Definitely Arts and Craft or Mission, to me

I agree with mtnrdredux... I find cottage "busier" then this. The lines are clean and simple here... stronger lines then cottage.

Arts and crafts. With the possible exception of the light fixtures it really defines the arts and crafts style as currently applied to modern homes.

As with the original version, it's the opposite of cottage style in almost every way.

Nouveau Arts & Crafts Inspired, sort of. Not cottage.

American Arts & Crafts-inspired transitional.

I guess it's just me...but that banquette, especially...if you painted all that wood a soft cream color, with those wood floor and mullioned windows...add a french country style chair and I think it would look very cottage :)

It's definitely Arts and Crafts as the others have said. The main thing (that I've picked up anyway) with arts and
crafts is a lot of natural/stained wood, handmade woodworking, strong lines, warm colors, built-in furniture (hutches, banquettes, etc) and a 3 or 6 way divided window pane. The furniture style cabinet at the end of the sink run is probably the only part I wouldn't really consider A&C, along with the windows I suppose.

I think once you start painting the pieces you lose some of the A/C feel. And I think you'd be somewhat hard pressed to find a french country style chair in a A/C house.

I'm in no way an expert though. I've just been doing a lot of research the past 6 months since I discovered with a craftsman style bungalow. Coincidently, I have a cottage style garden with my craftsman house, so I am combining both generes. :)

Not sure if you're assuming there's a close relationship between cottage and French Country which you've discussed in past, Lavendar? Gotta think on that one.

Agree that the photo is Arts & Crafts or Mission revisited. When you imagine re-doing parts of it in paint and such, you're migrating styles and repurposing the materials.

Cottage style is connected to romanticized little houses in English villages in roughly the turn of last century. I suppose it is akin to the Arts and Crafts in point of time but unlike the A&C movement, owners were not trying to applaud pre-Enlightenment, pre-Ind. Rev guild woodworking and metal work but were driven more by ideals of sanitation and clean practical affordable cooking spaces (were they servantless? were they lower middle class to middle class?).

I associate beadboard and white paint and shiny tile with cottage style. Also some art tiles, green paint, linoleum or wood floor, freestanding pieces of kitchen furniture, wall-mounted upper cabs, larders and pantries and gas lighting or early electricity. Plumbing and electricity were becoming more available. I picture calico patterned tea sets, silverplated flatware, white starched full-length aprons, a kitchen garden and a flower garden, lots of canned goods and overcooked vegetables, and a two-burner gas cooking unit. And an ice-cooled refrigerator with big metal clips on the doors. Food is served in a dining room and trays are necessary. Milk is served from pitchers and cloth napkins remain on the table from one meal to the next, refolded.

Anyone read _Mapp and Lucia_ books set in the 1920s? These must have been cottage kitchens, some with a servant. There was a room with mortise & tenon furniture and such, but that was the Shakespearean Era room, a fad and not connected with rest of house.

Lobster ala Risholm anyone?

It would be a shame to paint that wood. If destined for painting, why use such pretty stuff?

Anyway, it is not the gilded languorous fin-de-siecle faded grandeur with-a-touch-of-country-gentility look that I expect - nay, I demand! - in your kitchen. In my presumptuous opinion, the pictured kitchen is not romantic enough for you.

Hi LL,

I agree with palimpsestI
American Arts & Crafts-inspired transitional

And yes John is spot on, this is not romantic enough for
you. I think you are drifting away from your Fairy Tale
kitchen.

I have plenty more images of Arts and Crafts, Craftsman,
Mission, Mission look a like and transition Arts and crafts.

~boxer

It's helpful to parse things and figure out what elements you like. Does it matter what it is called or if you mix styles?

What difference does it make? Find more pix of what you like, no matter what it's called, and go for it.

The reason I said "inspired" and "sort of" has to do with the use of the beadboard. That's how you know it's a builder interpretation, and revival vs interpretation of styles. It's all in the detailing.

But many have "mixed" houses because they were not designed by architects who kept all the motifs consistent throughout. That's a major difference between old and new construction.

But it's not any particular style. It's a mash up with tendencies. If you want cottage you're not going for a terra cotta tile floor with decorative dots. You're going for much more painted.

There's an entire community of blogs devoted to cottage and "chippy" or "shabby" looks if that's your preference. There is a ton of inspiration material there, for sure.

I think the reason it looks a little "cottagey" is the curved detail on the island doors. I agree that otherwise it is AC or transitional, but the curved doors are a beautiful subtle touch. I do think that if you had that arrangement of cabinets in white with blue and white or blue and yellow accents you would look French country.

Lavender, for lots more photos in this very same vein, check out Peter LaBau's The New Bungalow Kitchen.

But like Johnliu, I think this style tends to be a tad too stark and rectilinear for you. Your photo above shows a New Bungalow Kitchen -- the more romantic style you've gravitated towards on this forum tends towards the Old Bungalow Kitchen. For shots of those, check out Jane Powell's Bungalow Kitchens.

Which elements appeal to you most in this photo?

Nah, you're all both right. :) Lavender Lass, it IS Arts and Crafts, but a lot of cottage looks resulted from painting of those old A&C/Mission homes by people for whom it was just too heavy, dark, straight-lined, serious--Maaasculine. Cottage is far more feminine, even those cases when it's not particularly, and all that strong detail becomes a great part of an entirely transformed look under a few coats of light paint.

I'm not switching to Arts and Crafts...but I did think it was unusual that this kitchen looked kind of cottage to me. I think it was all the things you're saying are not A & C...the lights, the arched doors, the beadboard on the banquette, and the windows.

Our area does have a lot of homes, like Rosie describes, where people have taken these types of houses and painted all the wood. They are very inviting, but I like the posts and ceiling beams...I always thought that was kind of cottage...but not the hardware and square shapes of the cabinetry.

So, what is cottage? I'm not really looking for the beach cottage look, more of a woodland cottage/Snow White...but not all heavy wood. I don't mind wood floors, counters, even ceiling beams...but I like creamy white cabinetry and trim. Also, what is craftsman cottage? Is that somewhere in between, or just another type of A & C? Thanks for the info...I'm learning as I go :)

Lavender, my kitchen has something of the feel of your photo above, strongly rectilinear, though not nearly so deliberately Arts and Crafts as this example. I've been amazed at how many objects seem out of place here. My grandmother's drop-leaf table with turned legs that splay out slightly toward the bottom--all wrong. My china teacups, delicate, pastel and floral--banished to the dining room (where, admittedly, they don't really fit either). Soft visual whimsy and adornment are very tough mix in well.

LL, these are the kinds of bungalow kitchens (a softened, lightened version of A&C) that might jibe with your painted, more romantic style?

Interesting thread. Lavender, you seem to be in a searching mode, which is a good thing. Along with the other posters here, I encourage you to keep looking at pictures to see what appeals to you, and to worry less for the time being about what things are called. The Bungalow kitchen books are very good. I also suggest looking at a site called Belgian Pearls -- very good feature on what makes a Belgian looking kitchen -- really smitten with that look and the whole Axel Vervoordt thing. Turned me on to the checkerboard floor which wasn't even on the radar when I first started planning. And floors like that are -- 1920's, American, Belgian, country -- depending on how they're done. Was surprised to see how some of the lines blurred between what I though was Tudor cottage, and 1920's and even Belgian. Educate your eye, take time to discover your preferences and don't make any decisions prematurely.