SFGate

fangprintz Are you tossing your present cabinets? How about the white or light colored Island?
Kitchens usually aren't dated in 5 years...usually more like 20 years or similar in time to the life of your new appliances.
I like your idea of mixed colors/ mixed woods. I have seen that in other design mags- not sure what's all on this website cause there's so many GREAT pics-& I get sidetracked...
But you have to be careful using a variety of woods or it may look like all leftovers & flea market finds. I don't think that's the look you're after as it appears you have a huge space to work with & this room can certainly be a knockout!
KitchenMaid Cabinets out of Ohio used to have a kitchen in its design idea booklet that( Lowe's had in their showroom) made up of at least 3 different styles of cabinets that they somehow matched together. They were of course all their own brand- but I have never again seen anyone put a look together as nice as they did using that approach.
I think your first step needs to be deciding on cabinetry. Wall colors and such will depend on many factors once you have a look in mind.
Post samples of those countertops if you can- I'm not familiar with who or what that product is- but if it goes well with a black backsplash they could look awesome. Something makes me think they might have something "sparkly" in them!

Kathleen McCarther I am not tossing cabinetry, I have someone who can paint and glaze to any color I desire. I will post pic of back splash here. I will look at kitchenmaid cabinets for mix of wood species. The Zodiaq blanco is a quartz product, I will try to lift a pic from internet and post below. I think I am overwhelmed with choices and having a great internet site Houzz may exacerbate my indecision. My kitchen before was the cabinet you saw in pictures I posted in my initial post and I had black/green granite countertops. Where the hutch is now was a desk. The hutch will have shelving and lighted cabinets at the top.

fangprintz Great that you are keeping your cabinets & just redoing them. You have plenty I see- I'm jealous! I'm also very aware of the cost of everything- so anytime you can shave a buck or two & put it towards something else I'm game! So I can assume then that you will change the front on some cabinets or no? Are you thinking of glass fronts on some- they're nice if you like to display your glassware too. I like your color scheme too- the light backsplash is a good neutral -& adding the copper to the hutch- nice! I can see your style direction- but you are correct about this website. Wow! So much to look at- but maybe try old school too-tear out & tape up on poster board magazine looks you find appealing. Put it somewhere that you will glance at it off and on-not in your face like on the bathroom mirror- but you know-maybe in the kitchen! You might find that a look you think you love...oops/you hate it once you begin looking at it day after day.
I'm going to dig through my stock of my last remodel paperwork & see if I saved that multi- cabinet look. I was so impressed with it that may have kept it for prosperity! No, this last remodel almost did me in so I'm not looking to change anything presently- but I'm always looking at what's new. I went ultramodern & love it-but it's not for everyone.
What's your style? I know you said you were looking to do eclectic & traditional-but I'm not sure what that means...exactly. Maybe there is no exact in eclectic-I know it when I see it, but it takes a sharp eye to make it work. If you have that sense of style & you are confident in your ability to put oil & water together then go all out! As I said prior, you have a great space to work with and I think it can be overwhelming at times when you look at all the cool stuff out there! But I love, love your basic idea-& I know it can work. I'm surprised more folks didn't chime in yet to comment-maybe they don't understand your vision. Don't give up on this thread tho-maybe someone else has pics of kitchens similar to what you like, and they will post them.
Either way I will look thru my papers-maybe KitchenMaid Customer Service has a design book they can post to you if you don't have a Lowes Design Center close by. They have a zillion cabinets,so they have pretty good design ideas to make you want to buy their brand! I'd at least call them & pick their brains-they used to do a lot on HGTV, not sure about that now tho.. That was a couple years back.
Oh-what's your cabinet color choice? Light or dark? If you could chose right now- right from your gut with cost no consideration- would you go all light? Or would you venture into dark colors.. Offset with bright white everywhere else?
You're gonna want to love every inch of your remodel cause you most likely will have to live with it for a while-so I believe you need to be 100% behind every decision you make. Does that sound dumb? I say that because I'm looking at cabinet pulls that I half hated when they were chosen- now 4 years later I really hate them. Pricey & ugly-so guess what my eye goes to every time I look around my beautiful kitchen-YES- that awful hardware that I was talked into buying!
How big is that island? You keeping it solid or adding sink/faucet?
Is there plumbing or electrical connections running to it? It's not part of the original kitchen is it? You can really make that a show stopper you know! Islands are great-so much you can do to jazz them up!

Twisted Minds Custom Designs If you would like to go eclectic and stay away from granite, have you considered concrete? As a concrete artisan I can say that it is a wonderful medium to work with. Your choices of color, styles, and sizes are virtualy endless. Feel free to check my profile page for some examples, and contact a local artisan to discuss all the options concrete may offer you. Hope this helps.

Curb Appeal Renovations What about doing the lower cabinets in one color and upper in another? You could do the island in yet another. I know you're thinking no way...but it works!

olliewooten it really depends on what kinda look your into either its modern or its old charm for modern i would go......a nice polished look that eans no would and if your really modern go for white cabnets and say a col backslpash if you like old charm then oak cabinets and slab countertops would probally br best. and for a personal touch make the nobs on the cabinets you r favorite color even the counter tops maybe even backsplash
hope this helped!!

fangprintz Check out CURB APPEALS PRO page- they have a black & white kitchen that is pretty darn sharp looking! Nice work guys!

Kathleen McCarther Hi all thanks for the feedback! Definitely staying away from Granite... spent an entire evening looking at Kraftmaid cabinets. Whoa! My husband actually put me back on track. My kitchen can never be modern because we chose to keep our cabinets. The cabinets have raised panels and they are ash wood species with a pecan glaze. The kitchen is configured such that it is kinda stuck in the back of the great room with little to no light which is ironic because of the juxtaposition to the great room which has floor to ceiling windows. Maybe I should go back and look at soap stone...for counter tops. The only decision I have made so far, is that "I love is the back splash"

Kathleen McCarther I discovered Quartzite today aahhhhh!!!!!!!

sam0705 What about pure white quartz? Here's a less super modern kitchen than usual with them.
We just did that with a marble backsplash. I personally did not like putting the marble next to anything that wasn't marble too or completely solid.

rohollo I just put in a corian counter in the white family. I love corian. Feel is soft, quite.

Norm Walters Construction Inc. Corian, the brand name of Dupont's Acrylic Solid Surface is fine if you want to use the light, or white colors. Acrylic Solid Surface is soft and will scratch, no matter what color you choose the scratches will be white due to the chemical makeup of the product (Aluminum Tri-Hydrate) or ATH fillers. There are some Polyester Solid Surface materials in which the scratches appear clear such as Avonite.

Curb Appeal Renovations Kathleen - many quartz companies now have "marble" in their line up. Soapstone takes on a "patina" and will require constant maintenance - so just keep that in mind if that's the way you go. Quartz would be the best bet for little to no maintenance. Real marble will also "patina" with age. What I mean when I say patina is that it will take on character, like copper does when it weathers.

Since you're keeping your cabinets, you can still do the black and white theme. Or if you don't want to "touch" them, that's fine, however, IMO, I probably wouldn't go with a white counter or a marble looking counter. I'd go with something that had some color in it. If black and white is too drastic for you, what about grey? I LOVE the way that grey is making an entrance into color into our homes. It really is about time. It's been a stable in fashion for years, why not in our homes?!

It's been several days...what new items have you selected? With your kitchen torn apart, surely you've made progress!!