green. More of a dark greenish gray. But, that whole board you put up is not at all what I am envisioning. I think I need a total color overhaul! Help!

I found that when I watched the Finished Kitchen Blog slideshow, I kept finding certain images attractive, and there were only a few common threads. Do you go for creamy kitchens, or kitchens with high contrast, or both? If you see a creamy kitchen without the contrast, do you dislike it? If you see a pale kitchen with high contrast, do you like it? Watching a lot of images click past might help you isolate whether the contrast in your inspiration kitchen is what is appealing to you. After that, I agree with GreenDesigns, there is an issue of discipline and sticking with the vision.

[contemporary kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by toronto general contractor Boss Constructors Inc.

[traditional kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by

[traditional kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by dc metro kitchen and bath SKD STUDIOSapher/toronto'>toronto photographer Peter A. Sellar - Architectural Photographer

None of your inspiration pics match what you've chosen. You need to make some hard decisions here. Change the medium tones wood island to an espresso and pick a much darker paint and that will be a start.

Don't have a paper fan deck handy, but I wonder how Ben Moore Affinity French Press would look?

or Barrista

Possibly as light as Carob, but you'd have to see a live chip.

GreenDesigns-I see that my other inspiration pics don't match the first one I posted, but I do think I'd be happy in them. They all seem cozy to me. If my island is stained darker, what color should my floors be?

Marcolo-I am going to go by the paint store this morning and pick up some more SW chips in the dark browns. My builder uses SW so it just seems simpler. I have no problem going dark with paint but if I use such a dark color in the kitchen I have no idea what to do in the great room and morning room, especially the morning room because you look right through the kitchen into it.

Apologies to jbrodie for reposting her pix, but she used a significantly lighter color for her great room. It turns the kitchen into a comforting nook in the house.

{{!gwi}}

The picture below is very much what our layout will be like. The kitchen is to the right of the breakfast room table.

To me, jbrodie's family room color looks almost identical to the Universal Khaki I selected. Could I paint the kitchen SW Superior Bronze (two down from Universal Khaki) and leave my family room Universal Khaki? If I do that, I really need someone to tell me what color to paint the morning room behind the kitchen because I'm lost.

I can't help with paint color, but I wanted to pass on some information about your favorite granite I found today. I've been looking at a granite called marron cohiba in a honed or leathered finish, and a couple times I read that it was the same as brown antique. I found that hard to believe since one looks black and one looks brown (to me), but it seems that it is true. Perhaps the name varies based on how black or brown a particular slab is. Anyway, I came across a discussion on antique brown that shows a very good picture of what it looks like honed.

It seems that since there could be a lot of variation in the "brown-ness" of your granite, you probably need to choose paint color based on a specific slab.

Here is a link that might be useful: Antique brown granite

Thanks mpagmom. I definitely agree that honing drastically changes the look. I think the honed looks more gray and the polished definitely looks brown, at least in person. I think the characteristics that I love about Brown Antique are lost when it is honed, so I will stick to polished.