Dianne, I feel the same way. I love white kitchens. Here's my current computer wallpaper:

http://www.newoldhousemag.com/features/summer06/images/kitchen1.jpg

That said, I had to go with wood cabinets because the upcharge for paint was more than I wanted to spend on a kitchen in a house we're planning to sell. If we were staying, I'd go with the white. My guess though, is that choosing the right white could be agonizing.

Good luck and have fun!

Linda

I experienced a very similar dilemma in choosing our cabinets. We had wood for 15 years in this house and I didn't hate them. And I thought that wood might boost the resale value of our home more than painted cabinets. But like you, when I looked in the magazines, it was always the kitchens with painted cabinets that attracted me.

My mother has an all white kitchen but her cabinets were thermofoil and had not held up very well so that was another factor pushing me toward the wood. We have friends also that were pretty much appalled that we would buy painted wood!

We visited many show homes to check out the kitchens and I didn't really see one kitchen with wood cabinets that really spoke to me. They were beautiful but just not in my home.

My husband was on the fence but probably would have gone with the stained cabinets had he been making the decision solo. Ultimately, he said we should go with the painted because that is what I always gravitate toward. We nixed the resale issue as we are not planning to move. And the painted cabinets seemed in keeping with the style of our old farmhouse.

But I was still worried that "all white" would be too much white. So we selected a mix of painted and stained. And I am so happy with them. The painted cabinets are more cream than white but they are very light colored.

It seems like such a huge decision due to the cost, the impact, the "irreversability" and the length of time you will be living with them. I have a difficult time looking a sample of paint, wood, etc and then translating that into knowing how that particular finish is going to "feel" as I walk into a room.

From my perspective, I think you should go with what you like. If it is the painted cabinets, I don't think you will regret it. We love ours.
Here's a couple of pics of ours just after installation.
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From another Dianne, in my opinion, it's entirely a matter of personal preference and anything you choose will have pluses and minuses.

Having moved a lot over the years, there have been times when I had all white kitchens and liked them because they were bright and cheery. Is there a downside to an all white kitchen? Yes, in my humble opinion, they are harder to keep clean than a kitchen with wood-stained cabinets, a wood floor and a countertop with some pattern to it. But would that deter me if I wanted an all white kitchen? No.

I agree it is a matter of personal preference. I also think it may depend on the style of the house and the lighting in the kitchen. We have had an all-white kitchen for 19 years, and it has held up pretty well. When we remodel later this year, we will use white/cream on the perimeter and cherry on the island. I have seen some beautiful wood kitchens, but in our open floor plan the white works better. I did not find choosing which white difficult. The cabinet maker gave me several samples to bring home so I could see them in our light. Once I did that, my DH and I were able to choose our white/cream quickly.

It's such a matter of personal preference. I too couldn't find a wood stain I liked and kept gravitating to painted cabinets. Finally I just replaced the doors on my cabinets and had it all painted creamy white. I should be able to share a picture by the end of next week. I can hardly wait.

Go for what calls to you! (And of course there are colors other than white, too!)

I too love the look. However I know also that I really don't like the whole "distressed" painted look. It just looks beat up to me. Now all these new painted cabinets are not bought looking distressed. But when you scratch a painted cab, or nick or gouge it, does it not start to look distressed? Beat Up? I'm not really sure truth be told but I know I personally couldn't take the chance. Painted wood, even newly painted over scratches, nicks and gouges doesn't look as good as scratched, nicked and gouged wood cabs where its just the same color wood underneath, I just don't notice it as much. Knowing myself, is probably the reason I'll never have that beautiful white country kitchen. I suppose if I moved into an old house and the cabs were already there I could deal. But I would freak if expensive new painted cabs got a gash. Maybe its a lot harder to scratch the new paints? Don't know. But I've had some weird things happen with dropped butcher knives etc.

VWhippiechick~
Your kitchen is just beautiful! I love it and can't wait to see the completed project!

Sorriso, too funny -- I have the exact same picture as the wallpaper on my computer and am in the process of building the kitchen in the picture with some minor modifications (the island will be wood with a white marble countertop -- perimeter is white cabinets with soapstone, like in the picture -- and the window will be a large bay window that goes all the way down to the countertop with the countertop running into it and the floors will be lighter). We are building this kitchen into our current house (i.e. remodel) while we are living in the house and doing all of the work ourselves on weekends only (read, it will take a long time). We are also doing a bunch of other work (bathroom, moving the stairs, etc.). We started in August 2007 and hope to be in our new kitchen by Christmas 2008 (in the meantime, we built a temporary kitchen in the garage with all of the appliances from our old kitchen).

OP, I too have been torn about the white versus wood cabinets for a long time, but I always come back to the white. The reason we are doing the island in wood is because we bought some old 1920's gumwood interior doors (glass french and arched doors with original gumwood trim) and a matching gumwood built-in buffet from a gorgeous old home that was being demolished (seemed like a crime to tear it down). We wanted to have some elements that tie in the wood without making the whole kitchen wood (because I think that would be too much wood and could get to dark and imposing). Thus the perimeter cabinets will all be white, as will the glass door built-in bookcases and mantle in the ajacent living room.

I realize this is a little weird, but I, too, was drawn to painted cream kitchens...Not quite like the one linked above, but nice and bright, farmy, and realized what I was drawn to were the ones that looked like a homey 'baker's kitchens'...Like you'd expect to smell bread baking and see pies cooling. Here's the part that makes it weird: Even though I loved those white kitchens so much in a photo, I could never feel that painted white kitchens were 'me.' We're a woodworking family, so appreciate the character of wood, and I'd seen my SIL's upscale white kitchen chip and scratch, and she only has 2 kids. I wondered what would happen with 8!

I noticed other elements that 'made' those kitchens have the character I liked. A major player seemed to be at least 1 section of butcher block/wood counter. So I just tried to go for a compromise that would create the same feeling I liked, but use mostly wood. We're using natural fir cabinets for the majority of the kitchen...fairly light, but warm. I will have painted light gray around the stove area...To emulate a big, farm range. The island will have an edge grain butcher block top (also fir) but will be painted cream. One entire wall of cabinets will be burgundy (very 'me'). If we have to patch up an scratches, I think they might hide better than on white.

So anyway, the shorter path to my point is, if you want white, maybe you should go for it. But if you're not sure, or not feeling completely sold, look for other elements in the kitchens you love that might help bring about a room that you like...and as others have said, mix in some white with some wood (there are so many shades and colors you could use from light to very dark...so maybe you don't love your wood cabinets because you haven't found the wood you love?).

Sorry for your flood. My parents went through that several years ago and it was very stressful. Thankfully, they moved just before another hit this year.

tessa68 - Thanks, we still have a way to go and all these final "details", like backsplash, faucets etc, are more difficult than I expected. I can't wait to post those "finished pics".

I'm going the other way. We currently have painted cabinets in our kitchen and seeing how beat up they look I will probably never get painted cabinets again. It's not that they're the 90's washed oak....which isn't a bad look in our house with the white walls, floor, & appliances, but it's the scratches and the chipping paint. One factor against them, of course, is that they are builder-grade so probably not the best paint/finish job. But, as I've always loved cherry cabinets I'm not looking back...cherry cabinets here I come!!!

buehl - We seriously considered cherry cabinets. Of course we "seriously" considered everything initially lol. They were beautiful and seemed timeless. Good luck.

We are thinking of mixing ours. DH loves the creamy glazed look, I love the dark wood look. So I've been playing with my BH&G Home Designer software trying to get the layout right and also seeing if I could mix the cabs in a way that would look good.

This is what I have come up with. It's not exact b/c of the limitations of the software and the user. ;) The L-shaped peninsula is actually going to be angled in the corner to follow the line of the sink.

vwhippiechick: I was so happy to see your pics as you have the same layout I came up with AND you mixed your cabs! It just confirms my design, thanks!

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I am like many others. I thought I wanted wood but was drawn to white in magazines. I've always had wood (but never nice wood) and in the end I went with white. It really brightens my space. I love it!

But in my retirement home (hopefully in 10 years?) I bet I go with something different than white. I love the idea of going with something totally different. Something that I haven't had in the past. Life is short and by then I won't care about resale. Maybe purple and orange striped cabinets?! And a pink and green glass mosaic backsplash so it doesn't look too monochromatic.

I don't care for white: too cold, and a pretty common look just now.

No flames, please: opinions were asked for, and I gave mine respectfully.

I agree that the white look is common in all the design magazines, and stark white is can be really cold. I never like the natural maple for the same reason. When "pickled" was in, my uncle redid his cabinets in pickled maple and had his oak floors pickled in the entire house. It's...interesting looking.

We are taking the wood floor into the kitchen and the wood that is preexisting is stained very dark. Not my preference when we bought the house, but I have grown to love it. Amazing what you grow to love when you don't have to spend money changing it. I even found positives in aluminum siding. Because of the dark wood, the cherry that I wanted just looks awful. But short of resupporting the floor, we can't have both tile and granite.

The soft yellow or dark cream looks great with the dark oak floors. I wanted to recreate an atmosphere of the Colonial Williamsburg tavern where DH and I met 25 years ago (wow, am I that old?). The painted, distressed cabinets work with that. I still love cherry--had it for 13 years in my last house. We also have a really dark kitchen and I hope the color will brighten things up.

vwhippiechick - I love the way your kitchen looks so far. What color paint did you use in there?

Laurie

Tough decision, isn't it? I love white cabinets and so that's what we're doing and I'm happy (although I did hedge my decision by having a small section of cabs cherry wood rather than painted). I hope the white cabs will hold up well, and that they'll have a timeless rather than trendy look. Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks for all your opinions so far. Surriso--I showed that exact picture to my GC Friday night as my ultimate dream kitchen.

I will remain in this house after retirement so resale is not an issue.

It's just DH and me here. No pets. Two newish grandkids (19 and 3 mos) who visit frequently. I don't cook daily anymore so constant use/abuse isn't an issue either. Thinking back on raising two boys I'm surprised the current kitchen (pre-flood) still looks as good as it does after 30 years.

The KD told me no laminate, it's not good quality. She showed me Thermofoil (Quatro by Armstrong). I don't think she mentioned any painted finishes.

Wwhippiechick--what is the problem with your mom's Thermofoil?

I could live with either white or cream. My appliances are bisque, DW black. I'm leaning toward a wood-look porcelain tile floor and black laminate countertops.

Please continue to offer opinions. Thank you for your candor, Oruboris.

As to why I've always loved high-quality woods and finishes in furniture but painted my cabinets and walls mostly white and light colors, it has to be that bright sparkly look the room has, especially in the morning. And I'm a morning person and gardener, sunshine and outside oriented, much less than cozy-cavish. I always want to pull my friends' curtains open and get some real light in. But if my favorite times in the kitchen mostly took place before sunrise and after dark (like a lot of people working long hours away probably), I might well choose yet more rich woods that looked fabulous under artificial lights.

Regarding chipping, today's current-teq paint applied in the shop should last a lot better than the coats I used to apply every few years while we raised our own kids. At least so I've been told.

Whippiechick, your kitchen's looking gorgeous. Love your colors.

We've had white paint, white thermofoil, natural maple and glazed wood. My favorite is white paint. It is a personal preference, but the look just fits me. The white thermofoil cabinets were in a house we built 15 years ago, so I'm not just jumping on a white kitchen trend. I think the reason I like them is that the house I grew up in had white cabinets. As I get older I find I am increasingly drawn to things that remind me of that house.

If it is in your budget, white paint is better than thermofoil. One of my best friends has a thermofoil kitchen and the color is changing. They used to be bright white, now they are looking a bit creamier. Maybe the newer products are more color stable, but paint definitely is.

White definitely shows more dirt and junk than natural wood. That doesn't mean the gunk isn't there on the natral wood, it just means you can't see it. I'd rather be able to see it and wipe it off than have it hiding. :-)

Although a lackadasical housekeeper, I still have to agree with Bikey. It may be irritating, but it's a lot easier to wipe off one fresh layer of gunk than weeks of buildup. And if you don't always keep it sparkly, at least you never find yourself surprised to be sticking to your cabinets or wondering what it is. You can always make a good guess.

I love the look of white and black kitchens and they always make me go wow. But this is not something that would go well in our house right now. We have a 2 year old and planning on adding to the family in a year or two. with small kids I feel a white kitcehn would give me a heart burn worring about and any stains. Also we are Indian and in Indian cooking we use a lot of spices and turmeric and turmeric can stain cause a bad yeloow stains if you are not careful so this would be another reason to worry. We will also be selling this house in a few years so need to think about that to.
So we decided to go with wood stain cabinets even though I loved the look of white.

Rosie, sounds like we have quite a bit in common. I love opening the shades and drapes to let in the sunshine. My kitchen overlooks my favorite place on earth--my gardens.

Looking at my farmer's pantry today I realized something. It's 14 years old, painted white by me and there are no chips on it. Painted white is sounding more like what I want.

More opinions?

Not to sound like a broken record, but when I was browsing through kitchen photos, I unexpectedly found myself drawn to those with cream cabinets and brown counters. We had just redone our master bath, and my vision there had been dark stained cherry with some decorative fluting. I didn't have any preconceived vision for the kitchen, but assumed I'd choose stained as well.

But after failing to fall in love with any of the stains I was seeing, and realizing the cream/brown ones were calling my name, I relented, and went that route. We've got cream with brown glaze, but to make sure we were getting quality we went with maple and all plywood. So white doesn't mean cheaped-down.

Here's a not-quite-finished photo.

We just had our 17 year old oak cabinets painted white, as part of a "facelift" of our kitchen. I, too, found myself always being drawn to the white kitchens in magazines and in the FKB.
I didn't find choosing a white to be as difficult as I expected. I took lots of paint chips home and narrowed them down to several after seeing them in the light in my kitchen. Then used a larger board for each of the main contenders. (My paint store had 2 already made up for 2 of their more popular whites.) I expected to use a creamy white, but in my light the best option was a very bright white. Never would have chosen it at the store!
I love my new - old white painted cabinets. We have had them for about a month now, through the holidays and through several large parties. So far, so good. There are no chips or stains. I wipe up the cabinets more often because messes are clearly visible, but that is not a bad thing as my old oak cabinets were prety dirty when I scrubbed them pre-painting!

I found myself drawn to white cabinets too - and originally thought I wanted a blue and white kitchen.

I ended up with white shaker-style cabinets, but the blue felt too cold, so instead I have warm gold walls (BM Amber Waves) and Kashmir Gold granite, along with an antique pine farmhouse table and lots of black accents. I love it - warm and bright all at once.

My cabinets are painted maple and haven't been hard to keep clean. I just swipe at the area around the handles with a wet paper towel once or twice a day and we're good to go.

I think I could have talked myself into wood cabinets, but it wouldn't have been me the way this kitchen is ...

I don't like white cabinets. Never have. They look somewhat plain to me. I am not drawn to them the way I am a kitchen with beautiful cherry cabinets. In our area, white cabinets seem to be very common. I can't tell you the number of homes we have seen in the $1 million plus range that have white cabinets. For me, personally it's a big turn off. Obviously lots of people love them though!

C

I love the idea of mixing painted and wood cabs. I wanted to do that in ours but DH thought it would be too "busy". I had to pull a 'clam-up, pat my foot' act to get the dark cherry island to go with our natural maple cabs. Now that it's in he loves it!!

That was a huge decision for us. DH likes wood, I like the light and wanted a change from our 20 yr old wood cabinets. Plus our house is dark. Our contractors told us we were the typical "couple" where the husband wants wood, the wife wants white. I asked "who usually wins?" They both replied "the women!" Anyway I tried to compromise with the stained wood island and wood floors throughout the house. I love the look of wood floors with white cabinets. I'm definitely not sorry, and my husband likes it but it still wouldn't have been his first choice!

socabeth--Just so you know, my husband found your posting and showed me the kitchen with the comment, "I LOVE this kitchen!" He particularly loves your backsplash, but the wood floors and cream cabinets bowled him over. I guess some men do love painted cabinets!

Teched, thanks for passing on the compliment! I wish the picture was better, it came out kind of dark, but its good to know there are men out there that can like it too! I tried to "warm up" the look with a little brown in the back splash.

Hello! Like many of you, I was drawn to magazine photos of white kitchens. But we decided to have our cabinets made by the Amish, and it seemed a shame to paint over something hand-made in a barn. So stained it is! One question about painted cabinets--why limit yourself to white? In my last kitchen, we had the cabinets painted a deep yellow and I loved it. It wasn't a selling point when we listed the house, however.

innof3happiness

Here is a link that might be useful: the fixer upper house

Here's another 'like the white cabs in pictures' person. But I think part of that is just the nature of photographs. Somehow I like them better in pics than I do in the kitchen store. Whereas, I get the feeling that the nice woods often aren't really showing their best qualities in photos.

My dilemma is that I want soapstone countertops, and the pics that I really love with the soapstone have white cabs. Also, I want wood floors. I'm not sold on the wood floor, stained wood cabs, and black countertop look. So I feel like I'm destined for white cabs.

I love the soapstone and white cabinets look but I look forward to the warmth of wood cabinets. I hope I like the combination! I'm using an off-white backsplash tile to get some brightness into the picture.

I chose an cream color for a few reasons:
a) I wanted a slightly more formal look and felt a painted cabinet doesnt have the same rustic quality of wood
b) I felt it would be something I would tire of less quickly. Ive had wood cabinets before and I liked them but the shade/grain of woods seem to date a kitchen faster than a painted cabinet. At least in my own eye.
c) Since my kitchen was open to my dining room, I didn't want to have the visual weight of dark wood cabinets. A light shade of paint takes a big wall of cabinets and makes them seem less overwelming.

Beautiful, Whippechick. Your wall color please?

Red

i was fantasizing about an all white kitchen for our new build for two years. the strangest thing happened last week though, somehow i decided while i still want painted cabinets i want more color! so i'm now going with putty. putty and cream ...i think. or putty and some walnut... not sure since the floors will be walnut. i think i got tired of looking at so many white cabinets. they're everywhere. don't get me wrong, i still like them but the few painted cabinets that i've seen that are actually some kind of color seemed somehow more satisfying. i'm sure if we don't start building soon, i'm bound to change my mind again!

On this site, I'm drawn to the pics of white & soapstone kitchens. I love white kitchens.

But when I picture myself walking through my house, the new kitchen isn't white -- it's a light maple stain (but not a starkly natural one -- one w/ a warm glow to it, kind of caramelish). There's some deep green involved, and the the floor is...not visible. Maybe stone, maybe wood?

Kind of simple and forest-y somehow. Wood, earth, leaf, stone, sky. Sounds weird, I know. It's just what I see in my head.

Our kitchen now has birch stained a medium - orangey color, so white would be a refreshing change. I just don't envision it in my house somehow (maybe because white paint is more expensive and I'm afraid it will not hold up over the years -- it took us this long to remodel, so who knows when we'll do it again!).

I don't think you'll be sorry at all!! Go for it!

If you want to see a beautiful mix, check out the front cover of Frontgate Early Spring 2008. Just a drop dead gorgeous combo of Knotty Alder wood with a medium stain and creamy painted island with wood floors. I can't find a link online of the big picture. There is a tiny glimpse of the kitchen on the main page online but you've got to see the whole thing because you can't see the cabinets in this shot. They are Stunning!

The scrolling pictures on the main page with the barstools is the kitchen I'm talking about.

Here is a link that might be useful: Frontgate

When we built this house in 2002, I agonized over cabinet choice. After 25 years with very dark cabinets in a dark house, I wanted light everywhere. We finally saw a cream cabinet with a golden glaze, lightly distressed, at a HD, and fell in love. It was a Thomasville cabinet, and after 6 years I still adore them. We're building again and to my huge regret, these cabinets aren't available. I have an Amishman experimenting to see if he can reproduce the finish in his shop. I'd love to do the same kitchen.

Go with your heart.

I've had this issue since I first started dreaming about a new kitchen decades (decades!!) ago. Right now I have dark wood, and I want a light bright kitchen - I'm always drawn to the white kitchens. Since I want a very contemporary look I was a tad concerned about the kitchen being too stark - all white laquered cabinets, and probably a white & gray granite.

My compromise with myself: I'm making the base cabinets and the island out of quartersawn oak (also called rift cut, I think) with all my uppers white, and I've also got two walls of pantry & appliance (no bases or uppers, just 24 inch deep cabinets) which will be in all white & some SS appliances - but white panels on the fridge, otherwise way too massive looking SS.

I've seen it on the Poliform website, at the Verenna kitchens,

Dian57 - My mom's thermofoil cabinets as bikey mentioned are changing color. But they are not changing uniformly. Some are bright white, the original color and some are aging cream/yellow. The thermofoil on some of the doors is starting to peel. It certainly could be the brand of her cabinets and they are older so probably the newer thermafoils have corrected some of these problems. They just aren't aging gracefully like you would hope for something that expensive.

Red and MSrose - I think I answered your paint questions in another thread. It's Cafe by Devine. It is mixed in another brand of paint. If your paint store can't access the formula, I will try to get it for you.

Thanks for the compliments. We have come quite a way since these pics were made.

If you get creamy white painted cabinets and they end up chipping or cracking or somehow show more wear and tear, how difficult (ie, expensive) would it be to then repaint or fix or turn back into just stained wood cabinets? We are going back and forth on this painted vs stained issue (for perimeter cabs) every day...and I need to decide!

Also, socabeth: your kitchen is beautiful and the layout looks much like what we are about to do. Are you happy with layout, and what are the approx dimensions of your kitchen? Thx.

A lot depends on the cabs-- how elaborate the moldings, etc.-- and how willing you are to use chemical stripping agents; but I think it would be very tough to strip painted cabs back to wood.

There were white thermfoil cabinets in our kitchen when we moved in. I say were, because we are under construction now and they've been ripped out. I liked them as far as durability - no chips or scratches and they cleaned up very well. I didn't care for the look of thermofoil, but I did kinda get used to having white. When I was in choosing mode for our new cabinets, I too, seemed to be most attracted to white painted cabinets. Ultimately, we chose cherry wood stained cabinets in briarwood stain. I was thinking about going with that on the perimeter cabinets, and a white painted island as I have white beadboard throughout my home - but I chickened out. Reason being, I usually saw white on the perimeter and a wood or different color painted island, but couldn't find any pics of what I was thinking on.

If you are thinking of resale value - I would go with the wood stained cabinets. On most of the home sales shows on tv, it seems that more people comment on not liking the white cabinets than comment on not liking wood ones. But if you're planning on being in your home for quite awhile - get whatever you want. I am still drawn to the painted cabinet kitchen I see on here, Rate My Space, and HGTV shows. BUT, I am hoping I change my mind after my cabinets are installed, and I am back to having wood stained cabinets again, like I did in my last home.

Good luck with your decision.

---Boxie

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of my previous thermofoil kitchen and new planned kitchen

Here's my take on the white kitchens: I love them. When I was planning our remodel, it was all that I wanted. However, I began to realize that because you can see our kitchen from our entry, I thought the wood would make it less kitchen-y and it would blend better with the surrounding rooms. That being said, if I had the big, old rambling house of my dreams with a kitchen in the back of the house, it would be white all the way!