@feisty68: thanks for reminding me. I wasn't able to find older threads, so I thought posting a new thread might help others in the same situation. The house was built in 1868 and has a Mansard roof. Very little architectural detail has been preserved on the inside. The first floor basically consists of three 13'x13' boxes connected by arched openings: a front living room with a bay window, a dining room, and the kitchen in the rear. All rooms have the same red oak flooring in a reddish tone very similar to Adel Medium Brown. The door on the east wall, which is being resized, leads to a tiny room (can be used as a pantry) on the north and the outside on the south. The nook on wall D leads to the dining room. The door on Wall C leads to a bathroom. http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI/Pages/VPUI.htm?LoadDesign=8bf8333e60ed4994bff77dfdf111ee09&UIContext=Kitchen&IsSharedDesign=1 Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Older Thread: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0420205914987.html

For the last decade, I have used SW Westhighland White throughout my house -- all trim (semigloss), all ceilings (in flat), and closet interiors (matte), and even my exterior trim (exterior semigloss)). I think it looks fabulous with everything. I have all sorts of wood tones (natural oak, medium cherry, many antiques), grey paints (including Mindful Grey), and lots of colors (cottage-y colors of blues and greens yellows and even some brighter colors in kids' rooms, etc). I haven't found a color it doesn't look great with. I also have some (cheap) white big box cabinets in laundry rooms, with Westhighland White for the trim (including baseboards) in those rooms as well. This is actually the second house I used it in throughout for trim and closets, and it looked great in my old house, too. Great color, IMHO. Not yellow, not beige, but not cold white, either. I used SW Extra White as my trim color in my first house (over 20 years ago), and, over time, I didn't like how cool it looked, and it also didn't cover very well -- I think because it is just such a pure white. It looked almost purple in some rooms, especially when I used a cheaper SW line for some rooms (never again, but I was a poor grad student back then). Westhighland white has just enough pigments to cover really well in one or two coats (one if repainting white trim or primed white boards, two if being really picky or covering a color). Check out Westhighland White. It's a great color IME, and as my go-to white for 11 years, I still love it and can't imagine not loving it. (FWIW, I use Duration for walls and have recently discovered Masterhide -- tinted to my color -- for ceilings. Great coverage and much cheaper than the ceiling paint.)

Go look at slabs in person. Some I thought I liked I hated in the showroom. I am not into the very large veiny quartz counters that are out now, I like simple with some small pattern within. We went with santamargherita vermont (opus stone) and are very happy with it. A subtle pattern and true white background, didn't want yellow or gray.

Call me crazy and soooo out of style, but I used Crema Bordeaux with black cabinetry and very light gray island. I like color and movement. Oops: Edited to say mine is granite; you were asking about quartz. Yep, out of style on that, too, but I've been using granite for 30 years, with quartz thrown in here and there in some kitchens, and I always go back to granite.