The benchtop will be dark grey (the ones you see are temporary), black handles and the tiles will be white with light grey grout. The paint on the walls will stay as is (light grey). Thanks for your thoughts guys. Would anyone go all the way to the ceiling? why/why not? Does the herringbone pattern influence your decision?

Oh excellent, thank you, it looks lovely! I have been to many of the suppliers but QQ is too far away for me with a screaming baby in the car and they won't mail me samples! Once I choose a stone mason I will view them in person because I hear even with Quartz each slab can be a little different. I was thinking maybe Lexicon quarter...warmed up a bit...but I'm not sure. Thanks for the warning, I do have time on my side so I might go get some sample pots and see what actually looks ok with our lighting.

Colour is a whole-of-house thing ie it begins at your letterbox and ends at the back fence! When I work with clients I assess their personal colour type and make recommendations from there. Often people will add just one colour eg red, as an accent and use it throughout the home...red pots at the front door, splashback, cushions, throw rug on the bed etc. Personally I prefer to use two colours to spice up a neutral scheme. They may be complementary eg red/green or analogous eg green and blue. The trick is alternating which is the more used colour in different rooms. Taubmans have a formula of 60/30/10 - the bright, intense accent colours should not make up more than 10% of your scheme. Never go 50/50 it always looks out of whack. Pick two colours that you both like, and find pictures on houzz as well as Pinterest for ideas.

okay!!! A lot of these commenters obviously thought what I did - that the cupboards are a deep browney grey!! I think the responses would have been very different if we knew the cupboards were white. If you re-read thru the responses you will see that. Perhaps try re-posting the dilemma with a better pic. One of those original tiles may actually look ok.