Looks gorgeous Audrey, your table will look beautiful against that colour., love your pendants, I love the dark cupboards, looks so edgy. I am inspired to change mine, can't wait to see it come together, beautiful.

Many of the standard veneer products in dark colours do show fingerprint marks very quickly. This may or may not bother you. Polytec and Laminex have both brought out versions that mark less. Polytec is called Venette and I'm sure you can look up Laminex one. If you want to use these products for dark carcasses, you will pay a higher price than standard melamine. Using it for doors is worth doing. Also, you may want to ask the supplier about using a dark board underneather the laminate so that you don't risk lighter line along the edges. A darker board may also reduce the appearance of any scratches. I personally can't think why dark finish would scratch more than a lighter one.

Don't go with white. While it is easy to replace door fronts and drawer fronts you won't be able to replace the tall vertical panels adjacent to the fridge recess and the microwave recess without pulling out half of your cabinetwork. If you went with a white you wouldn't be able to match the same white as these vertical panels, and the new white would look off next to the old white or vice versa! I'm afraid there is no easy solution that will make the new doors blend in with the old vertical panels, so I would go with a bold contrast colour block that looks good with the white vertical panels, as well as the black granite. Perhaps consider a Piet Mondrian inspired kitchen facelift, by introducing some black edging to the vertical cabinets and a careful composition of blocks of primary colours? Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits

Thanks for your reply! Love the oak colour with the black in your kitchen! I just received my samples today from polytec I was tossing up Between vanette and ultra matt (acrylic) it seems the acrylic showed less oil marks then the vanette and was easier to clean, although I do like the flatter and more matt look of the vanette I will probably go with the acrylic. I think I need to except that black kitchens are overall higher maintenance. 😆