I just found out that blue green colors really bring out the beauty of wood. I know its not the same but I have honey oak cabinets and just repainted my kitchen a blue green and it really made the cabinets look stunning. Maybe you could try something in that color family to enhance the wood. Just a thought.

Do you want a crisp modern look? Or somewhat farmhouse, more traditional? Natural look or a color? There really are so many options to limit down to meet your taste. Tell me your plans for the interior, maybe there's some influences/styles/colors you could copy. My personal suggestion would be white. Looks great with grey stone or concrete, looks great with the charcoal. Add some silvered wood. Flowers around the house will have a nice white background. But then again, something like the Sunnycrest Drive below would look amazing too.

Teal sounds beautiful for your splashback, I love vibrant and bright colours in the kitchen - you never see them enough! I think your worries are right as well, dark carpet and a dark bench would be too much darkness - a lighter benchtop would work well with the other colours! Marble is a classic for benchtops, but depending on how you did the wood, it wouldn't look fake at all! What did you decide on doing?

meager light in the kitchen, trying to find paint colors that would brighten it up, I was told whites would not work, I changed the old dark brown flooring to light flooring and now it looks bad big mistake, the kitchen doesn't look anchored, with the light floor, I need some ideas to make it feel anchored again, would dark cupboards work, sorry for lack of photos. Some suggestions would be great