I would go with painted black chairs. You have a lot of stained wood with the cabinets, floors, and possibly china cab. I think the black would be a nice contrast to the wood and would also repeat the black in the granite countertop. Beautiful kitchen BTW.

Are any of these pictures from your own home, or do you have your kitchen redone?

Is that your kitchen in the picture?

Or are you contemplating redoing your kitchen?

What kind of DR furniture do you have now?

Is it possible to just buy some chairs that will work as you say you need to save up money?

The reason you find more DR tables for sale than chairs is that for a number of reasons chairs will not hold up to use over a long period of time. There are exceptions but those involve many conditions too numerous to count here.

I am not sure exactly what you want, what you are doing and what exactly is your question?

What are the user guides and were you able to finish them?

Are you hurt from your fall?

Do you do millwork or carpentry work? Are you in the process of building your furniture, are you redoing your kitchen?

Thanks for the responses so far and thanks for the compliment ArtLover13060! In collaboration w/the folks on Kitchens, I worked long and hard on my kitchen and love how it turned out!

No, I wasn't hurt, just surprised! (I guess I should have said that!)

My kitchen is done (mostly finished July 2008) and yes, that is my kitchen. As you can probably see, I'm decorator-challenged. I can hold my own designing a functional kitchen, but when it comes to decorating it I'm out of my depth! (Remember my paint agony last fall? As you can see we settled on the BM Cornsilk in the kitchen & DR.)

Right now, I have DR furniture that I definitely do not like, but it was free at a time when we couldn't afford to buy furniture. My in-laws moved into an apartment and didn't need it so they gave it to us.

Here's a pic looking into the DR from my before kitchen:

If it helps, another pic of the kitchen w/the DR:

Missed the other questions...

Yes, we might be willing to buy some inexpensive chairs to "get by" for now, but I'm wondering if I'm throwing away $$$ by doing that instead of buying 2 or 3 of my "final" choice chairs now to supplement what we have left of the old chairs.

But, since things have changed so much since I picked out the Canal Dover DR furniture (that I need to save for), I'm wondering now if it will even go with my new kitchen style-wise and color-wise. If not, there's no point in buying a couple of the chairs and maybe it would be better to get some inexpensive chairs for now while I begin my quest for different DR furniture.

So my question is, do you think the style of furniture in my inspiration picture (Canal Dover Tuscany DR) will go with my new kitchen and the planned DR hutch (described in the OP and that will be very similar to the kitchen cabinets).

To be honest, I don't think it does, but since I don't have a well developed style and decorating sense/skill, I don't trust myself! I think the Artesia door style is probably too formal for the Canal Dover DR furniture and I might be better off with a more traditional DR table & chairs.

Nope, no carpentry or millwork! Neither I nor my DH have those skills so we'll either have to hire someone to make furniture or buy it from elsewhere (like Canal Dover).

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Data Dissemination Reporting User Guides :-) UGs for one of our software applications describing the various ways to search & retrieve data and view it or save it for later viewing. [I'm in IT, usually doing Requirements & Testing, but I seem to always get roped into doing the User Guides as well...]

I do not think you need to worry about DR table matching kitchen cabinets. Furniture does not have to match cabinets at all.

For temporary chairs I would get upholstered parsons chairs that you could use in the future in the LR or the DR.

I do not think you need to worry about DR table matching kitchen cabinets. Furniture does not have to match cabinets at all.

For temporary chairs I would get upholstered parsons chairs that you could use in the future in the LR or the DR.

I love the x or double x backed chairs myself. I agree that you don't need to get hung up on matching but if you are like me it happens anyway! I think black chairs would be classy & really pop. gosh decisions are tough! I just priced a Bernhardt x backed chair that I am considering. good luck --your kitchen is beautiful

I agree with threegrad, in fact with all the cherry/orange/coffe wood I think it's better you look for something that ties in with the kitchen, but is a little different. I like your idea about the antique black, or maybe a mix of wood and black.

Style is different from color though-I think something a little more casual, arts and crafts/mission style/ maybe even slightly french country? I know Canal dover is supposed to have a lot in the mission/ arts and crafts style-however I'm not sure about their Tuscanay Collection.

I think doing the chairs, or a different dining room set are both good options. I see your point about spending money on chairs and then down the road spending more money on a whole new set. I don't know how you would feel about looking at less expensive sets.

This dining room set might be an option for you, it's a mix of antique black and cherry, with a mix in style as well. I really liked it when I saw the picture enlarged and noticed the detail on the legs, chair backs, and fabric. The link to see the dining set is below.

I have a lot of furniture from this company and they do have great customer service. The set price is reasonable, with shipping included, but it does only come with four chairs so you would have to purchase extra seperatetly.

In the end you should always get what you really want though, your opinion is the only one that really matters.

Here is a link that might be useful: Antique Blk and Cherry dining room set

buehl, hello and I'm glad you weren't hurt when the chair broke. From what I hear this is getting to be more of a problem with chairs from non-American sources when the wood hasn't cured properly before it was used for furniture. Although it sounds as if this was not the cause of the problem in your case.

I've benefited greatly many times from your advice in the kitchen forum and I hope what I'm passing on is helpful for your situation. We just had a discussion with our KD about doing a built in TV/media console in our great room. Our kitchen perimeter is white Brookhaven and we also had white Brookhave bookcases built in for the great room that is part of the same space as the kitchen. When we discussed the TV/media console with the KD I said I envisioned it as matching the bookcases and the kitchen that are all part of the same space. He was very tactful but let me know that he felt that matching the TV/media console with the bookcases would be too much matching.

If I can translate his suggestion for your space this is what I think he would say: match the china cabinet with your kitchen (this would be the equivalent of my bookcases matching my kitchen) and then do your dining table and chairs a coordinating but different wood finish. Your kitchen is really very lovely and I can envision the china cabinet in the long view through your kitchen in the same finish as your kitchen cabinets but with your table and chairs as a lively accent in between. Good luck with your choices.

I would tend to coordinate anything that looks built in, but the furniture does not have to "match" ...in fact it may look a bit static if it goes Too well.

I like eclecticism so that is my bias.

I think you should absolutely get chairs now that could work with the dr set you love--I don't care for the chairs they pair with the tuscan set but I love the table and hutch. I think the ones you selected could work-- I think you oculd go in other directions also. I'd love to see some black in there too.

Funny, the thing I love most in IT is to write user manuals-- but I rarely get the opportunity anymore. I manage a group of project managers, business analysts, QA analysts and tech writers. I have done all the jobs and I still want to just sit and write user manuals :)

I think you have a pretty kitchen. Now I understand. I am not sure things have to match, just coordinate...blend in sotaspeak. I am certainly glad you were not hurt. I think I might replace the chairs with Parson chairs for now and in fact, they might become a great habit. I love parson chairs and you might learn to love them as well and moreover they go with almost anything and are inexpensive and easily upholstered.

Thanks everyone, you've given my much to think about.

The parsons chair idea may work since we plan to convert our LR into a Music Room/Homework Room (that's about the only way it's used now). The chairs could go into the Music Room when we finally buy a DR set if they don't go w/the new set.

The more I think about it, the more I like the black or combination black/diff wood idea for a "change". I think I need to look around some more.

Thanks for the link, roobear. I checked it out and it does look nice but it's too small (only 64"L w/the two 14" leaves in place...I'm looking for 96" to 108" so I can seat 8 or 10...that's what I need when we have family over!) I'll browse the site more this weekend.

I wish we didn't have to wait to save the $$$...I want it now! :-)

Buehl, with so many people losing their jobs and so many businesses threatened, it pays to watch Craigslist, and also keep an eye on furniture store ads. The chances are that you could pick up something very well built that you love off CL... and also that you could buy something new not very well built from China or somewhere.

I echo Threegrad; I wouldn't worry about the furniture matching the kitchen cabinets. Many decorator rooms and homes mix woods and styles.

Hmmmmm....anyone know how my thread got on Twitter?????

OK, I don't know much about Twitter, so maybe there's a good reason....