Kitchen Color: Let's Swap Inspiration

Just a little question for everyone: where did you get the inspiration for the colors in your kitchen?

For the last few years I have been living in a kitchen that was decorated by the landlord.  I know that doesn't sound promising, but actually it has been nice.  Not completely my taste, but it works for the space and since this isn't my forever home, I felt no need to spend my own money to do new window treatments.  We currently have a black kitchen: black cupboards, black appliances, dark wood trim with touches of olive green and deep purple on the curtains.  It works in here.

My new house?  All white cabinetry, all white window trim, all white appliances.  Well, mostly all white appliances.  The stove and the dishwasher both are a white/black combo platter.


I've been racking my brains and combing through fabric trying to settle on something I could use as inspiration for both curtains and wall color.  The swatches in this post are what I've come up with so far.  The floral is a tad more mod than I was thinking of initially, but it's growing on me.  I'm liking the idea of tying in the soft yellow to the wall color and drawing out some darker yellow with a vintage cookie jar or something fun like that.

What does your kitchen look like?  What kind of colors do you have going on in there?  Any suggestions for a homey and cozy white on white on white kitchen?  My initial thought was to go with red accents, but so far I'm not finding fabric I love that has red in it.  Isn't that odd?  You'd think some nice red would be easy to come by, but I'm just not coming up with it.  Oh, and the super cute canisters I found that were on my birthday wish list were bought up that day (and not by me!)  Guess I don't have to go red anymore.  :(

P.S.  I'm not looking for gingham or anything uber-traditional.

So my little swatches . . . yay?