Hello Marcelle, I am an interior designer . I can tell you a simple inexpensive way to change the look of your kitchen. Looking at the photo you sent the different cabinet heights , and all the objects on the stove wall are very busy . Your modern house is wanting a cleaner , simple look. I would lower the small cabinets so that the top is at the same height as the others in the room. And put doors on , that will hide the clutter. Next I would do a tile backsplash above the stove , up to the same height. The whole kitchen will be pulled together by the continuous top line. There is a small light wood cabinet with baskets in the foreground . I would paint it white , or the same dark accent color of the cabinets you have. I don't think you would need to change the beams then , they would add interest and drama once everything else was subdued. Lisa

If you use masonry paint, we could head in a warm greige direction for all of it - not so yellow . .. something that can give you a bit more contrast against the white windows and trim - even 40 does a lot for us . . . what about a blue green gray? You will get a coastal / mod vibe and it will relate to the farmhouse look .. .above bm silver mink http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/silvermink and below . . . gilbraltar cliffs . . http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/gibraltarcliffs Shingle look siding on the side dormers would be neat to get that cottage mod. . . you can stick with yellow but I don't think it complements the roof tone. With the blue-green grays, the white windows and trim will really pop beautifully. . . You can also go more neutral with a warm gray - greige . . . here's the siding tone http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/capemaycobblestone paired with this for brick - http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/graystone potential future red windows . . .aluminum pits over time, so if you have just one side you want to try, you don't have to powder coat, you can take a small brush and just do them by hand with latex paint if they are 10 yrs old or more. . . one advantage to gray . . future see [houzz=]

Not sure what you mean by bench but painting the cupboards white sounds like a great solution to the all green kitchen. You could even break up some of the green tiles with floor mats as well. Best of luck.

Eh ? You want white or off-white or similar ? Your kitchen is white and off-white , with quite a light wood . And a nice red toaster . I have noticed the toaster , and commented on it . You have purchased the toaster . Other people will notice the toaster , and comment on it . Because it is the only mildly interesting thing in the kitchen . Dark grey doesn't sound interesting , but charcoal does , so I am hoping it is closer to charcoal than dark grey . Am I overly optimistic ? Can you swap the dark grey for black gloss , because I suspect black gloss subways would look quite good there , and tie in the oven and cooktop too . Now what would happen if you were stuck with the grey or charcoal , and went out and bought a dozen crisp white subways , and a dozen Red subways . Get your 30 or so charcoal subways , and lay them out in a rectangle on the floor . Take 6 out in a reasonably random way , and put white ones there . Then take out another 6 , and put red ones there . Depending on the grey/charcoal , it may look crap , or it may look okay . If it looks okay , put the dozen grey ones on the top , take a few more away , add more red and white . Overdone ? Underdone ? Have a play . Don't like it ? Get all the grey ones , and 'stand them up' ( lay them vertically ) . Lay a line of red ones horizontally across the top , another line of white ones horizontally across middle . Swap them . Don't like any of them ? Get some brownish Tavertine Tiles , or an Orange ( or red or yellow or citrus green or your favourite colour ) glass splashback . Experiment . Put the on the bench and imagine . Thats what I'd do anyway . But I wouldn't do only dark grey , and I probably wouldn't do charcoal on its own , but I'd see first .