brown is another 'neutral' color that works with black and white scheme. Would be helpful if you can provide photos or links to the samples you have chosen.

Use a screen capture or clipping tool to turn it into a JPEG when it is up on your monitor.

Yes benches are counters .... thanks for clarifying yoboseiyo! we have no high cabinets for the kitchen at this stage, we plan to do some kind of shelving but are waiting until the new "counters" and range are installed to get the feel for what we go with. Hard to get a photo at present as we are mid reno, the cabinetry is all installed....with no bench top yet.. we have our old cooker in the dining room and the new big range in there too as the area its going into is being tiled. The range will be the dominant feature in the kitchen so once that and the counter tops are in I'll take some pictures Organised Chaos!

I would get a better chandalier with better lighting and IMO DRs do not have to be bright as they are mostly used in the evening.