Revised with pictures.
Nothing deep here today folks! Just decided to type out the debate I am having with myself on what to do in our kitchen.
OK. I know kitchen decor is not anywhere near as important as world peace, child rearing, or anything spiritual, but I find myself thinking about it a lot lately. I wish I was one of those people who didn't really care about decor. Ever since I was old enough to remember, I have loved decorating. When I was 5 I tried to paint the walls in my Sunshine Family's doll house because they "didn't really go with" the flooring... And everyone knows it is easier to change wall color than flooring. Yes, I have always had the decorating bug pretty bad.
But, I come by it honestly! My Mom has always been a bit of a decorator. Growing up I spent many Sunday afternoons going to open houses with my family just for fun. We loved to see how people decorated and to talk about what we would do different. My whole family is into decorating to make things look nice and homey. It's not even that I am a good decorator. I can't say I enjoy the design/decorating/remodeling process. BUT nothing is as exciting as the moment a room comes together! I get great joy out seeing a room transform.
For me decorating is not just about aesthetics, it is an investment issue. We will not always live in this house and I want to get the most $$$ possible for it when we do move. Like 96% of all Americans, our house is our biggest asset. So I try to look at everything we do decor wise with the future in mind. Since I'm not bringing in any money right now, I see the "sweat equity" I put into this house as my financial contribution to our future. But even so, I may be getting a little decor/remodeling crazed! Yesterday I spent all of EK's two hour nap looking at the HGTV website. AND I definitely have an HGTV addiction. I don't think I have watched any other channel on purpose in weeks. But I digress...
I hope to start giving our kitchen a bit of a face lift in the coming months. I do not have a big budget to work with and I will do as much as I can myself. I'm trying to decide what to do about my cabinets, counter tops and floors. The cabinets are in good shape but the are stained a light/medium oakish color that I have never really liked. We are going to have to get new counter tops because they are in bad shape. I'm trying to decide whether to paint the cabinets a light creamy/white color and go with darker counter tops, or to stain the cabinets darker and go with lighter counter tops. All of our appliances are just a few years old and are white. That tilts me towards going with lighter cabinets. But the wood is really pretty and I love the look of dark stained cabinets.
I also plan to put wood (or laminate that looks like wood) flooring through out our living, dining and kitchen areas. In talking to some flooring people and a few builders, I'm now wondering if I should take advantage of the natural break between our kitchen and eating area to put tile in the kitchen and laundry room. No matter which way we go, it will cost about the same and it will be a huge undertaking.
So...what do you guys think? Dark cabinets/light counters or light cabinets/dark counters? Wood, laminate or tile? What is in your house? What do you like or not like? Do you have any great kitchen tips or things you just love/hate in your kitchen? I want to know!
Happy Friday! 
Oh. Yes. Pictures would help, wouldn't they? Thanks Tracy!
I had to scan these pictures taken several years ago so they are a little fuzzy. (There is no way I am taking and posting pictures on the www of the way my kitchen looks at this moment ! You guys would call CPS on me!) Not much has changed except where the microwave was there is now another oven and where the vent-a-hood was there is now a microwave. I have replaced the brass and white knobs and pulls with brushed nickle ones. The cabinets look lighter than this in person. I also already have bids to have the walls textured and the light box removed and replaced with 4 recessed cans. That box has to go!
This is what you see looking out of the kitchen. It has not changed much either but I have plans! When we moved in the wall paper in the kitchen went all the way around to the patio door! Yuck! I took as much wall paper down as possible then and have been plotting to remove the rest as time and $$ allow. Some day soon I hope to live in a wall paper free house!
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I like lighter cabinets with darker countertops - I think that would probably look better with white appliances.
As for flooring, I don't think you can go wrong either way. I have wood floors throughout, except kitchen/laundry/bath. If you have a natural break, I'd probably split it up.
I'm thinking that darker counters would hide stains better.
What about your natural light in there? Do you have a lot of sun? Or no? Pictures???
I went into a beautiful home downtown recently and saw pretty painted cabinets. The cabinets were a pretty shade of green and I think the countertops were black. Beautiful.
Just a thought about wood in the kitchen. I have heard to shy away from it if you have small kids. It is a nightmare to make sure nothing wet is on the floor that might warp the wood. When I think about how often my kids get ice and some falls to the floor, I am thankful for our tile! I know whatever you do will look great!
Ask Meredith K!!
We just built our home. My pantry and island is black, my cabinets are maple with a chocolate glaze and we have dark granite counter tops. A friend of mine just did all distressed black cabinets w/light counter tops (beautiful). My neighbor has cream color cabinets w/distressed black pantry and island (gorgeous) and black granite counter tops. Just thought I would let you know what some of the builders are doing in the Georgia/Alabama area. IF you go with laminate the warranty will not be good if you place it in "wet areas" such as a kitchen or bath (at least for most brands). Hardwood is a better choice than laminate, but tile is the best choice. Good luck, you have a beautiful kitchen to work with.
In my next kitchen I am planning on having creamy cabinets and a darker (but not real dark) countertops. My sister had beautiful dark counters in her house in Virginia and you could see every little thing. She hated them.
I had those honey-colored oak cabinets (what was it with honey oak in the mid-90s?) I painted them a couple of summers ago...all my myself! :)
I lightly sanded (just to rough them up), then painted on "Liquid Sandpaper" from Home Depot. It acts as a bonding agent for the wood and the paint. Then I painted on a creamy color (no, I did not remove the doors. If you use thin coats, it won't drip!) After it dried, I applied a glaze mixed with a little chocolate paint with a large paintbrush. Then I wiped it off with a rag. After that dried, I applied 2 or 3 coats of poly. They turned out beautifully! We have kind of dark brownish counter tops that we LOVE. Our kitchen floors are hardwood, as is the rest of our living areas. I agree with the comment about getting it wet, but I would still do it again because I love them. It's worth the extra maintenance to me. JMHO. Although the laminate wood floors can look great, it's still not the same as wood. If you can swing the real deal, I would go for it, at least in your living area (tile would be much cheaper in the kitchen than wood if you didn't care which one). Whew! Sorry this is so long! :) Have fun!
Oh I wish you guys could post pictures in comments! I love black and i love all the black cabinets and furniture we are seeing these days... BUT I bought a black desk and it is just a dust magnet! It always looks dirty! So I am a bit afraid to do too much black. Anyone else have black dusting issues or is it just my computer making my black desk look so dusty?
And yes, I am hoping to hear from MK on this one! :)
Off to b-ball!
I left the Anon comment about my black island and pantry. I don't have a dusting problem, I guess because it seems like I am always cleaning in the kitchen (HA!). But it doesn't seem to ba a problem and I have a lot of black. I also have a black baby grand piano that gives me the most dusting issues. I have a lot of black furniture in my dining room/family room/kitchen area. My trim, molding, and doors in my kitchen, mud room, laundy area is black also and it isn't much of an issue. I apologize for writing a book instead of a comment. Georgia/Alabama Girl
I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest painting your cabinets an Americana Red with a warm brown glaze finish to give it an antiqued look. Replace your countertops with a neutral granite, not black. There is one that has a sandy background with flicks of brown through out the granite. It will bring out the brown wood tones that are in the rest of your house. I would stay away from light colored cabinets if you are keeping the white appliances. The white appliances will look out of place. Replace the cabinet hardware with hammered iron handles.
As far as flooring goes, I have had clients that have wood and tile in their kitchens. I personally think wood looks beautiful with glazed cabinets. It makes everything look cohesive. Don't put wood in your laundry room, put tile. if you choose tile, there are many warm colored tiles that look beautiful with the wood floors that could go in the living room.
For wall color, I would stick with the color that is in your living/breakfast room. It would look beautiful with the red glazed cabinets! :)
If you need any help, email. No matter what you do, it will look great! You are very good at making your house look beautiful and put together! I still love that blue dining room of yours! I had to give mine up when we moved here because all of our rooms flow into each other with no breaks like yours. :(
Meredith
I painted my kitchen cabinets a creamy color a couple of years ago. They look great from afar but up close..ugh! I am always wiping them down! I can't even tell you what gets on them because I haven't figured it out yet! When they were a darker color I didn't have to wash them as often. Just a thought.
Hi, SG!
We bought our current home about a year and a half ago. The cabinets are white. I remember our realtor mentioning that white cabinets had a timeless look and that they were a big asset to a house.
Also, some friends of ours had a horrible time selling their home a few years ago. They had dark cherry cabinets and floors in the kitchen. I thought it was beautiful, but the comment they heard the most was that people didn't like the dark wood.
I think the painted cabinets (green, red, etc.) are beautiful, but that's a huge risk to take if you're going to be selling.
If your main focus is the resale value, I'd leave them the way they are or paint them lighter.
Decorating is so much fun! Death to wallpaper!
:)
We purchased and remodeled our home about a year ago. We went with custom cabinets that are white with brushed nickel knobs, lights and faucet. We added the stainless steel appliances with granite countertops that are white black and grey and it looks awesome. We put in engeniered wood for the flooring and I don't think I would do that again. Like someone else mentioned about the water it is not fun. We are having to already replace some in the adjoining room for water damage. We painted the kitchen a light green (green apple II at lowe's) and it looks so awesome. no matter how many times friends have been on my kitchen they still compliment again and again on how bright and nice it looks.
I like the idea of painted cabinets and medium-dark countertops. Americana Red would look great and so would sage green with a chocolate glaze. What about a pale robins-egg blue with a chocolate glaze? If you went with a white paint on your cabinets, make sure it doesn't clash with your white appliances!
Don't pay anyone to texture your walls...you could do it yourself! I know that you have mastered cake decorating, and it's basically the same technique on a larger scale. The folks at Home Depot can show you how with joint compound and it will save you tons of money!
Good luck, maybe you can just take all of the suggestions and have them rotated out each season? I'm a cabinet maker's daughter, in our family painted wood is of the devil... Seriously! /My daddy almost disowned me once when I stripped my headboard and painted it white. Of course, his workers saw what I was doing and stopped their work day to help ~ Not an eighth grader's fault for costing him labor $ is it?:) LOVE the Americana Red suggestoin!!! I agree w/ neutral or darker colored solid surface counters... they're fabulous!
K, ending here. Much luck in decision making. GO UPWARDS! We're the Cougars (1sst and 2nd grade boys ~ rah.)
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