thank you very much to everyone who responded! I'll look into espresso and charcoal grays. As well as the steel backplash. Emmarenes, I'm living abroad in India, and the only granites in my budget are the local ones. I was advised against the gray and white local ones because i was told that they would not hold up well in the kitchen. I could have gone with a black galaxy as well but i have that granite now and despise it because of the way it hides ants and bugs so well. we live in a tropical area and there are always critters here and there. My first choice was a Brazilian white granite but it was triple the price. This granite is called Shiva pink, so it has a pink salmon and gray look to it. Im really hoping I don't hate it once it's installed. The stoneyard was a 9 hour trip up and down and i was just pressured to make a choice after several undecided trips. And I'm getting new cabinets put in. but I think I can wait for them to put the slab before staining the wood. Thanks for that idea :)

Your choices don't flow well to me. The flooring in your photo is pretty (very dark...are you okay with it showing every footprint, smudge, and dust bunny? If so, that's fine). From all of your options there I would do white cabinets with the Himalaya White granite. But you said ignore the granite. :) I would go for the gray cabinets with white quartz everywhere in that case, but personally I'd worry about gray cabinets being very dated in a few years. Is there another quartz option that you could pair with the white cabinets that is light in color and maybe has some movement, like LG Bianco Drift?

Thanks Nitin and Ideal Lifestyle. Sorry for the late reply, I don't know why my net is not working properly from the last few days. Ny way, I actually see the foating kitchen cabinet in google image. May be that it not good for our Indian kitchen. I love the drawyer system that offered in modular kitchen cabinet. But at the same time I have no patience to dry the the kitchenware (cookware/dish etc.) after washing. Now we put it on the steel dish rack (commonly visible in Indian kitchen) hanged in our wall after every wash, which no need to first dry and then store. But I want to conceal the dishes, pressure cookers, kadhais in drawyers. In my dream kitchen big kitchenware should be concealed, hanging cookware like saucepan, tawa, frying pan would hang on s hooks in railing and open shelve for the dry goods in glass/tin/ceramic jar.

Hi, There are a number of ways in which the area under a staircase can be utilized. In case of a cramped house or space restrictions, this space can be used for providing storage, services or even a powder room as elaborated below : In case there are no space constraints and all the other areas are taken care of, the space below the stairs can be used for add ons such as a library, study, cellar or a minibar. In case there are any dogs in the house, this area serves as a spacious and compact kennel too : Apart from this, if the space is to be treated solely considering aesthetics, it can be livened up using a bit of indoor landscaping, sculptures and water body : Hope these ideas help. Do let us know what you decided to choose. All the best! Regards, RnD Atelier Nagpur