We got the IKEA shelves that are pictured in the butlers pantry photo I posted when we were on holiday in Melbourne, Australia. We don't have IKEA here in New Zealand! Hubby is going back over in May/June so will get him to get more of that sort of thing when there. We would pay about 4x the price for that sort of thing here in NZ. I need to work out what I will do now where the fridge was and there is the angle change (does that make sense?).

I never love open shelving in a modern kitchen they are dust and grease traps but I would hang horizontal glass front cabinets and paint that wall some awesome color ,run your backsplash up to bottom of window all across. If you have space make the island top larger and paint out the other wall of cabinets to match main ones. The island top could be something much different than the others

i think that a mini-subway tile in a carrera marble and gray colored grout could be stunning in here. subway shaped tiles are both modern and classic and will never go out of style...your options are really limitless. this space appears to be open to another, if you add color to the kitchen, be sure that it makes sense with the adjacent room. this space is going to be great!! already gorgeous! keep us posted!

The taupe countertops are nice. Have you seen all the new choices of backsplash tiles that are available currently? There are so many beautiful ones, there isn't a need to settle on white subway tiles. Venture out to the big box stores or flooring showrooms and take a look... There are tile caps of all sizes to finish off the ends. A nice one is called a tile liner, and it's about 1/2"-wide. There's also metal strips that can be laid in to finish the tile, it looks very nice. They are called: Schluter Systems 0.375-in W x 98.5-in L Aluminum Commercial/Residential Tile Edge Trim and can be found at Lowe's. They come in different colors.