My everyday dining table...

favorite little wall space..

Okay, there we go. Perhaps this post should go on the decorating forum. Not sure, as I don't really frequent there. I just know you guys know KITCHENS and that's what's causing me pause in our new house! I love the design we've settled on -- I just want to get the colors right. I want it to be lovely and a perfect place to hang out with my kids! Thanks for reading this far, and I really appreciate you taking the time to respond! :)

The only other thing that might be helpful is info. on the exterior of the new house. It's traditional in style, and will have shake and stone front. We're traditional folks, but like a pop of color and whimsy here and there! We're also very casual, as we are a family with 3 boys! :)

I think that either white or stained could work with your furnishings. In your photos of the old house, the trim is white, and the furnishings work with the trim, so I could totally see white cabs in that space. Is the trim in your new house white or stained? Is this a new build? What's the style of the new house? (Colonial, craftsman, mediterranean, ranch...)

Either would be great with your furnishings. Of course you can also do a combo if your kitchen will have an island.
Yes, we do say"go with what you love" here and in your case you can not go wrong either way.
What do you have now in your kitchen?

It's a new build. They're just digging the basement, but I have to turn in all my cabinetry details by Monday. The trim in the house will be white. The style is a combination of New England/European/ Colonial per Southern Living architect. (That's really helpful, uh?!) ;) It's a modified SL plan, so I do not have a link to provide to show the exterior. (They modified several things, including adding a front porch.) Let me see if I can take a picture of rendering and post in a second...

You can always do the white cabinets with walnut top on an island, that would blend both. Or as elendi said, a stained island in a white kitchen is another option.

Okay, here's the exterior. Think warm stone and probably a greige or tan shake siding...

ellendi, we're now in a rental since we're building so this kitchen doesn't count! ;) However, in the house photos above, my kitchen there had cherry shaker cabinets. And in the house before that, I had cherry raised panel cabinets with a black distressed island. I loved both of my old kitchens. However, they both had WINDOWS in them, and this new kitchen does not. It does have a wall of windows in the adjacent breakfast room, though.

Either would look fine. I think the white/cream glazed would look a bit better with the vibrant colors pictured in your old house (not sure if you're planning on using color in your new house). As others have said, mix up the perimeter and island colors. I'm doing stained perimeter cabinets with a white glazed island in my new build.

buildinginal, I'd love to see your new kitchen! I've thought about that combination, too -- using stained and a painted island. Yes, my colors in new house will be very similar. I will probably tone down the green paint (the Agave from BM was a little bold) but other than that, I love all the blues, greens and browns! They're my happy colors! :)

We have a rustic type looking house(rock,brick,and shake) where white looks kind of cold in there. We wil probably do cream on the cabinets and either a wood or another color on island.

Southernmum, we don't have our cabinets yet, but I'm anxious to see them when they're completed. I was torn between a cream glazed or a black distressed island. I saw this picture below while browsing through the local mls and decided to go with the cream glazed.

What SL plan are you building? My builder is a member of the SL Custom Builders program, so I've been able to see several SL homes or SL "approved" homes.

buildinginal, it's called Geneva House. The front (and several things inside) have been modified. If your builder has ever seen it built, I'd LOVE to see pics! SL doesn't have any photos of it constructed, so it's a little scary building from paper only! However, we really love the floor plan for our family -- and esp. the full basement! I love your kitchen inspiration photo -- lovely cabinets! :)

What about white for the perimeter, and a distressed blue for the island with a butcher block top for the island? That will give you the white cabinets that you love, as well as some yummy wood, and an interesting bit of color that comes already "worn" so as to wear well with children.

I like that idea, live wire oak! One of my original favorites for an island is called "French Gray, with black Glaze" at my cabinet makers. Although is sounds GRAY, it's kind of blue/green/gray. It's really pretty! So if you get a glaze, do you also do distressed? I'll see if I can find a photo of the island.... Thanks for your input! :)

I'd love to see douglas fir cabs with your stuff. And simple doors. I'm a votin' fer wood.

Although lighting MAJORLY changes this color, here is the island I love at my cabinet makers showroom. (My island style will be different, though, as it has seating....) My husband thinks this color will be confining, but it makes me happy!!

deedles, I'm not familiar with douglar fir wood -- other than Christmas trees! I'm off to google that...! :)

I would visit houzz.com if I were you.....however, plan on being more confused than before before you finally decide. Browse through the thousands of kitchen photos and create an ideabook as you go. THEN, go back and see if you have any themes in your photos (i.e., painted, stained, combo, doorstyles). This will likely guide you toward honing in on style that you will be most satisfied with.

I started doing this a while back (without really even paying attention to all the details of each kitchen, but just tagging what I loved.) I sent the ideabook link to my cabinet guy and he noticed immediately that 90% of the kitchens I'd tagged had the same exact door style and had white cabinets with a darker island! Can you guess what door style I'm going with? :)

P.S. I LOVE that island that southernmum linked...too bad dh says no to blue cabinets :/

stacylh, dh says blue will be a bit confining for us, but he doesn't say no! ;) He wants me to really love my kitchen -- and the kitchen is definitely not his area of expertise, ha! I just want to make sure I love it THIS year when we move in, AND next year, and the year after...!

Allison is a GW contributor; her kitchen has a gorgeous French blue island with a wood counter. Some perimeter cabinets in cream. The Finished Kitchens Blog even lists her paint colors so you can find the exact color.

Here is a link that might be useful: Allison's French blue island on the FKB

If it were me - with no windows - I'd go with cream or white cabinets. Nothing worse than a dark kitchen. Looks like your "style" anyway, is white trim so that would carry nicely throughout the house. Beautiful home! I always get so jealous seeing all these beautiful new construction homes. I live in a Boston suberb of a quaint New England town where anything "new" is hard to come by!

Allison's island is called French Gray and has a glaze. It's so beautiful!

We have lots of wood in our home with all white trim and we are having our cabinets repainted in an antique white. Later we plan to have a wood island- either heart pine or cherry. Really think about your island color. Twelve years ago I loved dark green and had my lower cabinets done in that color and the uppers in maple. Now I'm not loving the green and it is quite outdated. If blue is a color that you've always loved, then you probably will not tire of it. A color does tie you in though as I have learned, and I look forward to a more neutral base to which I can add accessories and paint color as desired. Just my 2 cents.

Okay it's me again. I meant to tell you that I love the style of your home and wondered if you would tell me the paint color used on the wall with the distressed blue cabinet. I love it! Thanks.

chicagoans, thanks so much for the link to Allison's kitchen! I love that color and it's very similar to the island color that I love here, too. They're both called French Blue but the one here has a black glaze. I love this look! Thanks for the kind words about our house. We had always lived in older houses until our last one (the one above) and now we're SOLD on new houses! Our same builder is building our new house (we didn't have a basement, and here in the South, we now need basements come storm season!) Sis2two, the paint color is SW softer tan, I believe. It sounds crazy, but the one thing I know for sure is it's the shade that's ONE lighter and directly above SW Macadamia. (I went in for Macadamia, and just picked the lighter one up on the swatch.) Hope this helps! Love all the help here -- Thank you all!

Love the idea of a creamy white perimeter cabinet and a french blue island. I think it goes perfectly with your furniture and style! I would do it if the color makes you happy. Truthfully, repainting an island cabinet is not that big of a deal should you tire of it years from now, and with regard to confining, I don't see blue as creating a closed in feel. I think it's calming!

The thing about using just a colored island is that island can be repainted later. If you want to go spring lilac or sunshine yellow or red lipstick, it's not nearly as much work, and it still makes a huge instant change. It's like having a nice white summer dress that you can dress up with whatever color cotton cardigan that you feel in the mood for by just digging it out of the closet. Add in different knobs and pulls (be sure to use a standard size like 3") and a new wall color, and those small changes give a completely different look to that basic white. So when styles change, you have the ability to change a bit with them without ripping out everything. That's the beauty of paint! And butcher block will never be out of style, because it's a functional choice.

If the kitchen has super model bones as in the best most functional layout, whatever clothes it puts on will look fabulous, no matter what style those clothes might be.

GreenDesigns, love your analogy! :) Very well put! Thanks, all, for your input!