I am not boxerpups and have no backsplash information but I am chiming in to say that I love everything about this kitchen. I am going through the dark vs. light cabinet debate in my head now, and think that dark is is currently in the lead (husband is very opposed to white cabinetry for some reason). My fear with the dark cabinets would be that it would make the room feel very cavelike, but this room feels very airy and cozy, yet sophisticated, which is exactly what I would like in my kitchen. Have this pic saved to my inspiration file and will await a reply on sourcing the items here.

I'm currently driving my husband crazy by changing my mind every day. White. No, light gray. No, white. No, quartersawn oak. No, white. How about dark wood? Dark gray?

So that's where I am right now. I've definitely ruled out purple and green. Unless it's a great green.

Here are two black/dark gray kitchens I love at the moment:

So many kitchens, so little time...

mpagmom, we are soulmates. I just posted a kitchen with black/ebony lowers and white uppers that I can't get out of my head... I've actually been thinking about 2 tones, but I go around and around about that, too....

PS - I am also plotting a call to Boxerpups. Just giving myself more time to procrastinate and her more time.

(Hi, Boxerpups. Still thinking about you and your pup, and my pup, too...)

I think it depends on how big the space is and how much light you get....dark cabinets in a large space with lots of light would be beautiful....not so much in a small galley with minimal light....same with black appliances...dark soaks up the light I think. I have a smallish galley with only one slider which faces north onto woods so I went with natural maple cabinets and SS appliances. Dark cabinets or appliances would just bring the room down.

You're so right, joaniepoanie. When I first embarked on this kitchen design months and months ago I thought it would be smallish, closed-in kitchen without a lot of natural light. White or natural maple seemed to be the best choice. I kept going back to white because I've had maple for years and wanted something different. Now my kitchen design is medium-sized and open with an 8-foot wide west-facing window so I really have to reevaluate my choices!

Steph2000, where is the kitchen you just posted? I have to see it. I love how we'll never actually design our kitchens because we're too busy looking at all the fun stuff to put in them. I spent all that time looking for the perfect pendant and now I'm 75% sure I'm not going to do pendants.

Here is the two-tone (or really three-tone) kitchen that I kept coming back to.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

My husband prefers the look of stained vs. painted wood, so that is why I am now leaning towards a darker stained wood unless I can sway him. I was showing him some white kitchens the other night and he was starting to come around. His biggest concern is that they will be hard to keep clean, so when they do end up being harder to keep clean then a stained wood, I don't want to have to admit I was wrong. He would also have a very strong case that I should be the one to clean them. We can't have that, now, can we? But for you other people going with the black/white/gray motif, here is another gorgeous backsplash for you (link below, i don't know how to insert an image into a post)

And on the dark debate, my kitchen has some nice big floor to ceiling windows in the eat in area. Where the cabinets are there is just a smallish window over the sink, so it gets [i]some[/i] natural light, but certainly not an abundance. With the medium oak cabinets that we have now, it doesn't feel super dark to me, but am worried that once we go with a darker stain and to the ceiling it will start to feel like the walls are closing in. Add to that that I wanted black vs. SS appliances (I work in healthcare and it just screams STERILE FIELD! to me) and my concerns increase. I may have to break down and go for the SS just to break up the darkness though.

Here is a link that might be useful:

OK, so I showed my husband the beautiful inspirational picture I love (above) and he hates it. I guess I found the one man in the country who doesn't like dark stained cabinets. Who knew? So for now I'm back to white. I'm still interested in the backsplash and maybe the countertop, though.

Kellienoelle, lots of husbands are skeptical of painted cabinets but they almost always come around. If you like black appliances you could go for black countertops and light or natural wood cabinets.

That is a gorgeous backsplash. Is it glass or marble? Actually I like that kitchen a lot. I like all kitchens a lot, and I think that's my problem!

mpagmom, you posted one of my all time favorite kitchens by designer Jean Stoffer. Have you been to her website? Your (and mine) inspiration kitchen pic is the first pic that pops up on her website's home page.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jean Stoffer Design

Lisa_a, I'm a Jean Stoffer groupie. She even makes wallpaper look good!

And did you check out this backsplash?

I wish I lived near Chicago and had a couple hundred thousand dollars I wanted to spend on my kitchen! Until then I can only dream...

Mpagmom - I know, we are such perfect company for each other, as we go around in circles staring at all the pretties! It's great. (I confess I'm getting more than a little nervous about what this indicates about my ability to actually DO a kitchen, though)

Here's the black and white kitchen. I posted it on the 2-tone thread this morning. I came across it during my luxurious months of lurking and filed it away as an example that 2-toned could work in a small kitchen. In black, no less. In an area without a lot of natural light, apparently. The black looks almost more like ebony or espresso on the island. It's Bossanova's coach house kitchen:

You are, as always, posting lovely kitchens. 3 tones, no less. I think I can definitely say I can't pull that off here. (Whew, something to rule out at last! LOL)

kellienoelle - My partner makes the same arguments about stained cabinets being easier to keep clean. Well, that's close but not EXACTLY true. I have no doubt that wood stained cabinetry gets just as dirty as white - it just is very obvious on the white cabinets. So, you are likely to feel compelled to wash down the cabinets less often and less likely to see a dribble or scuff right away, but it is probably actually harder to clean the stained cabinets once you finally get around to doing it... lol

I'm considering the 2-toned as a way to compromise - but interestingly, echoing you guys, he is not loving it. He -might- actually dislike it. I might be minimizing here...

I love that black and white kitchen. I would totally consider doing something like that if I lived in a cool urban space. But I live in suburbia on a fly over state so I would have to save my old oak cabinets and reinstall them if I ever decided to try to sell. I am not sure how that would go over to the majorities of buyers around here. I also know that I would NEVER be able to sell that to my husband.

That backsplash that I posted above looks like it was a mix of flamed, polished, and honed carerra marble. I love it so much. I have no idea what I searched to find the link, but here is the blog with other pictures, the kitchen is lovely

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

Mpagmom,
Forgive me, I did not even see this post. I wish I could
tell you exactly where to find this tile. I found this
pic on the wild web.

I am sure you can find similar tile at places like
Tile Oasis, Buytile.com,

Meanwhile why not combine your idea of pretty tile
with a contemporary twist with a white kitchen your husband
would like.
~bp

kellienoelle, thanks for the link! I saw that kitchen way back when but couldn't remember anything about it. I love marble backsplashes for the color variation, but the variation in texture takes it up a notch!

Steph2000, that's a great kitchen. I'm sure you'll work out your cabinet choice once you finish your design, so go finish it already! I'll have to do mine because we are building and eventually we will have to order cabinets. I'm still hung up on my island. The design I like best allows for seating for 2, but I know I should really have more seating. It would be helpful if I had fewer kids, but you didn't hear me say that!

I don't know this for a fact, but the backsplash looks like something I recently saw in a tile showroom. Here are the two pictures I took of it - the inside, iridescent tile is what I am saying looks similar. I believe it is made by Sonoma Tilemakers. It is beautiful when the light hits it. If there isn't much light though, it looks dull and flat.

HTH

Thank you, NewSouthernBelle! That looks very similar, and I went to the Sonoma website and found this picture:

I've been meaning to go to a Sonoma showroom, and I think this is the motivation I need.

Where I live, there isn't an actually Sonoma Tilemaker's showroom but several tile store sell that line. I just didn't want you to think it is like Ann Sacks and only available from their store. However, if there is a Sonoma store where you are, maybe that is how they opporate in your location.

You're right - it's the same way here too. The website claims there is a store a few miles from here, but it is a tiny little kitchen store and I'm skeptical. There are a couple stores about 50 miles away, though. I also found them online at Mission Tile. Ann Sacks is something else - the nearest store is 200 miles away. I'll be up that way this weekend, but I won't have time for tile.

Whoa, mpagmom, that was a quick switcharoo from procrastination buddy to slave master. lol I, um, wish I could oblige. I just can't seem to commit to the whole layout thing quite yet. I'm spatially impaired and it makes me very edgy as this isn't a chair I can ask the delivery people to turn around and return upon delivery because it is dwarving my living room. I think the main idea right now is to keep at it and wait until the wall comes tumbling down and see what we see then.

The tiles posted by NewSouthernbelle and you are interesting as they seem to have nearly every colorway except green in both of them. One reads warmer, one cooler, but both have a touch of the other. Nice.

Yes, Steph2000, I'm cracking the whip! Do as I say, not as I do!

Really, I'd take the wall down first, too. I think I even suggested it.

While I was just perusing pictures for you I found a closer-up picture of the inspiration picture way above and it looks a little different than the Sonoma tiles:

Of course, I like this one better because I can't find it!

Yes, and while we wait for the panic and decision crunch that will inevitably come with the wall coming down, I will spin in circles and stare at eye candy and go a million directions, apparently!

You have good ideas, there's little question of that. And great taste. And skillful procrastination techniques.

You want that tile until you find it. Then, not so much. ;)

It really should be illegal to post pics without including the paint color, tile source, etc...

You are right about finding the tile. Then, not so much.

I found this picture of it in a different color. It looks like someone was drunk blogging that night:

I finally found a better picture of it:

That could be it, but it looks a little better in the perfectly-designed, perfectly-photographed kitchen, doesn't it? Where can I get myself one of those?

LOL. We are sick, sick women. We want what we see until we see it, then we aren't sure or we see something else. Is there a therapy for us? ;) The positive reframe is, perhaps, that we like the chase! Oh, the elusive chase! The mystery! The adventure! (gads, I'm exhausted lol)

Well, at least we don't need one (a special therapy) as much as the drunken woman posts some weird angle of a rather weird tile adaptation. Or, perhaps she used blue because it is an ocean motif...for an actual boat that is sinking?

The picture you found, though, is really much better. That is awfully, awfully nice... Mmm, I almost think I like it more than in the perfectly-designed, perfectly-photographed kitchen - until I see more of it. (We'll just call that PD-PP for short from here on out!) I like the green hues in the pic of the tile sample, but not in the drunken/capsizing shot. It almost seems like the surrounding subway tile is doing something icky to the effect?

I like the sinking boat theory.

I resized the PP tile to be the same scale as the one in the PD-PP kitchen, and it looks like it could be the same. OK, since I clearly have nothing better to do (unless you count doing the laundry or sleeping or cleaning the kitchen), I'll post a picture of it with the Sonoma tile picture covering the paper towels.

Look the same to you? It's hard to tell because the resolution and lighting are a little different, but I think it probably is. I may have found it and I stilll like it! That is, until I find out how much it costs. Then I either won't want it because I can actually afford it or I'll have to have it because it's way out of my budget. I'm guessing with a Sonoma glass tile that I'll have to have it!

Well, that's practically magical. Yeah, when you resize it, it gets a whole lot closer, doesn't it? It's probably it, you're right. Funny how the blues look so much crisper in the PD-PP kitchen!

And, you had me cracking up again about the conditions under which you will want it or not want it, which is likely why those sales people inflate the prize, then throw a big discount sale that lasts 3 years. lol