Empty Nest In The Midwest: Kitchen ramblings

I'm still trying to decide where to go with the decorating of the kitchen. I'm lost. I'm stuck.

But I'm working on it!! I'm not giving up (yet).

Lets go back to the beginning to see where we came from.

A few pics of the kitchen as it looked when we moved in 3 and a half years ago. We have definitely come a long way.

Yes, that countertop was PINK!!!!

And a look from the other direction, looking into the eat-in part of the kitchen. Those walls are knotty pine. The knotty pine was here when we moved in and it is in really good shape.
The floor is a light gray (fake hardwood) and it's also in good shape.

Now, here are a few pics of the renovations we have done so far:

Painted cabinets, new hardware, new countertop, new sink and faucet, new backsplash, new stainless steel dishwasher.

Close-up of the backsplash:

And this is where we are with the eat-in part of the kitchen. We hung a new ceiling fan, added a corner cabinet, a TV (on top of the corner cabinet), curtains, and a few misc decorations.

The white refrigerator has been replaced with a stainless steel one.
We also got a new kitchen table recently

So whats up next for this kitchen?? COLOR!!!!

I love the black and gray and I think I have a good foundation. But this kitchen needs a splash of something to liven it up. As you can see above, I tried to add in some turquoise (picture frame, potted plant hanging in the window, vase w/ flowers) and it just wasn't working. Maybe my shade of turquoise was too bright, maybe I was putting my turquuoise in the wrong places........whatever.......it was wrong.

I'll go a step further and show you a photoshop experiment where I tried to see what it would look like if I add a turquoise wall to my kitchen.

This is the wall as it looks now, painted gray:

And the same wall with turquoise, or teal:

It's not working for me. It's "OK" but I don't love it.

So now what?? I guess I need to pick another color. I've been all around the color wheel, and I'm having a hard time getting thrilled with my choices.

I don't like the black and red look. It's too much. I don't think the red will compliment my knotty pine:

Black and yellow reminds me of a bee. I like the bright yellow, I'm just not convinced it will look right in my kitchen.

How about black and orange? Again, I like the brightness of the orange, but it reminds me of Halloween.

And so on......and so on........I don't think I like any color with the black and gray..........and I'm totally struggling with this.

But I'm not giving up yet!

I see where my problems lay with this kitchen.

First of all, I know I am fighting the black because it's so dark. I understand how much easier it would be if I just paint my cabinets white and then add any color I want to spice up the kitchen. But white cabinets are boring, and I really do like the black. I realize I probably have too much black in the kitchen right now, so maybe I can tone it down a bit.

Second, I realize I am trying to merge the knotty pine walls in the eat-in area with the stainless steel looking backsplash. Rustic meets modern. Yeah, I know. The two sort of don't work together.
The knotty pine is staying, it's not even negotiable. I refuse to take down the knotty pine, and I'll have to work around it. It's beautiful, and it reminds me of my old house in the mountains in southern California. I really, really want to try to work with the knotty pine.
Now the backsplash?? I do love it ( and it was expensive), but I would be willing to take it down and replace it if it would help the kitchen. The thing about the backsplash is that it kind of ties in the stainless steel appliances..........so it really must be the knotty pine that is the problem here.

The other day I was digging around online and I came up with this color scheme :

That's not too bad at all! Maybe the trick is to add SEVERAL colors instead of just one??

OK, so I checked the Pier 1 website, and I can start to see it coming together.......

How does this look??

Daisy bowls?? Cute!!

A flower dessert plate??? Also cute!!

Cloth napkins?? They go with the color scheme.......I like them!

Cute rug!!!

A table runner.....this might work too!

Reversible place mats.......

OK, yeah......I know I don't need to add ALL of those things, but am I heading in the right direction at all??

I could paint the corner cabinet.........maybe the goldenrod color would brighten up that corner.....I definitely need to ditch the black curtains and find something brighter too. How about stripes?

And one thing you may have already picked up on, my living room is basically that exact same burgundy/goldenrod color scheme already!!!

The thing is, I plan to re-do the living room in an entirely different color scheme this fall (or winter) so I'm not worried about over-doing it with those colors. I'll just move 'em into the next room.

So now, does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with my kitchen?? I'd love to hear what everyone has to say. Color suggestions? Decorating suggestions? HELP!!
Here are the pics again of what it looks like now