We just finished remodeling our kitchen. Good luck. It is an exciting time but also full of decisions that are expensive and permanent so you want to make the right choice...which is scary and nervewracking.
We chose black appliances and we love them. We had them at our previous home so we knew that is what we wanted. We have heard alot of negatives about stainless steel. We chose a black granite composite sink and absolutely LOVE LOVE it!!
We also love our granite counters. There are soooo many slabs to choose from but we found the color scheme we liked and went with neutral.
As for flooring we love tile with the thin grout. But there are cool looking linoleums out there that look like wood or tile and quite indestructable.
Our black appliances look great and do not need alot of extra cleaning even with our active 3 kids...and they were younger at our previous home and we didn't have problems.
Good luck and you are gonna just love having a new kitchen. We practically live in our kitchen area so I am glad we forked out the cash to make it look nice.
Oh...and btw..Not sure if you mentioned cabinets. We had our oak cabinets resurfaced to a mocha color and it was sooo much cheaper than new cabinets and they are gorgeous. Everyone thinks they are new.
Hope this helps!