I had black stone bench tops at our old house. My kids would sit up at the bench whenever I was in the kitchen, so I was constantly cleaning off the little hand prints they left behind which seemed to be more obvious when light would hit the bench top, but it was easy to clean overall. Just moved into a house with a white corian bench top around the kitchen sink and stove area and it shows everything, every splash, bit of dust, tiny speck of whatever, everything. Makes me miss the black stone!

Not really adding anything new here, but I would consider painting the recess behind the fridge dark, and pendant lights over the island, but not not necessarily dark pendants, something lighter to tie with the rest of the room, brighten it up a bit and define it more as its own space. A large fruit bowl (white?), plant, vase etc on the benchtop will make a huge difference on its own as someone suggested. I would play with that a little first to see what difference it makes before making big changes. Lighter stools could also make a big difference. Put a bit of fabric/clothing etc you have around over the seat pads and see how it would look with new colours to lighten them up too. Your room seems really close to being fabulous.

Hi Vanessa MacBean If you include a smoky dark mirror splashback, it will give the appearance of dark black while still being reflective with the light. Id team it with some black pendants as suggested and leave the cabinets white. Your floor sounds like its dark. It's a balance of achieving the right look for the room. Here are a couple of dark mirror examples in a white kitchen. Best wishes

I was thinking white marble laminate...but you see black edges so went black with a mirage texture, French oak drawers, white around fridge , oven, and black cupboards under sink. Splashback marble laminate.( black edges) Ignore floors, still to do. But we had black Windows so the black works.