Aliris, those bamboo cabinets are lovely!

Are you doing a contemporary style, as in the photos you linked? Because then you actually need to have different textures, colors, styles in order to have interest and depth to your kitchen. You will likely be choosing your fixtures, edges and handles with clean lines and nothing ornate. So the contrasting cabinets, floor, backsplash, then become your focal points. I think what you have described would be pretty.

Hi tress -- ummmm....dunno? I'm sorry, but I get so confused by these labels of kitchen styles. I think probably it is "contemporary", sort of? That is, I think it isn't really any of the other types of styles. And I'm thinking of having next to-no molding at the top, and I think that can define the style. OTOH, we have ultra-traditional stuff. Most of our families are dead and gone and their stuff has kind of sifted down to us in large part. Some of it is ridiculously nice and old (there was familial money long, long ago); it's really out of whack with our lifestyle which is loose, to say the least. It's left us with basically purely-blue blood in a terribly lacksidaisical package, if you follow.

So I guess I like the clean-ness of contemporary styling in the kitchen, but we're pretty old-school in many ways, furnishings being one of them. I don't know ... we own a 300+ year old breakfront and I'm writing on a holey door for a desk. I'm sitting on a chair that was a factory piece of about 150 years ago and I think it is probably outlandishly valuable nonetheless as evidently the set (12+ pieces) is novel. I'm sure I'm ruining it, but I'd rather use and enjoy it than just leave it moldering. It doesn't really match with the door-for-desk (but it's very comfortable, way better than modern rolling chairs). So: traditional with a contemporary patina: does that work as a label?

Also, maybe I've described a surplus of textures, colors and styles elsewhere? I sort of think one has an overall budget of flourishes with a fixed margin and maybe we've spent ours? That's my fear, and what I think I'm hearing from others. But somehow to me it *feels* like a good idea still. So I appreciate hearing you think it still might be?

I'm not opposed to mixing finishes or woods, but I'm not seeing the bamboo and cherry together -- and if both of your bamboos (cabinets and floor) have noticeable striping, it might be a bit much. Also, are you thinking natural cherry? I'm not sure if the picture above is supposed to show as two different finishes because at first look on my computer screen they appear the same. On second look, they still look too much alike to be different. If you want two different finishes, the darker one is probably going to have to be a mid tone or darker wood. Mixing lighter natural woods is going to be more difficult and will have a lot to do with tone and texture.

I'm not keen on the idea of mixing the cherry and bamboo. However, those pictures were wonderful, and I particularly took notice of the one labeled 'WFK kitchen' which had a slightly darker finish and shaker style doors. The hardware was quite contemporary, but I think if something more traditional were used, it would complete the shaker look your husband is interested in. I think there is room for compromise here.

I think not just the tone of the wood might too different to work together but the nature of the wood itself. I adore bamboo. It's got strong lines and a contemporary feel. Lends itself beautifully to slab application. Cherry shaker, to me, is more traditional, kinda lusterous. I just don't know if they go together.

What about using the cherry for window trim and doors and perhaps the glass shelving units and stools and perhaps same tone in lighting, sink, etc.? It will darken in time, yes? You need the contrast between woods to be a player in your design. And why not let the cherry be darker finish?

Can someone explain to me how bamboo can become flat panels of wood? How can you make boards from grass?

Hi all -- the trim already exists and is painted; it was in the older part of the house too. The cherry would be/become the darker wood.

Bamboo becomes striped by being laminated together. It can be cut in two directions, so that the "joints" of the growing grass are visible, which results in a more random-looking, wider striped board, a little like wood planking. Alternatively it's cut into thin strips that are glued together and result in very stripey lines without the joints visible. Actually, bamboo is touted as more-better in that it off-gasses less, but I do wonder about the manufacturing process. I imagine there are more-environmentally and less-environmentally sensitive manufacturers of the laminate.

I see your point about trying to find middle ground between traditional and contemporary by using the shaker styling with the bamboo. You may be right about that. But I'm thinking probably if we do that I'd be happy just to go to all wood. I haven't really anything against it. What I like is the modernity of the bamboo slabs.

Maybe I should just content myself with the visuals of other websites :)

Thanks for commenting. It does seem as if enough just cringe that it may be tilting too far into the too-much.

p.s. The glass-fronted cabinets are scrapped for now; sorry; older plan.

Was just thinking that if you go lighter bamboo and more contemporary, look at metal or glass for some elements -- maybe in your splash and have the light reflect there too.

What a pity to be "stuck" with antiques that you don't really love! And you might not get your value if you were to sell them. The two styles are so different I have no ideas for combining them. Pictures of your real house would help to explain your set-up. Good Luck!

The problem I'd see (aside from the question of finding wood tones that complement each other) with mixing bamboo and cherry is that they both have attention-getting grain, but in very different ways. I worry that they'd fight instead of supporting each other.

If the darker wood were stained dark enough that much of the grain were obscured it might work better, but I get the impression that that's darker than the overall look you're going for.

Would you consider painted base cabinets?

Oh, corgi-mom: no no no! Thank you for the opportunity to correct this misimpression! No: no way am I unhappy about these antiques; I love them! Some of them -- many of them in fact, do, it is true, come to us by way of some unhappy stories. And that is the source of unhappiness I let creep into my tone. Almost all of these things I love. There is, it is true, a rather extensive collection on tchakees I could do without, but they're small and personality-riddled and I can live with them. I only marvel at the fates that leave us relatively impoverished but sporting very refined things. But I'm not meaning to sound complaining or unappreciative. Only perplexed by irony. And missing some of the people who should rightly have been enjoying this stuff more.

I'm not one to usually play devil's advocate, but we have bamboo floors and natural cherry cabinets in our (2005) remodeled "office/craft" area downstairs. I don't know if a picture of this would help you or not.

And I can totally relate to the (not-so-much-my-style-maybe-with-the-new-kitchen?) antiques. Luckily I was able to rearrange some things to keep most, and even more luckily I was able to move some over to my daughter (400 miles away) where they can get good use out of them and I can "visit" them whenever I want.

Hi again -- before I'd paint the base cabinets I think I'd jettison the 2-tone idea. I'm getting more comfortable with the feeling that the uppers won't be too heavy. I just love wood and I just hate the notion of having to touch up the paint so combined, I think sticking with wood is wiser.

I could try to post photos but then you'd see what a sorry state everything is in around here....

Maybe.... maybe the extent to which I am balking at the cherry is that I am feeling there is too much of *that* good thing. When I see maple or even birch -- light-colored wooden and grainy cabinets -- I just grab my breath in; I love them! Maybe I should switch gears and try for something that just whonks me over the head with I'm Beautiful! And keep it lighter and all of a piece....

Too many decisions.

Actually.... as I reread what's noted, and thinking back over dh's comments that caught me by surprise ("I just want to be sure that what you're doing here ties in with the rest of the house; it looks awfully contemporary and I'm afraid won't go with everything else") ... I guess I'm *wanting* a break from all the old-ness in the kitchen. It is, after all, modern. It will have a honking range and hood, and is folded into an open floor plan -- dh has done much of this remodel with fairly slavish adherence to the "old" and I'm feeling it's a teensy bit pretentious. We live in the 21st century and I cook in it too (actually, I don't. I use precious few modern appliances and use at least as few processed ingredients, too).

I guess this decision over wood is actually playing out a tension over old and new in our lives and remodel as well. Gosh, who knew? And what to do.... I guess the thing is, you can't tie it together in either (a) a way that fights, as it has been suggested the very-different grains might do. And (b) in a hodge-podge rather than a more directed movement toward the new from the old (the kitchen is on the edge of the old, bridging toward the newer). Interleaving isn't probably the point so much as gradual transitioning.

I'm not sure how to do that and it's probably just a theoretical construct in my mind anyway. But I'll think on gradations and transitions a little bit.

Thanks for the thoughts!

Hi Leela -- cross-posted; sorry.

When you say you don't want to play devil's advocate -- are you saying you don't like your cabinets? I'm guessing you do ... only I think you'd be agreeing with most others I've heard. That is, what I'm hearing people say is: cherry with bamboo floors would be fine. (All) bamboo slabs would be fine, even if perhaps looking different from the bamboo flooring. But bamboo flooring, cherry base *and* bamboo uppers might cause too much of a ruckus.

And I haven't even told you yet about my countertop.

I do think I'm trying to use the different woods to bridge an emotional, if you will, gap between spaces and places and things. Too much; they're just cabinets. There's definitely room for compromise here but I'm thinking it should be in the side-step way. I'm going to bring home a bunch of light-wood samples, up to and including the bamboo I suppose. But I hear so many who say the mixture is just too much (I think dh wants wood; not sure why).

Leela, I'd be thrilled to see your cabinets if you feel like posting a picture. I know I should do some more picture-posting as I so love seeing others' set-ups. I'm intimidated I guess!

Aliris, just a last thought.

First, you may want to talk to a flooring guy about the bamboo floor. I loooved the beautiful bamboo flooring with the nodes showing. It had such a natural look, really like a slice of a bamboo tree. But my flooring guy didn't recommend it for the kitchen because it's much softer than the 'strand' bamboo flooring. The strand bamboo has been processed someway and does not show the nodes. It is not nearly as pretty, but ultra durable--harder than most other hardwood floors.

Second, those beautiful bamboo cabinets, especially done in a flat style and with floating upper cabinets, are quite contemporary, IMHO. And gorgeous. But if you had your heart set on beautiful marble countertops with a decorative edge...it won't match.

If you want mixed woods--a look that I love--what about making your island cherry and the perimeter lighter wood? Then your island stands out a bit like a piece of furniture, especially if you put legs on it. But because it's separate, it can be a little more different than if you did two-tone all around. A little nod to the traditional, without being schizophrenic.

I think many of us have eclectic furnishings, since most of us have have at least a couple of pieces inherited from family. I really don't mind having Grandma's table, because although it totally doesn't match, we love it and we all know that it's there for more important reasons. But anything that we do permanently to the house, we try to keep in the (relative) same style of the house.

Choosing materials is hard, isn't it? My only regret is that I didn't find Gardenweb until I was halfway through my remodel. And--just to keep things in perspective--I kept asking my mother and sister, who both remodeled their kitchens several years ago, for their opinions. They have no idea why I had such a hard time choosing. Neither one of them chose a thing during their remodels. Their contractors picked everything, cabinets, appliances, paint colors, and all. How easy is that! But I think you will be much happier knowing that you considered so many options and chose the ones that spoke to you.

Have you thought about making your kitchen look unfitted, i.e. like separate pieces of furniture. Then you could have "cherry pieces" and "bamboo pieces".

It's kind of hard to explain, but I got the idea by looking at kitchens at www.chalon.com. They use different colors mostly. It all looks old-fashioned. For example, you could use cherry lowers and a bamboo island. The hood over the stove could be cherry and maybe have corbels which reach down to the lower cherry cabinets flanking the stove. The cabinets flanking the stove could be separate individual pieces done in bamboo. You can acheive a furniture look by not butting these wall cabinets next to the stove hood but giving them a little space.

If you have any floor to ceiling pantry cabinets or bookcases you could do these in one or the other. The same with the fridge panels and the cabinet above it...this could be one or the other with the cabinets next to it being the other type of material. Perhaps with a little space to set them apart.

You might use the shaker doors on the bamboo to give a little consistency. And I think it would be harder to do a furniture look with slab doors. You say your house is "traditional"...does this mean "craftsman". Craftsman and Arts and Crafts have a lot of asian influence. Bamboo is asian and could blend in well if done the right way.

Another way to bring a little more bamboo in is to use a Teregren Bamboo butcherblock counter somewhere. (http://www.teragren.com/products_countertops.html)

Good luck...it does sound like it could be fun and unique. The trick is to make it work with the house. We had an architect once tell us "you don't want people to walk into the remodeled space and say 'what a nice remodel'...you want them to walk into your house and say 'what a nice house'".

Hi Tress -- thanks for the nice thoughts.

The bamboo is a choice not exactly forced on us, but given my druthers I think I'd use a different material in the kitchen. However, we bought a pile of it for the rest of the house and dh just included the kitchen in the order so we've got it already. It's of course possible to not use it, but that feels wasteful. If it turns out too soft, we'll cover it over later with something more durable (cork?) at that time.

I can't say I'm unhappy with the 'forced' choice; it's fine to have *something* anchored! Though I did just revisit moments ago when I realized we're actually *one* box short (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr).

No choices at all ... sigh. I actually sort of tried that approach leaving much of this to dh. But it didn't really work very well and here we are. :)

In terms of countertops, what I have my heart "set" on probably can't happen anyway: I want fossils! But I think sort of by definition, if a rock is soft (and intact) enough to retain an impression, it's too soft for a kitchen. Unless you're from Morocco ( :) - those dark Moroccan slabs; they're kind of a little bit trite and too busy as well and too dark also, for me, so they're out - those fossils are just so well-studied I know most of em already. I want to *learn* something every time I work in my kitchen! :) )

But nothing's set in reality; I am not actually entering any of this with my "dream kitchen" in mind -- I don't really do dreams, to tell you the truth.

Your mixed woods thought was where I started, but previously I had been wanting the verticality of different-colored uppers; I may be ready to think about just making the island different as you suggest now.... Maybe that will do the transition-thing better.

Thanks for the gentle thoughts.

Did your mother and sister like the GC'c choices?! (Do you? just curious....)

Aliris- Wow, you've really gotten creative and I like that you're thinking outside the box! :)

That being said, it's easy to go too far and have the mishmash you're trying to avoid. My recommendation would be to use the two types of wood, but in a different way. The idea of doing one wood on the island and another for the perimeter cabinets is a good one. Also, you could use a different countertop on the island, with this idea.

Another idea (maybe combined with the different wood island) is to find one area of cabinetry, where you can do bottom and upper cabinets in the contrasting wood. Let's say, you do bamboo on the perimeter cabinets, with cherry on the island. Maybe find one part of your perimeter cabinet (a hutch would be perfect, but any accent area would work) and make that the cherry, too. It would pop and tie in the island...but wouldn't leave you with bands of color.

With such a large space, accenting the vertical line might be something to think about, to make the ceilings feel higher. Just a thought...best of luck with your kitchen :)

Aliris-Here are 2 pictures of our "mixed media" of bamboo floors and cherry cabinets. This is in the downstairs (basement) of our daylight rancher. The pictures were taken with natural light as the flash really distorted the colors. This is an office/craft/sewing/etc. area and (please forgive the mess) was our makeshift kitchen with the remodel so is still suffering from neglect. Also-we really wanted to use something "green" which is why we went with the bamboo but I don't think we really put much thought into how it would go with the cherry. Frankly, compared to the kitchen remodel, we were REALLY clueless with this downstairs remodel (vs just somewhat clueless).

Aliris,

Life is too short, Do what you love. When I first read your
post my reaction was don't mix them. I even tried to respond
but then I realized I needed to think about it. After
reading further posts I realize you ADORE the lightness
of the bamboo. And this makes you say "Ah beautiful!"
Don't give that feeling up. Life is too short. Get the bamboo.

Mixing might not be the solution but going all bamboo would
be wonderful. It can work with the rest of your house.
I believe you feel you HAVE to mix to make it work with your
old space and other rooms. You don't. It can and will work.
There are many homes that lean toward the traditonal with
a contemproary family room or bathroom or even a kitchen.
Embrace your love of the bamboo cabinets and perhaps
go with cherry floors that tie into the rest of the home
and your antiques. Make the kitchen it's own wonderful space
even if it opens to other rooms. Design it the way you
feel makes you smile.

~boxer

Here are some bamboo kitchens

Thanks, Leela -- I actually do love the look of the cherry with the bamboo. We have cherry doors busily darkening away, and slightly-toasted floors -- possibly a shade darker than yours, but still a fine contrast.

OK, Lavender and allfood -- pantry and utility door are cherry. That's done.

Boxer -- thank you for your lovely encouragement. I just love the tone you give. And of course those concrete pictures are priceless. [how *do* you find them all????].

I do just sharp-breath-intake love those bamboo kitchens. *But*: I'm ready to believe it will mix well with cherry, as you-all say. I do think it's not worth fighting with dh about because it's not as if I *don't* like the cherry. Plus, I think we've decided the fossiliferous stone I liked isn't going to be hard enough (it generated massive amounts of flaked white powder during the acid-tests; I guess that's just stone going away, dissolving, and in a few years that might be a bit of a problem....). So that puts us to rainforest green which is wild and dark, and I think the cherry would be less of a shock next to it; less busy - there will be busy-enough in the coutertop. Maybe I'm just rationalizing -- I'm just not certain-enough of how the bamboo would work to put my foot down about it. Maybe the remaining bathroom....

Anyway, thanks, boxer, for your strong supportive voice!

And many others above, too.

OK, that's one choice down I think....

OK, so here's what my mind's eye is saying:

I like the vision of those vertical-striped bamboo thingies as single-slabs on those large upper china cabinets.

And now with green wacky countertops, I can for sure see it's too schizo... but I'm tossing it out here as I did just go to the trouble of mocking it up, sort of; just thought I'd toss it out here....

Aliris- Can you use the fossil stone as a backsplash?

I like the bamboo and I still think it would look good to use the cherry on the island and maybe the built in (is that pantry) on the back wall. Maybe the dark green countertops with the cherry and a lighter quartz or something harder than the fossilstone on the perimeter countertops.

It's a big kitchen with a lot of cabinetry...so I don't think it would feel too busy, if you mixed it up a bit. The 'window' over the dishwasher, is your pass through, right?

Hi Lavender -- yup, that 'window' is the passthrough. And above the sink is a large bay-windwo-type cutout. It's shown there with that idealistic tree-in-window as a long narrow window; it's the left side of the cutout and the angle precludes the rest of it. To the left of the range is a long thin upper, to the right also. That's what I was thinking, maybe, of being bamboo also -- though truthfully, in my "vision", the only ones I see as bamboo are the dish cabinets flanking the passthrough. I turned the others lighter for symmetry. Which maybe I should jettison as there clearly isn't any.

To the right of the range at the edge is an open bookshelf facing into the family room, which is where you're standing in this picture. So the open shelves will face you. It's not drawn well. I don't have the software and I can't quite make sketch-up work....

OK, truthfully -- this is my mind's eye view:

Maybe you could justify it intellectually by emphasizing the front-back line of the house, which is what this whole stupid vision was originally taken to be anyway by my husband and the architect-neighbor... and I'd put the light-colored trim up to tie it together...

I do actually think I like it, wacky as the mish-mosh is. So - I would *hugely* appreciate a more objective opinion!!!! Bear in mind this quick-and-dirty mockup isn't accurate in that what I've got in mind is that strongly-linear bamboo, the end-piece cut, in mind. But maybe if there isn't too much of it it won't totally spin your mind????

And note, also, the light-coloring around the tall vertical window above the sink isn't right -- that would be the painted navajo-white trim which is really very creamy and wouldn't stand out so much. Also, it sure doesn't look like that out our window! ;)

We visited Berkeley Mills this last week and and saw some bamboo kitchen displays. They do the Cadillac of custom kitchens and a single piece probably cost more than what I paid for all the cabinets in my new kitchen to be. We just like going there to drool. They do mix other woods with the bamboo and their pictures can give you an idea of what the 2 will look like together. They mostly use other woods to accent their bamboo, but it is interesting viewing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Berkeley Mills website

Wow, what a site! It's really interesting how they've mixed all those colors and textures. They really design it all of a piece, don't they?

Thanks for the link. Where is Berkeley Mills?

Ah, Berkeley.... duh!