post sample of new cab color and tile and some pics of the room as is.

While we are waiting for the pictures i will say that the countertops and backsplash must first look good against the cabinets, second, any painted wall they are in contact with, and then they must not clash or blend too much with the flooring.

Olioboard is a free site where you can put all of your selections together(floor/cabs/BS/lights)if you can't find exact match just put the similar colors together. I found it really helpful to make a "mood board" to see if everything worked together. Of course I made this up after everything was bought--but it turned out great.

Oldgardenrose, I am pleased to see you posting again here. Nice to know both our kitchens will spring to life around the same time.

As far as advising on coordinating all these elements of a kitchen, I'm not good at it. For one thing, I knew going in exactly what I wanted, and did not have to go through the agonies of coordinating. For instance, mine will have light ash wood flooring, white base cabinets, white woodwork, Silestone 'Stellar Snow' on the sink side, and stainless steel counter tops on the cooking side. All stainless appliances. The wall paint where needed will be a soft yellow, with the result that the painted walls and the flooring will be in the yellow family, the countertops will be in the white/gray family, and that's what I'm counting the s/s as too. Any further colors will be from my accessories and dishes and flowers in the garden window. There will be a lot of green visible too, from my garden.

So I'm no help with a wood stained set of cabinets and granite countertops and the Palomino tile floor. You might look for a granite which has a sandy background and then gray flecks in it. That would make it go with the flooring very well, yet not bring in a dominant color to clash with your cab color. I had a piece of granite once that reminded me of hogs head cheese, with some flecks of red (pepper) in it, and it went with my sort of gray asphalt tile floors, knotty pine cabs, yellow walls (I'm a yellow kitchen persona), and then Wilsonart (formica stuff) almond countertops elsewhere.

I really like the Silestone or Caesarstone quartz composite countertops. No sealing ever, stain proof, comes in a solid color if you like, or at least it is monotone not multicolored, antimicrobial, will not mar, and I think the price is competitive with granite. If you have not ordered yet, take a look at that product. I'm 75 and we have the 'Stellar Snow' sparkly gray/white installed for several years now in DH cape cod cottage, and that stuff is fantastic. I cut pomegranates on the surface, which stain everything they touch, and it wipes up without any effort. If you are ONLY 71, (you whippersnapper you) then you might not yet have allergies to chemicals which break out your hands and make chores like sealing countertops a problem.
Anyway, it is a thought. A solid color quartz to match your floors would be a nice light belt to complete an outfitting of your kitchen that could become fairly dark.

Thanks, you'all for the suggestions!

Right now (today) am thinking of going with a dark grey countertop, the light cherry cabinets, and white subway tile backsplash with a stainless steel insert behind the stove. I really need to think about how dark this will make the room look. There will be under cupboard lighting.

Lol, why yes, moccasinlanding, I really AM young (you oldster, you!). I will definitely check out the silestone, as have laminate now that can take all the abuse I can give it. One wall of my kitchen on the south side of the house has a lot of glass that looks out on the backyard.

I had planned on white cupboards and light tan countertop in order to keep plenty of light in here, but DH just has his heart set on the wood look, so we compromised on a lighter wood.

Really am getting excited to get this underway and over with; unfortunately my heart is out in the garden, not in the kitchen.

Thanks again!

OGRose, we'll have to talk more as spring draws near. About growing from seed, maybe about HOSTA (which I've fallen in love with). And please do consider making yourself an album or two of your garden pictures over on Flickr. I think you will love it. And be sure to announce it here, so we can be some of your contacts/friends/fans. You have great gardening style.

Moccasinlanding, will check out Flickr. Now I use photoshop, but have trouble posting many things as the resolution is too large, or something like that...

I love Hostas too, but unfortunately had to cut down two huge cedar elms last year due to high winds and falling limbs, and hostas along with hellebores just can't take the sun.

Hope to get good pics of the finished kitchen, and will definitely post them. Haven't taken any "before" pictures yet, am almost embarrassed to!

The only things I really seed are zinnias, and last year planted native flowers and grasses, have been very happy with the results.

Here's the only picture I've been able to post; after the kitchen and remodel of two bathrooms, THEN I finally get my covered patio!

BEAUTIFUL! You have to enjoy working in your garden, because it is really well tended and planned also. Love it.

I see your high chain link fence is like my back fence....7 foot tall and 100 feet long. I've planted Confederate jasmine...or trachelospermum jasminoides....or something sounds like that? It is evergreen here, and makes a gorgeous privacy fence withing a few years. Maybe in 4 years but by 5 it is very effective....they use it in Italy everywhere, including to climb over arbors, up old stairways, and covering fences to create a living privacy fence. Let me recommend it to you for that purpose. If you like, I'll create a Flickr album about the use of this jasmine in Italian gardens (the ones I saw anyway) in Umbria. Etc. Here the cabana was covered in blooming jasmine, the short fence covered in the jasmine is kept trimmed as a short hedge, no hint of the chainlink frame holding it up inside.

moccasinlanding, tried to send you an email as I am getting so off topic, but it said it failed. Did you by chance get it?
ogrose

OGRose, was it the one which began with checking out the Flickr albums? If so, then I got it. And I got this one, of course, because I'm subscribed to get all posts to this thread.

I'd be pleased to hear your "so off topic" notes. Try again, please.

We remodelled our kitchen last year - natural cherry cabinets with Beleza soapstone counters and are very happy with it.

Prospect, that is beautiful - what is your backsplash?

Have you paid for the cabinets yet ? If not you might want to do a search for "stained maple cabinets--blotchiness". Maple does not take stains well. You can enquire on the kitchen forum and you will get responses about this.
If you leave the cabinets "natural" they will turn yellow.

prospect--your kitchen is lovely but natural cherry compared to cherry stained maple are 2 different animals. I decided against maple after reading about the uneven/blotchy staining. I needed to have cabinets that would look good for a long time. I went with cherry w/coffee stain & soft white painted.

Here is a link that might be useful: one stained maple thread

Nope, haven't paid them anything yet, till we take a look at the quality of their work. Thank you so much for pointing that out about the maple, will be checking on that!

Prospect 711: Beautiful kitchen!!! Would you have liked to have a window on top of your sink? This is the only thing that would bother me not having a window there.

Anicee

ogrose--here's another thread, it is currently running on the "kitchen forum"
hope it helps. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: stained maple thread