Annkathryn's post reminds me of something I wanted to mention. While these houses are often quite modest, that's not the same as cheap. Due to the "location, location, location" mantra, some of these homes can be really expensive (annkathryn's, in the Silicon Valley. was priced at $888,888).

Just something to think about in terms of budgets.

Here's the gist for those wanting to skip the story: Phoenix tract house with kitchen redone for coolness and cheapness.

While Dorothy and Tom were enjoying their retirement mountain house with the animal print Saltillo floor tile, they were getting restless when it was below zero but not enough snow to ski either. Soon they were reminiscing about their college days in Phoenix and Tom thought maybe buying a tiny old house could be done even on their fixed income, given the horrendous nature of the housing market there. By the time all was said and done, it ws August and they were now the proud owners of one of the original 1960s Phase 1 houses in the Sun City AZ "retirement community".

They knew they wanted to update some of the rooms, particularly the kitchen, but the budget they spent on their mountain house was a far cry from what they could spend here. As they left their mountain in August on a cool 70 degree morning, they started discussing what to do and how to do it on the cheap. When they arrived at their low desert destination, they staggered through the 120 degree heat into the house, flopped onto the folding chairs they'd brought, and decided one thing: this house was going to look and feel cool; the antithesis of their mountain home.

They did almost all of the work themselves and hired Starving Students a few days to help with the heavy lifting. The cabs, pulls, shelves, and backsplash (several glass noticeboards) came from Ikea. The sink-side backsplash windows were definitely hired out but helped bring much needed light into the room and the sink was a splurge too. The full-depth apron sink and freestanding range meant they didn't need counter cutouts, just squares. The prefab granite they had cut to their measurements and the Students help with the install. The granite felt great when coming in from the heat outside.

Dorothy was glad they found an induction range at a scratch and dent sale since induction would help keep the heat down while cooking. She liked how the wall color showed through the backsplash--easy to change if she ever wanted to (sorry I couldn't make the "glass" transparent!).

The dining table was the last splurge and even came with the green apples (just seeing if you're still awake...).

*cabs Ikea Ramsjo $88 but they're not very wide. I thought I had seen wider Ikea drawers but I couldn't find them
*prefab granite $3sqft plus $10 per cut ~3 cuts
*Kohler sink and faucet $2k
*vinyl plank laminate floor $3sqft
*induction range $1800
*hood Ouch I'm sure this was spendy too
*lights $48 each
*chandalier $221
*table $1700?? can't remember it or chairs
*shelves Ikea Ekby Gruven $40
*pulls Ikea Tag $5/2pack (rounded to not catch on clothes or people)
*backsplash Ikea Kludd noticeboard $20 each
*and fridge DW etc

I thought I had done pretty well on keeping costs low but now looking at the list, I think not so much. Well, good thing this is all make believe and I have lots of time to plan for the real deal!

as usual the DAT thread is great!

cheers

Ok. Here's my first attempt at a DAT. I'm not sure if it is right and I don't think it's a kitchen I'd like to live in, but here goes...

The house was built in 1960:

The couple moves in and needs to gut the kitchen but decides they want to stay true to the style of the times. They get ahold of a Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book from 1960 and find these inspiration pics:

And they decide to try to modernize some elements but do a take-off on those ideas. This is what they come up with:

Copper sink and range hood
Pegboard backsplash
Acid washed concrete floor
Glass countertops
Green glass jar pendants

How fun that you went with a backsplash window and IKEA cabinets in one of these houses, mtnfever, given we just put in that BS window and are considering IKEA! In fact, we went down to Seattle for an "IKEAN Christmas" to check it out. 4 times to IKEA in 3 days was a trip - and managed to wear my partner out like plane rides, casinos and late nights in the city are apparently incapable of doing! I'm sort of continually wondering what to do with the other wall of BS, so it's gratifying to see what someone else might do.

On the other side of the cost continum, I'm always intrigued by Marcolo's Crowne Point cabinets, but I can't work with that little arch along the bottom of the uppers. It is just too similar to what we have now - and doesn't play nice with the BS window. I like the little feet on the lowers.

There's a lot to like about all the kitchens here.

Steph2000, I don't think you should worry about your comments derailing the thread at all. I find it helpful to hear from folks who own houses of this period, as I try to get a better handle on the topic.

There are no 60's tract homes in my city (which isn't huge) but I did find one small area of 50's tract homes. I think some southwestern 60's tract homes may look very different from the 60's tract homes shown as examples here. That may have been throwing me a bit; I found info today on a wide range of 60's tract homes in Phoenix, constructed largely from concrete block, and that seemed more familiar to me. It has taken me a while to "get" this thread.

Marcolo, the Crown Point Traditional cabinets in your board seem to fit perfectly. That would be a very happy and pretty kitchen to work in, and it would be a lot of fun to accessorize with colorful dishes.

Sochi, yours also is very cheerful. I don't think your boards all look the same. They do all have a sense of fun color, drama and energy that I admire a lot.

Pal, your lavender kitchen uses one of my favorite colors (where is Lavender Lass?) I'm not sure why people don't use this color more often. I painted a closet dresser this color, and half of my family fainted in shock. I think it would be a pleasing surprise to go through the door of the modest blue house and find this level of simple elegance (I think that house needs your help on the outside too.)

Your Levittown Country Clubber seemed so appropriate to the house, I felt guilty about not trying harder to mesh my own board with the period. Once again you're able to assemble the feeling of a period while using modern materials (reminds me of your retro pink kitchen, accomplished by using all currently available materials.) I think I'd like the coppery metallic tones inside.

The remodeled Levittown houses with the gables and palladian windows seem sort of cartoony to me, I keep thinking the house fronts look startled (maybe it's the raised eyebrow effect.)

Melissastar, me too, I stay up way too late since these threads started. I like your sage green and red combo, I could totally live there. It does look very right for a young family, to me.

Mtnfever, your Spanish revival and southwest style is strong where I live, so these colors and materials are familiar. I think your materials acknowledge the style well, without clubbing people over the head with it. (I get kinda tired of seeing really obvious Spanish choices here.) It feels bright and modern and fitting to the house.

I can also relate to your thinking about the desert heat when designing the Sun City home. (My grandparents lived in Sun City briefly, left because they said there were too many old people.) I find myself wanting cool, light colored materials in our home too. Also can't help realizing that the smooth modern materials you chose would be practical for dealing with the tons of desert dust that are part of my reality, although that may not have been your intent!

Youngdeb, I really hope you'll post pics of your upcoming project for your 1952 ranch, when you tackle it. I think the stainless countertop coupled with wood doors and painted cabinet frames would be very striking, I'd love to see this board in real life. My mother has wonderful bedroom furniture from the sixties, painted white dresser drawer fronts against dark stained wood cases, and it's very distinctive.

Beaglesdoitbetter, so glad to see you do a board here! I like the strong modern tone the glass countertop brings, in contrast to the retro feel of the turquoise cabinets. As a fan of simple honest stuff I also like the pegboard wall. Lots of blues there, and I know they would have to be managed carefully in real life. But then again I know you would fine tune them perfectly (I've seen the photos of your real life kitchen with your fearless love of wonderful blue.)

As always I feel like I'm learning, so thanks to all for participating.

I like all of these.

If someone is sitting back and thinking that these are looking kind of plain, I'd like to address that. I've noticed that if you take the fabrics (and some accessories as shown) out of Marcolo's, Sochi's, Melissastar's, and Mudhouse's you end up with rather limited palettes which are similar to Mtnfever's second one and mine. Melissastar does include red, but change the fixture and fridge and that color could be anything.-- And I think this can be a good thing. Youngdeb is the only one who tried a full, multicolor, cemented in place element--and that works too, but it is a different, and in some ways, more committed (albeit to many colors) approach.

Mtnfever's first, and Beagle's are the two that stand out to me as committing to fuller more saturated color across the palette, even though still a limited palette. I think a limited palette that is interesting is harder to pull off than a wider palette. I think the boards are getting better because people are moving away from creating boards that were visually arresting because of everything that was happening and moving Toward making kitchens that would work better in real life. And, maybe, moving away from all-transitional-all-the-time to something more committed to a cohesive design style.

Beagle, I am particularly interested in yours (as I am your own really Baroque or high Rococo kitchen). You took a distinctive 60s palette and reworked it in a very modern way. I am not sure I could live with it, completely, but that's way beside the point. I think it's a good, strong concept.

What if you want the "One True Kitchen" or the "Something's Got to Give" kitchen, and the essence of your house is still slab doors and ranch or clamshell moldings, and that is something that will not be changed?

Do you go for it and have a kitchen that is a stand-alone design element? Do you abandon that idea and start looking at Pam's RetroRenovation website and seeing if you can embrace mid-century?

I tried to put together a kitchen that riffs on the OTK, SGTG design that could both give you a version of that modern classic and do your house a favor by fitting in.

Daltile Pepper White (the black speckles)
Cambria Sharpham quartz (reminds me of the 60s cultured marble)
St Charles Cabinets and Viking range (same company so can color-match)
Wood floors (not a mid-century thing in kitchens but a nod to 2012)
FB Parma Gray Wallcolor
The MCM version of the lantern or bell-jar fixture
Paul Mccobb table and chairs
An Italian still life (Natura Morta) and commode, just because I liked them.
The fixture and the commode in particular nod to the Hollywood Regency style of the period.

These are great! As someone who lives in a 60's tract home, I had to join in this one and show you what we've actually done. There are 1,400 homes built from late 50's to late 60's, varied styles from small single-floor plan ranch like ours, larger single-floor plan ranches, small ranches with walk-out basements, tons of split-levels (three levels: basement/FR, living/kitchen, then BR's), some two-story colonials, and a few that have more MCM influence.

As my "neighbor" Northcarolina said, overall it's a moderate neighborhood (lol, definitely not Long Island property values), so the materials generally reflect that. Yes, we have a Big Chill fridge, but we joke we are probably the most modest home they've ever delivered. Mtnfever, we even have a Samsung induction range floor model from the scratch-n-dent area. It was too great of a deal to pass up. Because we are one of the homes with no basement, we have to deal with laundry in the kitchen until we can maybe someday renovate and take care of that. The granite folks built up a cabinet around the washer to put extra counterspace. No plans to move. Total square footage is just under 1,200. The blue floor was existing by PO's. Who puts white grout in a kitchen? Oh well, Stanley Steemer does an excellent job to clean and seal it.

Despite the trees, we get excellent natural light in the kitchen and LR especially.

Details:
Cabinets: existing, previously painted, now BM Chantilly Lace
Paneling: previously painted, now BM White Heron
Hardware: Ikea Gravyr
Counters: Blue Pearl Granite
Backsplash: American Olean Ocean Blues (Lowe's)
DW: LG 6920ST
Range: Samsung Induction, floor model
Fridge: Big Chill in Beach Blue, were able to use EnergyStar rebate for appliances
Lighting: Lowe's
Pot rack: Enclume crown from Williams-Sonoma
Faucet: Delta Saxony
Dining: vintage Heywood-Wakefield from eBay
Kitchenaid Artisan mixer in Ice (2011 Christmas gift)

Exterior, on a rare Christmas Day snow from 2010:

Fabric to recover chairs

I've seen some of these pictures before, but thanks for sharing your real-life version of an updated kitchen that fits in a mid-century house.

My parents' house is not exactly a tract house, but it was modified and built from a common plan from the mid-60s. The inside is much more finished and detailed than typical but the footprint is the same.

The kitchen had the same white cabinets as now, with black hardware, pale green "Irish Linen"Formica, a white brick Amtico floor, and white wallpaper with black outlines of flowers. The 1969 original would be much more current today than its 1987 updates are.

So, I decided to see if I could do an updated version with current materials and take it back to its roots, without replicating it with vintage pieces.

Back with details later, someone is here to look at the apartment.

Laminate: "Tropical Getaway" from Pionite or Nevamar to replace Irish Linen (which they should still make)
Quartz: Cambria Windermere
Plain and Fancy cabinets.
Bertazzoni Range: the originals are a Chambers SS cooktop and White GE wall ovens (still there) that are heavy on the chrome accents
Amtico "Sedimentary Stone" vinyl, laid parquet, like the original "brick"
Wallpaper from Interwall: very similar to the large-scale original
Visual comfort "Eugene" replacing the original tole-shaded fixture, which was black picked out in white.
Room and Board Soren chair and Prouve Gueridon table replacing the original tavern table and captain's chairs
There was a oil still life of vegetables like this
Modern black pull to replace the original Amerock "Iron" pull
Amerock basics black knob because sometimes you can't improve on the original.

I've been working on this one off and on for a few days and I'm not satisfied...not even sure if it works at all. So I thought I'd throw it out there and see if others with a better eye than eye can figure out what it needs, or what works about it and what doesn't.

I started on it because I really loved the alehouse vertrazzo countertop and when I showed it to my son, he thought having a countertop made of recycled beer bottles was too cool for words.

So my theoretical owner is a single young man, in his late 20s. Works in Silicon Valley (or Idaho or Seattle area) or anyplace else where at 28 or so, he earns a good enough living in technology to buy a home and remodel it. He's old enough and mature enough to no longer want to live frat-house-style, knows a home is a good long-term investment, and wants a place that he wouldn't be ashamed to show a girlfriend. But he's still young enough to be in the fruit-and-nut-gathering stage of life and prefers beer, pizza and sports to fine dining and the theater.

His modest ranch probably looks something like this:

His kitchen has cherry cabinets, no uppers...just two heavy shelves where what he uses frequently and looks decent resides. He eats most meals sitting at a countertop and the dining area, which is open to the kitchen, houses a table and chairs more suited to poker than dining.

Counter and backsplash are both Vertrazzo alehouse. Sink is silgranit, biscuit colored, with a Blanco faucet. Appliances would be GE, biscuit colored, to keep the room from getting too dark. The lighting pendant is from Barn Light Electric, the large Bond. Industrial-style stool is from Crate and Barrel. Floor is green rusty slate. Dining area is where I really couldn't get it to come together. Couldn't decide if the floor should be oak or continue the slate. Am not happy with the table or chairs, but gave up finding better. I do like the wine bottle chandelier.

I was aiming for a contemporary look, with a rustic/industrial spin that I thought would appeal to a young man, and a color palette that was sufficiently masculine, without going all black leathery or lumberjack.

And I could not find anything resembling the kind of rug I was looking for...rust/greens with a touch of purple like in the Leroy Neiman print, called the Hustler.

I wanted to do a low budget kitchen using some of the currently unpopular but then state-of-the-art material. I was also inspired by my mom's kitchen of my childhood, which was predominantly yellow and white, with yellow cabs, a white patterned Formica counter, and a whitish linoleum floor with speckles of other colors.

Because I didn't know of any source of stock yellow cabinets and I was trying to keep the budget down, I went with white cabinets from Ikea. The floor is a speckled predominantly white Marmoleum. Of course, my mom didn't have a full backsplash, just 4 inches of counter material and painted walls. This is where I picked up the yellow, with laminate. The counter is one of Wilsonart's special order laminates, with coffee beans. I picked up the coffee theme with the wall art, and the counter color in the dining table and chairs, both from Ikea.

My mother had coppertone appliances, which pretty much can't be had today (although I did find a range on EBay). The closest modern appliances were out of my hypothetical budget, so I went with low-cost white ones.

In terms of a home, I was thinking of a ranch.

Bjursta Dining Table in brown-black (Ikea)
Henrikdal Dining Chair in brown-black (Ikea)
Applad cabinets, white (Ikea)
Frigidaire refrigerator (AJ Madison)
GE range (AJ Madison)
Air King range hood (Sears)
Counter is Coffee Beans laminate from Wilsonart (special order)
Backsplash is Wilsonart laminate "Sweet Corn"
Floor is Marmoleum Scrabble
Pastel Augusta Counter Stool (Lamps Plus)
Hardware is Amerock Revitalize Collection
Poster is by Kate Ward Thacker from AllPosters.Com

The Martha Stewart cabinets at Home Depot come in a Heavy Cream, which looks pale yellow to me. There is also a color called Fortune Cookie which looks Peach on my monitor so I could be way off.

pal, I like pretty much all of your designs in this thread, but the Italian pieces violates the OTK rules. Too much color and character. I think a real OTK devotee wants the virginal white princess bridal dress experience.

Marcolo Crown Point Transitional--This is a very fun, pleasant kitchen. I love the wall color.

Sochi green/orange--I love the fabric. It reminds me a lot of my mom's decorating choices from when I was a kid, which means it's pretty much spot on for the era.

Palimpsest lavender--I found this one to be very relaxing. I especially like the chairs and lighting fixture.

Melissastar butterfly--I love the muted greens with the bright reds. I love Vetrazzo and the Hollywood sage works beautifully here.

Mtnfever Spanish revival--I think the palette works very well together. I think that you did a good job of getting the right amount of Spanish revival feel without being too much for the house.

Palimpsest correlated neutrals--You did a great job of mixing neutrals here, and the design really evoked the 60s for me (especially the drapes and the backsplash, that somehow reminded me of a leisure suit). My problem with this one is that you did such a good a job evoking a genuine 60s feel that it brought brought up some of my personal baggage about 60s design.

Youngdeb--I love those wishbone chairs, too. I like the color combinations. I like the orange mixed into the green backsplash, but it sounded from you description like you were going for a straight green?

Mtnfever Sun City--Barring one or two items, you did a nice job of sticking to a budget. I think this kitchen would be very appealing to a lot of people right now. The flip side of that is that I didn't see you taking any risks with this design.

Beaglesdoitbetter--Congrats on your first DAT moodboard. You did a great job of putting together something that echoed you inspiration pics. I love the mix of materials--glass, copper, concrete.

Palimpsest OTK--White appliances? In the OTK? Gasp! It's funny, the first time I looked at this one, I didn't see the OTK at all, and I think the white range is one of the reasons. The commode is the other--way too flashy for the OTK. I like it, but as some people have commented about the OTK, I find it a bit cold.

Gsciencechick--I like the vibe of your kitchen with the Big Chill fridge. Your cabs remind me of my mom's.

Palimpsest Irish Linen--I love the greens and the large scale wallpaper. It's a happy kitchen.

Melissastar beer kitchen--I've already said I love Vetrazzo, and you did a great job of bringing out the alehouse in the Alehouse Amber. I like the kitchen and don't have any great recommendations for the dining area. The chair makes me think of something you'd find in an upscale bar. Suits your guy, but not really practical for a dining chair, I think.

I've started perusing GW again after not logging in for a few months, and I just wanted to say that I find all the DAT threads extremely interesting. I feel like I am getting a design class in every one! I especially like the examples of how to do combined neutrals well, and the discussion of design era when choosing materials. Anyway, one of these days I might get the nerve to do a board for a DAT, but in the meantime, I just wanted to thank all the contributors for the education and the eye candy!

I put in the Swedish chest because I thought it was cold without, so I understand. But that shows the power of one piece. The kitchen without it is pretty OTK--the reason I used a white range is because of the potential for exact color matching since they are both Viking companies.

Its funny because the Irish Linen kitchen is Very White. And the original Irish Linen laminate is at the light end of the countertop color. About the saturation of the floor tile, but green instead of gray. It's not cold as some near white kitchens because of the wallpaper. And some people look at all white as "crisp" rather than "cold".

Cawaps, BTW, I did order that swatch of fabric from your DAT Animal prints creation, but DH feels it's too much floral. I'm happy with the fabric I found, though. Just need to find the time to do it.

Pal, I really like the board styled after your parent's kitchen. I started out with the Pionite "Tropical Getaway" in a board I"m still working on. I think it would be beautiful with the Cambria Windermere. I also really like the updated chairs and table, with the large scale wallpaper. I like it all.

I thought the exercise you did for the OTK or SGTG kitchen worked, but that style is just too formal for me personally, no matter how hard I try. I can admire it but it makes me feel uncomfortable, if I try to imagine living in one. I do like the painting and the Swedish chest, even though they are also formal; they are visually interesting.

Melissastar, I thought your second board worked really well. Loved the slate floor with the cabinets and Vertrazzo alehouse counters, and I think you achieved your goal of arriving at a kitchen that would be very appealing to young men (and to me too!) I agree a less "barrel-y" chair might work better as a dining chair, but I'd keep the table myself (the heavy steel base is right up my alley.) I also think it works great with your hardware, stool, and faucet choices.

Cawaps I liked the coffee theme and your choices of materials. I think it works (unground beans on the counter, and ground beans on the floor!) I'm also noticing how much I like the kitchens in this thread that seem to have a sense of informal fun, like yours, Marcolo's, Melissastar's, Sochi's, and Gsciencechick's real kitchen. I am visualizing all of these kitchens as small spaces, so is that why fun, less formal themes seem so appropriate? Not sure.

Now I wish I hadn't made the owner of my soft green kitchen above such a stuffy old fussbudget.

Gsciencechick, thanks so much for posting your pics. Looks to me like a space that works well and would be really pleasing to live in. I keep noticing too how the inclusion of the Big Chill appliances seems to make the space...happy, with a sense of humor. I have some of the same materials in my own 60's house (painted cabinets, painted paneling) but the exterior of houses like yours is very different from what I see in my part of the country, so it's great to see the real deal and be able to peek inside. We haven't done a thing to ours yet, so it's encouraging to see what others have done. I bet the Blue Pearl granite is really beautiful with the light on it.

Sharonite, I feel the same way, each of these threads teaches me things I knew nothing about before. I hope you'll jump in one of these days, it's a lot of fun. All you need is a starting point, and you'll see how addicting it is.

This thread could use a couple of posts in a "This, not That" format to show how you can execute the OTK, or any style, really, in a way that fits the house better and will date more slowly.

Re: the Swedish Chest, I like to do this type of thing in real life if I can sell the idea. This client went for it. The rest of the furnishings are very simple modern pieces and the apartment is an envelope of off-white walls, floor to ceiling wall to wall off-white drapes and a near off-white floor. He does have some elaborate art and artifacts, though.

Mudhouse, I compliment you again. I like your choices.

Not trying to rush anyone, but just curious as to what's up for the next thread. I'm going to try to figure out this 'mood board' but it may take a while! LOL I thought it might be better to just start on the next project :)

Thank you florantha.

Pal, thanks, now I better understand how you might use the items like the chest as focal points (in this thread and in previous ones as well.) I like the idea of keeping an easy-to-live-with palette that allows a few very special pieces to really shine.

I have one more I'll post shortly, just finishing up.

I'm also thinking about the next DAT (I have another mood board for this one, but haven't posted because I am ambivalent about it; I'll probably post it anyway).

I've been thinking about Lavender's French country, and also about the modern rustic proposal (it has come up in a couple of recent threads about people's real kitchens). There are others I want to do, but I don't see anyone on the board trying to figure out how to do Steampunk or Hollywood Regency in their own kitchens, so there's no rush to get to those.

I ended up working with a different kind of 60's tract home for this board. I know part of the challenge for this thread was the open-endedness of the design, and hopefully (?) these modern style tract homes aren't too design-specific to fit here. When I think of tract homes here in the southwest, I tend to think of squatty, one story stucco or concrete block structures, with flat or very low pitch rooflines. Kind of ugly, some of them, but the plain shapes do make a nice backdrop for the geometric shapes of the desert plants I like.

Paradise Gardens is a Phoenix subdivision, associated with the designer Al Beadle. The original tract was subdivided in 1958, and the first recorded sale was in 1960. The flat-roofed block construction homes were available in four basic plans: the Ocotillo, the Cholla, the Palo Verde, and the Saguaro. Phoenix was home to one of the largest manufacturers of concrete block in the country, and many of these homes feature exterior accent walls of decorative concrete block (which I really like.) Currently these homes are popular with rehabbers and designers. The original prices ranged around $17,000-$19,000. They seem to sell in the $350,000 to $500,000 range now (usually heavily remodeled.)

The home I used is a Saguaro model, and these photos are from 1961 (note the cool red car in the carport.) I circled the little U-shaped kitchen in red. The refrigerator is located on a wall directly across from the sink/window wall.

I thought the original kitchen shown in the photo above looked like a small brown cave. I wanted to keep it mostly intact, but make it light and bright. I thought the boxy shapes of these houses suggested blocks of color.

The lower cabinets are glossy pale blue laminate, and the uppers are aluminum framed with frosted glass. The counters began as Pionite "Tropical Getaway," but changed to the more vibrant Caesarstone Apple Martini. The speckled rubber tile floors were the only material I considered really retro. The lime green and pale blue glass accent tiles are 1" square, and the white wall tiles are 4" squares like those original to the kitchen.

Plumbing and window locations remained the same (a dishwasher could be added to the peninsula.) I removed the upper cabinets over the peninsula, but kept the uppers elsewhere. I sacrificed the small upper cabinets over the original cooktop, to gain the visual element of a range hood with tile backsplash. I gained cabinet space elsewhere by using a range with double ovens, eliminating any wall oven.

The vertical blocks of colored tiles are an attempt to offset the low kitchen ceiling (which I kept.) I hoped that making the blue and green color blocks asymmetrical would make it playful and interesting. A roman shade was more streamlined than drapes, and didn't obscure the window tile detail.

In the above board, the large blue and green squares (with the bar stools) is a bad attempt to show that the Apple Martini color wraps down the side of the peninsula, to make one more block of color on the end. The outside wall of the peninsula would be covered with a blue laminate to match the lower cabinets, and the Apple Green countertop would be extended far enough to provide enough leg room for two stools.

I added a deeper turquoise blue with accessories, the rug, and lighting. I wanted a third color to give the homeowners more to choose from as they furnished the adjacent living space. For example, a large gray carpet for flooring in the next room could provide a foundation for furnishings in turquoise/gray/white, or soft green/gray/white, or pale blue/gray/black, and so on. I thought the two-color bright lime green and pale blue scheme would be too restricting for the living area, so tried to provide an "escape route" to a wider range of complementary schemes.

Lower cabs: Holiday kitchens, Geneva door style, Honey Do Laminates
Upper cabs: Holiday kitchens, aluminum frame with frosted glass doors
Caesarstone Apple Martini countertop
Rubber speckled floor tiles by CityScape, Cool Wave
Wall tiles, any 4" white tile
Accent glass tiles, Susan Jablon, Pale Aqua Blue and Lime Green
Mini Echo Pendant, ylighting.com
Rug, Trans Ocean Seville Mosaic Stripes, rugstudio.com
LG double oven range
Kitchenaid Architect Series French door refrigerator, white
Knoll Bertoia stool, allmodern.com
Blanco undermount white Super Single sink
Delta Saville Stainless faucet
Roman shade, Savannah lime green from eBay superdeals955
Hardware: Top Knobs brushed satin nickel, Asbury Collection
Paul Klee print, Friendly Game, 1933
Marimekko "Socks Rolled Down" dessert bowls

That scheme works for me.

If the "budget" was high enough this may be one of the places to use the Walker Zanger or Ann Sacks tiles that are dimensional, or shaped (other than rectangular, there are cruciforms and such) to riff off the decorative concrete block.

Oh, I like that idea a lot, and never even considered it.

I like the decorative concrete blocks so much I even considered doing a veneer of them on the outside of the peninsula, painted (but the idea of bleeding kneecaps made me realize it was yet another wrong design turn.) :-)

I really like that too mudhouse. I personally don't care for little mosaic type tiles, but I like what you're proposing with the blue, green and white. I love the carports!

cawaps, your colours look pretty bang on for the era as well, although I would have preferred your original idea for yellow cabs. I wonder how much it costs to get IKEA cabs painted in a shop? I like the coffee beans, neat concept.

I've spent my spare time this last week considering lay outs for our one day reno of our master bathroom (see the bathroom forum if bathroom layout interests you. No comments on my lovely golden oak cabs please), so I didn't have time to do a second kitchen here. As for the next DAT, I'm all for rustic modern or French Country. I don't know much about French country, but I have a good source for inspiration pictures. And rustic modern is just fun.

The tract house I'm working with is pretty typical. Lots of windows. Little ornamentation. There are hardwoods throughout the home with narrow unpainted baseboards. There is no crown moulding in the house. The original wood slab doors and copper doorknobs are still in good shape. The living room has a classic 1960s asymmetrical pinkish brick fireplace.

Though most people would replace the slab doors, rip out the fireplace brick and slap some white crown moulding around all the rooms, the owners will leave these elements intact. They'd like a kitchen that "fits" the rest of the house, but they don't want it to look like the set of Mad Men.

Here's the mood of the house:

The remodelled kitchen will have frameless cabinets with oak slab doors. Counters will be silestone. The backsplash will be a warm grey 2x12 tile. The hardwood floors will continue from the rest of the house into the kitchen. The appliances will be white. (The higher-end glass front type that won't yellow.) Cabinet hardware will be copper.

mcmjilly, would you please tell me where you found the copper pull like that? I love that style but have not been able to find it in the bright copper that you found. thank you!

I like the horizontal oak, the copper, etc. I would be a bit afraid of the green wallcolor--that's not a color from my childhood that I embrace, much. But thats a matter of personal taste only.

Mudhouse- Love your color combination...very cheerful! :)

Sochi- You said something about the next DAT being Rustic Modern or French Country. What if we did both, or rather, a very open interpretation of rustic. I like the pink kitchen thread the best (so far) because it allowed everyone's imagination to really run wild. The only constraint was pink.

So, what if we did the same thing with Rustic? Any rustic kitchen, you just have to explain what type of rustic you're choosing. Rustic modern, rustic farmhouse, rustic lodge, rustic european country, etc. What do you all think? It might be fun to have a really broad topic, again :)

Mudhouse: Love the colors and the color blocks in that last kitchen. It's the first contemporary kitchen I've seen that I could embrace. Others I have admired, but am not tempted to want to live in them.

So, what is next, do you think?

These are excellent, mudhouse and mcmjilly!

The Big Chill fridge makes me smile every day. :) We've had guests hug it. Even contractors like the Orkin man love it.

Let's do French Country and put poor Lavender out of her misery. :)

I'm okay with that. She has been very patient. I don't know anything about French Country, but I guess I'll be learning soon.

I appreciate you all offering to do French Country, which I love...but we could also do a rustic kitchen (as I suggested above) which could include French Country, as well as Rustic Modern, Rustic Lodge, Rustic Farmhouse, Rustic European Coutnry, etc. :)

What do you think?

I'm bumping this up, to get input from Pal and Marcolo (and others) on the next DAT :)

I'm okay with French Country, and am happy to see rustic interpretations of this, but I do want to keep rustic modern on its own if possible. Doesn't mean we can't do Euro Rustic Modern, etc., but I'd like to keep the modern in it if possible.

Another suggestions that we said we would consider soon-ish is the up-cycled kitchen.

Fine with French Country. I agree we shouldn't go too broad: we've already done Tuscan, which is another traditional rustic, and I agree that Modern Rustic gets into a whole 'nother genre.

Who wants to set it up? You can set a parameter or two if you want....

Well, if you all want to do French Country, sounds good to me! LOL

French country sounds good to me, too.

I think we should revive some of the rules, in shorter form maybe, and link to the sorta-FAQ for the benefit of new people who join in. In fact, there probably should be a sentence or two describing what the thread is for, i.e., not a finished kitchens or pure discussion post.

I can try to set it up over the next day or so, although I am pretty ignorant of French Country. Lavender, would you want to set it up?

Thanks, Sochi...but I haven't even figured out the mood board, yet. I have contractors out every day, working on my house. I've had time for a quick comment, here and there, but no time to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes.

Marcolo- Would you want to do it? That way you can clarify what the thread should be or not be. You did an excellent job, with the 1920s DAT :)

Marcolo has done a few I think. I will give it a try if no one objects (I'm a total novice with French country). I should have time to pull something together this weekend.

I don't think you have to know that much specifically about French Country. Just google some images. The parameters of the thread and any initial instructions would be similar regardless of the particular project.

After months away from GW I've been spending waaay too much time reading these old DAT threads. While I've enjoyed them all thus far, the ideas represented here were the ones I could most envision actually using in my own home (or a theoretical future home). Thanks to all the talented contributors for sharing!