While not espresso and off white, the first thing that came to mind was 2littlefishies yellow and white kitchen. She had a very informative post about finalizing the color placement.

Here is a link that might be useful: two color kitchen color placement

IMHO, it would look best to swap the fridge and the tall cab and make the tall cabinet all white. I think it would be awkward to make the tall cabinet two tone, and less awkward, but awkward nonetheless, to make it all white in the current location.

This is what we're doing - about half the people I asked thought the refrigerator should be white, but we chose the stone color because of dirt/grime/fingerprints, and added the "frame" above the upper cabinets to tie in the colors. the island will be all the stone color (both will have white Ceasarstone counters).

The Houzz photo to which I linked was somewhat of my inspiration. We had actually already picked the cabinet colors and materials when I found this, and I used it to design the framework around the refrigerator and above the upper cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: [Inspiration Photo[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-3-contemporary-kitchen-san-francisco-phvw-vp~3742104)

M_N_A,
We are doing exactly what you said. We just ordered cabinets so no pictures to show.
But here are a couple of inspiration pictures:

[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Hopkins Architects & Designers Kuhl Design Build LLC

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Edina Interior Designers & Decorators INVIEW Interior Design

I think it will be fabulous. Majra's two tone reveal (linked) is one of my favorites. IRRC the manufacturer of her counters requested pictures for promotional purposes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Majra's two tone reveal

SJ's plan is great, but MNA has the additional complication of an adjacent over-the-fridge cabinet, which would have to be dark if the tall cab were dark. That would look nice though I think.

I have a two-tone kitchen and debated what to do with the tall cabs. I went stained tall and over fridge - just what I preferred. But my designer was really helpful - he mocked it up with stained and cream and I was able to see immediately which I preferred.

I would make the tall cabinets the same color as the base cabinets

Here's what I have (and fridge next to a wall is a real headache, ask me how I know. It would be much better to have the pantry there.)

This post was edited by sena01 on Wed, Dec 18, 13 at 4:16

Thanks for the shout-out, kksmama. I still love my choice of two-toned cabinets. Our fridge surround is dark.

thank you all so so much for your comments and sharing the photos. It's really helpful
I am going through 2LittleFishies and Majra's posts

@KathyNY76, do you have more photos of your kitchen?

@sena01, what is the black thing next to the wall? Is it a cabinet or appliance?

somehow it never hit me to have the tall and over fridge cabinet dark color.
Maybe subconsciously I thought it will be too dark but it looks quite nice!

I'm doing the same thing to my kitchen. 1995 oak cabinets. One single wall cabinet fell off the wall a few years ago. Bought a new one from the same company, but they no longer had the exact style or stain. No matter what I did, I couldn't get them to match, even staining all the uppers.
So, I sanded the uppers, painted them antique white, took the doors off and bought a Graco airless sprayer and sprayed them outside on a nice no breeze day. Took 2 cabinets / 4 doors and replaced with frame only and inserted a nice wavy type glass.
The bottoms I have to replace anyway because 3 of the 9 are bad.
So, going to probably buy from Conestoga Cabinets possibly Walnut and stain and finish them myself since I like to finish furniture anyway.

Here are the top cabinets with the new glass.
http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/data/1154/medium/2013-12-08-001W.jpg

I can't get my picture to view in the message like all of you, how do I do that? I tried typing url to jpg file like I do in most other forums and it didn't work

My rationale for the dark fridge surround was that any cabinet that came out of the floor should be dark. I've noticed that it gives an armoire look to the appliance too.

what is the black thing next to the wall? Is it a cabinet or appliance? If you mean the bottom left corner of the last picture, it's a toaster.

@ DIY-her: See this

DIY, save the picture as a jpg on your hard drive. Then when you prepare a post, click on "Choose File" next to "Image file to upload (optional):". When you do that a box will come up that should be self-explanatory.

We just finished our kitchen up and I haven't done a 'reveal' thread yet, so I don't have any nice pictures. I have a couple I've taken to show someone a particular something and they are pretty grainy, construction dust, etc...And we've since painted the dining room the same color as the kitchen:

@sena01, i mean the next to the door on the first photo.

@KathyNY76, thanks for the photos! It look great already. waiting for your official review:)

@Majra, yup, I can totally see your point!

This post was edited by M_N_A on Thu, Dec 19, 13 at 14:43

Oh, sorry for the confusion. The photo was taken during reno. That's a broom and its reflection on the mirror:))

If you can ignore my messy kitchen that is still not ready to reveal yet due to the island lights, here are my dark lowers with a white wall of cabinets. I chose the white to keep my small kitchen feeling larger, plus I like white appliances instead of stainless. Hope it helps.

I found some old drawings of my kitchen with all tall cabs in dark color. Cab sizes changed a little, but this is quite close to what I would see from the single entry I have.

I thought it would be too dark, and so that's why I decided to have what I have now.

This is from the other end, closer to what you'd mostly see I guess.