Have you thought about changing the color of your island and some of the wall cabinets for a contrast color. Blue green or red are nice. Some bold color chairs around island would look great

Dark expresso color for the cabinets, with maybe some green accent in the island, i think mixing in white cabinets will be too much.

jennyloo, I'm jealous! This is exactly the cabinet combo I've been thinking of! Are you planning on the island in the walnut or the white?

Re: the window trim in the sunroom - I don't really think it will look great together. Would it be possible to stain the trim a bit darker? Not quite as dark as the walnut but something a bit closer than the oak it appears to be now.

Sorry forgot to mention the island - we are going to remove this one and have two 5 foot islands (one island down by glass upper cabinets will have seating) in walnut and either dark counter top or light (same as countertop). Also going to move the fridge and stove to far right (by the glass upper cabinets) so that its easier to stay connected to sunroom once we get rid of kids stuff in there and make it s sitting area.
onthefence- what color combo are you thinking of? yes that is my concern that it won't look good but I don't want to replace the cabinets I have with ones almost same color! I may have to do kitchen then stain the windows. Thanks!

This is my inspiration!

Possible to widen the window? Maybe from existing left side to side of glass faced cabs?

There's a lot going on in that corner. Center sink on window, trash pull out to left, DW to the right. The addition of natural light will make Walnut cabinets pop.

yes you are right! we are going to widen window alot and move sink down. Open up the area that is so cramped. but ACWoodworks do you think walnut cabinets will go with the ret of the wood that is throughout room amd sunroom? Really don't want to do white kitchen (although do love them) but worried it may be only choice. thanks!

jennyloo, I'm looking at the exact same combo - walnut lower cabinets and cream/white uppers with light countertops. My kitchen is substantially smaller than yours. I really like the shade of walnut. Espresso is pretty but just too dark for our kitchen and I know I don't want anything with a red/orange tone. My other thoughts have been either rift cut oak or cherry with a gray stain.

I really do like the idea of doing the kitchen then staining the trim to get it a bit closer.

Can I ask for the link to your inspiration kitchen? That's gorgeous! I have a folder full of mixed color kitchens but just seem to keep adding more ;-)

BTW, I really like the idea of enlarging the window as well.

onthefence-it is on houzz posted by The Venegas Company. Lenos MA residence. let me know if you can't find it.
cathy, I will of need be but there is so much trim (also opposite the kitchen in pantry not shown in photos) and other rooms of the house have same wood trim around windows and floor so Im hesitiant to paint one room white and break up the continuity in the house. but it is def an option. thanks for the suggestion!! appreciate all input!!

Hmmmm, tricky. Looks like your inspiration pic shows a clear water based finish, which on Walnut tends to look grayish.

I am a fan of bringing out the grain when using Walnut. Either by using an amber tinted water based conversion varnish or a traditional oil based CV. The latter looks better but is not "green".

If it were mine, I'd go medium brown stain with Shaker full overlay cabinets. The light floors will look great with stained cabinets as opposed to the clear/gray tone of the provided pic.

What sheen do you like?

on the fence you and I have exact same kitchen ideas. i may have to do the stain, easier than paint.

Hey jennyloo121, I also guessed that your whole house had the wood trim and understand your concern that it will take a lot to paint all the trim. Presently, I don't have the perfect way to explain my thoughts but here goes... when window trim and moldings are darker than the walls and surroundings, they draw the eye to the trim only. When you have matching or lighter trim colors, your eye is drawn to the highlighted details in the room and then in a very soft way, outside to the view. The dark trim on the windows draws attention to the window but stops the eye from finding detail elsewhere.

I like the mod look of the table and chairs! Making the window bigger would be a plus. Make it at least twice as wide, and go up to the ceiling if you're really daring. You can also put a low, horizontal window below wall cabinets if the outside of your house would support a modern window config. I'd talk to an architect about it.
Definitely get cabinets that don't have that fake-antique look. Flat fronts, solid glass, color rather than wood, or mix it up, simple pulls. Don't fear color! Ikea even has some cool cabinets, but it's a challenge to make them not look like Ikea!

Found and ideabooked the inspiration photo jennoloo. It was really helpful with a few other thoughts I've had. Thanks so much! It looks like we really do have very similar ideas -- right down to the colors we're looking at for backsplash. I've saved quite a few and with a couple exceptions, they're all very similar and very similar to yours as well ;-)

I understand what you're saying about not painting the trim. I can see the trim in a lot of places in just the few photos that you posted. My personal inclination would be to stay with the wood but to stain a bit darker in the areas where it seems to clash with the kitchen. My un-expert hope for you is that because the continuity of wood trim was maintained, a slight difference in stain color won't be noticeable.

White kitchens are lovely. I just think the mix of walnut and white is really striking and I hope we both get to do this!

I prefer white cabinets and dark colour like black countertop. That will make your kitchen look brighter and lager. But if is not possible to change so many things, can the window be widen? That will help a lot. It is better if you add some accent colours like green in this kitchen especially on the island because it is a little bit boring right now.

Using grey cabinet and white top to make a modern style. It is a stronger contract than now. making the window bigger to allowed the more sun shine goes into the room. buying some applications with a stainless steel surface. darker wood floor fit this kitchen.

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