I am a novice (but with good equipment) hobby woodworker.  We are just completing an addition on our house which includes a new, fairly contemporary kitchen.  The cabinets are made of sycamore with plain fronts, which some metallic looking cabinets (looks a bit like brushed aluminum) mixed in to break it up, and the countertops are Absolute Black granite (which actually has a lot of small gray flecks in it).  Our old kitchen table and chairs won’t match the new setting at all.  I’m thinking seriously about building a pretty simple maple table base (consistent with the contemporary setting) (the sycamore has similar tones to maple) and having the granite place make a top to match the counters.  Here are my preliminary thoughts:

Start with 3″x3″ maple for the legs, taper them to 1.5″-2″ at the bottoms.

Use 1.5″x5″ maple for the stretchers with a very simple detail along the bottom edge (rounding over the bottom edge with a thin, shallow kerf above it), joined to the legs using motise and tenon joinery.

The table would be sized to seat 6 people – 2 on each side and one at each end.  I’m thinking of a top about 40″ wide and probably 6 feet long.  I’ll work with the granite guys to figure out the best way to attach the granite top to the base.

I have a Mini Max CU 300 combination machine to be able to plane, joint, cut the stock, plus a morising attachment for the leg mortises.  Oneida Super Dust Gorilla collector.  This is in my basement shop in my house.

I’m interested in getting input/advice/guidance as well as being pointed to any resources people recommend for table joinery.  I searched the FWW archives on this site and turned up a couple of useful articles, but I know this is the best resource for advice.  Thanks in advance for the help!

Brian