I have wanted white shaker cabinets for over 20 years. So I consider it "my own" regardless of the current trend.

DH rebelled at the idea of white subway tile backsplash. He wanted orange. I couldn't live with solid orange, so we have a patchwork random pattern of orange, white, green and turquoise glass tile in a brick pattern. There is no other kitchen out there like it.

I like it, but I'm glad we're building a new house and won't be living with this more than another year. I've had it 2 years now. I still like it. But I can't imagine having it for 10 years or more.

We have done two kitchens and are planning our third--yes we have a habit of buying houses with problem kitchens. Not all of our elements in the previous two ticked all the boxes.

In the first we painted the existing cabinets white (we were young and poor and had more time than money). They were sort of shaker, but not quite as there was some extra detailing as I recall. We diy installed a blue pearl granite tile countertop. We did white subway tiles for the backsplash. We actually built the backsplash out an inch so the tile spacing worked on the counter and called it with a blue painted ledge that I used to store spices. And cork for the floor. The lighting was white track lighting with a blue frosted glass pendant over the sink (something we could install ourselves and not have to hire an electrician to get light over the sink). Walls were painted yellow. So lots of similar elements to a typical white kitchen but many were also slightly off, ie cork instead of wood. This was done around 2000. I'd describe that kitchen as transitional and cheerful.

Second kitchen we used ikea stat cabinets which have a beadboard effect on the recessed panel so again not quite shaker. We did cork flooring, butcher block counters, a black painted island, orb hardware with copper pot and utensil racks. Walls were painted blue. I'd describe that kitchen as cottage. It was done around 2008.

We have just started planning this one and I'm wondering a bit about how it seems like it will be very 2010 when the work will be done in 2015. The house is a 1926 French revival and the existing original cabinets are white shaker so it seems like a no-brainier to use that style again even though they seem to be rather trendy at the moment. We both really like soapstone, so a dark grey type counter. I am thinking about something other than white subways for the backsplash. 4 x 4 tile in yellow or green seems like it might give the kitchen a little more personality and fit the house well. I'm thinking this kitchen will tend a bit more traditional and maybe have a touch of retro feel to it. I would actually like to up the retro part with the appliances, but can't find the function, size and price I want so will likely just end up with plain old stainless steel--also very 2010. ;)

Like amberm145, I have wanted a white kitchen for as long as I can remember. I have always loved a white kitchen.

To make my current white kitchen my own, I use the glass cabinets and open shelving to display my dishware and my cooking essentials that I use daily, such as herbs, spices, oils, etc. On the upper shelves, I display personal items that I love, such as framed prints. They are decor items. Yes, in my kitchen. It's where I spend most of my time, so I display what I like to see every day. Personalizing a kitchen is, to me, accessorizing it.

My white-cabinet-soapstone-stainless kitchen is "risky" I guess because no one in my traditional demographic has a white kitchen. It's odd they're such a trend here on GW but not in my real life... I'm in the upper Midwest, and I can count the number of white kitchens I know on one hand.

check, check, check, guilty as charged. White inset cabinets, grey counters, subway, cup pulls, retro lighting. I only broke the mold with a stained island and recessed panels. My reveal resurfaced somewhere recently. (I'm still around, planning remodels)

Quiz answers:

What style is your kitchen? (traditional, transitional, etc)
The home is a 1937 traditional with touches of Art Deco; I think that was the "Tuscan" influence of the day. In researching styles, I found Hollywood Regency was a modern incarnation of the original combination. GW was an invaluable source of research on the style (the Design Around This thread in particular), plus a few select blog articles.

In what ways did you choose what's popular? Just about everything, I think. I jumped on the quartz, the marble, the subway, the inset cabinets, the mirrored surfaces... the list goes on.

Did you do anything risky or did you play it safe? I kept most of the permanent choices pretty neutral and put all the accents in easy to update finishes. The cabinets are similar to the original built-ins and the hardware echoes the home's original. However, I have bold David Hicks inspired geometrics, mirrored elements, and a shade of green pulled from Draper's period.

How did you make your kitchen your own? I have a framed print of a neighborhood in Switzerland where I used to live a few years ago, done in a vintage Art Deco style. But overall, the final result is pretty personalized (but easily made more generic with some edits)

What is your favorite design element? It all started with X mullion glass doors in white inset cabinets. I've wanted them for years. The X is repeated in chair backs and a custom table base.

If you did go out on a ledge are you glad or do you regret it? I went out on the ledge with my range and I'm glad.

Did you name your style? Traditional with a touch of Hollywood Regency.

Like other posters have said, I've wanted a white kitchen for as long as I can remember, so it doesn't feel particularly trendy to me. It just makes me happy.

What style is your kitchen? (traditional, transitional, etc.)
My house is a 1894 farm house, so we tried to keep the kitchen reno in line with the style of the rest of the house.

In what ways did you choose what's popular?
Subway tile (and white cabinets, obviously)!

Did you do anything risky or did you play it safe?
I'd say the riskiest thing we did is the black window. I was little worried after we put the order through, but can honestly say I love seeing it every day.

How did you make your kitchen your own?
We tried to incorporate extra detail, like the shiplap.

What is your favorite design element?
I love my window, lighting fixtures and the antique windows that look into the sunroom (not shown in the pic).

If you did go out on a ledge are you glad or do you regret it?
Like I said, I love that window!

Did you name your style
I didn't, but I supposed it's kind of Modern American Farmhouse?

Goster- please post a pic of your kitchen, it sounds awesome!

When everyone had cherry cabinets and stainless steel appliances...I dreamt of a white kitchen. Now, I see so many white kitchens (and some of them are so stark...not usually on GW though) that I think it would be nice to have color.

If the cabinets aren't painted a color, I think the walls will be. Right now, I'm having fun with soft greens and accents of dark berry/purple. I think that's what my next kitchen will be.

No matter what color though...I always like unfitted pieces and more of an old-fashioned look. There is just so much charm IMHO...but I do love history :)

Great question!

My kitchen isn't finished yet, but I went with white cabinets, white subway and dark wood floors.

I'm still trying to figure out how to make it my own and what style to go with. Right now it's one of those stark white kitchens lavender lass mentioned...lol! So far I've picked up a 1950 ish tole light fixture.

One of my favorite design elements is the set of x mullion glass doors, inspired by Gooster...thank you!

Kitch4me- IMHO, what usually sets a kitchen apart are three things....paint color on the walls (please choose a happy shade) fabric on the windows and stools, cushions, etc...and display! Personal objects, a few dishes, some plants...this is what makes a warm and inviting space :)

I've had a white kitchen for the past 20+ years with frameless cabinets, recessed fridge, white backsplash tiles, natural oak floor, white counters, white single bowl sink. I requested, but builder didn't want to do ceiling high cabinets or marble counters. I wanna brag that I was ahead of my times, also since I nixed the brass and went with gray carpeting and gray wall paint.

I still love white cabinets but with so many white kitchens around am actually thinking about navy blue.

To make your kitchen your own, think art work and paint color.

sanjuangirl: I think I may oversold things -- here's the more colorful end of the EIK.

I think I may have one of LL's unhappy shades. Went for calm -- we tried like 7 shades, including some historic mint greens (they were a big yikes).

kitch4me: it's looking great! I'm so pleased to inspire someone is some way, just as I was by others.

I wish I could post a done photo but we haven't even torn anything out yet! I have purchased a lot of the materials, though, so I know where I am mostly going. Hoping to start in a few weeks - waiting on the custom made cabinets to be done!

I have wanted white cabinets because it is a small kitchen and I didn't want darker cabinets to darken the room more - especially since the one thing DH wanted was Blue Pearl granite countertops. I have wanted granite for ages - every house, restaurant, hotel, etc. with granite made me want it more.

I don't like modern and I find ultra traditional gorgeous but too detailed which adds cost and cleaning time... So, we are hitting in between which would be transitional for practicality sake.

Popular - white shaker cabinets, granite countertops, new appliances stainless steel

Less Popular - its a smallish kitchen so we stuck with the same floor plan (did not open to the family room) and I did not get large appliances which I know a lot of people are doing. I wanted cabinet and counter space not a huge refrigerator, sink or stove which I thought would be out of place with the size of the kitchen anyway.

Risky - I guess at this point it would be the back splash. It is not white subway. It is a decorative 6X6 tile along the bottom and diamond pattern very light blue-grey 4X4 tiles above it. It should be beautiful (Pratt and Larson) but I feel unsure until I see it up there.

I still don't know what to do about wall color. I want to play it safe but I think a bolder color would probably be better.

Make it my own - mostly the "artwork." I do scrapbooking so I have some layouts framed. I try to change them around with the seasons. Those go on the main wall. On another wall I have other framed images and ribbons from dog shows that I have done with my dogs. Blue ribbons match the decor the best. :-)

I guess I could also say "my own" are some of the suggestions I had for the custom cabinets - nothing really new but I suggested them to the contractor and cabinet builder and they liked them.

Getting a little antsy waiting for the remodel to start.

I'm in the midst of a small budget/small kitchen reno. I have the Adel white shaker cabinets from Ikea. I'll be getting WilsonArt Black Alicante laminate countertops. I'm planning on a marble/marble look backsplash. My 12yo son LOVES the Domsjo single apron front sink, so we go that and my 8yo son picked the paint colour, Hawthorne Yellow.

I wanted white cabinets because it is a tiny, narrow galley kitchen. I could not change the footprint, nor open up any walls. I've bought a bright striped fabric to make some roman shades for the windows. I think it'll be "our own" because we've picked everything together. :) I really only have one wall for anything to go on and I don't know what we'll put there yet. It's a ceiling height, 22" wide wall that is the side of the old pantry, which will become our new coat closet. We will get some colourful canisters for the tea, sugar etc.

We're on day 4 and things are moving along nicely. It helps that there is no major construction and that the boys and I did the demo before the guys arrived to do the rest.

We are almost finished with our re-model here and I would say it is cottage style. White shaker cabinets with soapstone counters and soft sage green subways. I admit it is sort of "trendy" but I liked the shaker style and went went with white because I have antique heart pine floors and the white looked better. We could never find wood tones that complimented the floors. I am really trying to keep things simple.

I'll bite! I love my white kitchen. I had traditional oak in a very small kitchen for 21 years. The large kitchen with white cabinets was one of the two things that clinched this house for us when we bought it. When our cabinets fell off the wall and the insurance was replacing basically the whole kitchen, we considered espresso cabinets, but I just loved the white, so that's what we went with.

What style is your kitchen? (traditional, transitional, etc.) I would say traditional.

In what ways did you choose what's popular? I don't know that I chose what is popular. I chose what I liked.

Did you do anything risky or did you play it safe? My marble island/table was risky.

How did you make your kitchen your own? I made it my own by painting the entire thing navy blue. That was also risky for me. I was so afraid it would be too dark.

What is your favorite design element? The marble island top is my favorite thing, not only in the kitchen, but in the entire house. I love touching it and using it and looking at it!

If you did go out on a ledge are you glad or do you regret it? I'm so glad I went with the navy paint and marble island.

Did you name your style - e.g., Parisian bakery, beach house, 40s traditional, etc. No names

Post a pic if you feel like it or an inspiration pic Posting a picture, but we still had some paint to do after the electrical.

I think what will set apart my white kitchen is the paint color. I love all the elegant grey kitchens but I'm going for a warm cozy feel. So we have chosen Sherwin Williams Blonde for the entire great room area including the kitchen. I have discovered that I love things that contain both warm and cool elements. My mudroom tile has tans but also blue grey variations. My fireplace stone has light grey but also warm light gold. My granite has greys, creams, blacks, but also washes of golden. It's all a balance.

I plan to pull in texture and more warmth with woven blinds.

Here's my plan (not yet executed) - use color and accessories. I chose an apple green accent color. I purchased dish towels this color and will paint some counter stools the same color. There's a small wall space where I want to hand a picture. I'll have my kids use apple, lime and maybe other fruit as a stamp, have them dip it in the matching paint or some other coordinating tone of green to make the picture. I'd frame in a silver/stainless steel type frame to play off of the kitchen.

I'm still deciding whether or not to do a valence over the kitchen window. On the one hand, we purposely put in a bigger window to add more light to the space and I love looking out at the backyard. On the other hand, the sun comes straight in around 6pm now so some shade would be nice and I had concerns about privacy without a window treatment even though it's just our backyard. I'm used to NYC where you can see everything through the window across so best to keep things shut :) Fabric would certainly customize that space

Lastly, I plan to put in a teapot collection over time on a few shelves to the left and right of the sink. I have two now, though they don't really fit the look I'm going for. I have lighting and clear glass cabinets there. I want the colors of the teapots to fit with the overall colors on the main floor. These touches, I hope will add a touch of whimsy and fun while keeping the clean,fresh feel of a white kitchen. My style is transitional.

I think island pendants can also help make it "you" but we chose more typically transitional RH pendants. I love the look but I wouldn't call it unique.

Gooster: if you see this, can I ask where you got the green counter chairs? Maybe Ballard design, if so, how deep is your counter overhang? I'm eyeing those from Ballard but challenging to determine if they will fit in my small kitchen. Thanks

i have white cabinets and a dark gray (Silestone Raven) counters. We struggled with what to do with the backsplash for some time, since the while kitchen was becoming very monochromatic. Initially, we were leaning towards a glass subway tile (ocean blue), which in retrospect would be nice, but again, would reinforce the monochromatic theme.

We ended up going with an elongated marble tile installed in a herringbone pattern, that ties both the counter and cabinet colors together. It was a big risk since I couldn't really picture it (aside from a few pictures on Houzz), but it looks absolutely beautiful. It brings the much needed natural element and a non-linear element that the otherwise clean, modern (transitional?) kitchen needed.

I don't really worry about making it mine. It's in my house, I cook in it, clean it and hang out in it. It's mine. I've had white for a long time. My grandmother had white. I don't see it as trendy at all. I only know one other person with a white kitchen and hers was built in the '80s.

That said, I think everyone makes their kitchen their own regardless of what it looks like. Where you put your things, the items on your counters, your window treatments etc. bottom line though is that no one is looking at our kitchens in the context of a Houzz idea book. They're coming to eat wings and watch football, or to swim in the pool and grab ice cream from the freezer. Our friends and family aren't comparing our kitchens, white or otherwise, to hundreds of others they've seen online. They're just trying to find the corkscrew.

This post was edited by Christina222 on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 21:54

Thank you everyone as I am getting closer to getting back to my kitchen and I love all these ideas.

This is fun. I've enjoyed reading all of your posts. Here's my quiz answers:

What style is your kitchen? (traditional, transitional, etc.)

Traditional. My house was built in 1925.

In what ways did you choose what's popular?

Ever since 2008 when I read an article in the New York Times about Christopher Peacock, I have been inspired to do my dream white kitchen....and I loved his take on it. A bit more formal....yet still simple. I loved the shiny countertops and hardware. And I love that his kitchens always had that one surprise factor.

Did you do anything risky or did you play it safe?

EVERYONE told me my kitchen was TOO SMALL for a 48" professional range. But I (a kitchen designer for gosh sakes) ignored my friends and colleagues.

How did you make your kitchen your own?

A couple ways:

1, I continued my backsplash against the walls so the tile, went around the entire room, from the floor to about 5ft up.

2. While on vacation in Frankfort, MI, I purchased a very old lithograph from a seed company....it's from the mid to late 1800s.

What is your favorite design element?

So many!
I had a picture in my head of what pendant I wanted over my window....and I found it at Rejuvenation. I wanted it to have a chain, not a pole! I wanted it to look more old, not so modern.

I love my bargain pro hood that I got from an appliance distributors clearance sale. It's a 54" Independant Brand "Bonanza" was the name of it. It's curved and I love it...plus it saved me a ton over a custom wood hood I was planning on. The hood at the 1200CFM blower was all bought for $475!!!

I also love my Silestone Lagoon tops with an ogee edge! The ogee edge is just gorgeous.

If you did go out on a ledge are you glad or do you regret it?

I have no regrets about anything. I was worried that I might not really use the plate rack...but I do! For everyday dishes. It is handy to have right near the range for when dishing out meals...but also close enough to the dishwasher that that's convenient too for unloading.

Did you name your style - e.g., Parisian bakery, beach house, 40s traditional, etc.

"1920's Vintage Formal English Manor Kitchen". I wanted to it to feel like it was in a formal English countryside kitchen.

Post a pic if you feel like it or an inspiration pic

Pic below. LInk below of that original article in the NYTimes that inspired me over 6 years ago!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: 2008 NY TIMES article about Christopher P.

For my white kitchen, I picked a pale blue glass backsplash, mini chandeliers over the island, put in a banquette and the floors are distressed. I think those things made it a little different and my own.

I love questionnaires!

What style is your kitchen? (traditional, transitional, etc.)

Scandinavian modern would be the closest thing.

In what ways did you choose what's popular?

Hmm...well, the cabinets are white but they're the slab doors from IKEA (Applad). I guess butcherblock is coming back and I have butcherblock, but I couldn't afford anything else! IKEA butcherblock is cheaper than laminate! Ha.

Did you do anything risky or did you play it safe?

I got rid of all the upper cabinets except for 4', and this is in a small kitchen. I really, really wanted the look you get with no uppers. I was worried about lack of storage but it's working out really nicely.

How did you make your kitchen your own?

I haven't done this yet because the backsplash isn't done, but I will be putting some of my collection of vintage enameled cast iron Copco cookware from Denmark on display. Every piece is a different color---orangey red, bright yellow, burnt orange, olive green, white, cobalt blue, etc.

What is your favorite design element?

Slate floors, 16" square, dark gray---LOVE IT.

If you did go out on a ledge are you glad or do you regret it?

I guess I went out on a ledge in that I decided I was going to have my dream kitchen even if it was small. I didn't settle for anything less than what I really liked. I didn't say, "This isn't anywhere near the layout or the size i want so why bother..." So yeah. Very glad!

Post a pic if you feel like it or an inspiration pic

No "after" pics of mine yet but here's something similar:

And this is the Copco cookware I'm talking about:

Gooster - ur island seating - do they swivel? Ballarddesign? Thanks

This post was edited by Mags438 on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 22:33

@Mags438: Sorry for the delay! Yes, they are from Ballard Design, in green apple. They also do COM, and they swivel. The overhang is 15 inches and I have a 3 inch apron, but the arms still fit under. The counter is standard height.

.

@gooster: thanks. a quick review on the stools possible? Considering same. We're empty nesters (aka older), so I need something with a back. The back height in relationship to island looks good in ur pic. How's the depth when u push chair in closer (under island)? We have smaller aisle there which is a concern. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

My kitchen reno isn't complete yet so I still have missing (major) elements. But I love these quizzes. Short background...I have a very bad habit of picking out all the major/most elements I love and then hire something to pull them all together for me. Despite telling myself I would not do that again, I did it again. However this time I brought a KD in early - before I purchased or committed to items! Older home (1906?), victorian style, lots of original stained glass and most rooms' moldings/trim are still stained and very patinaed.

- Kitchen style: shaping up to be traditional but used shaker style cabinetry. Took cues/design from other parts of the house.

- popular items: most of what I'm putting in seems to be popular now. No other cab finish/color, other than white, was ever considered. Put in white cabs 20 yrs ago; they were also white when we bought the house. Room just speaks that, besides not much natural sunlight. Things like tapmaster, etc were popular when I was doing my research. All the creature comforts were really requirements, I just didn't know they existed until hanging out here.

- risky/safe. Risky was prolly the variety of soapstone countertops. I was pretty adamant that I did not want green in soapstone, but my soapstone has quite a bit of green in it. Safe is pulling design elements from other parts of house. Fluting was taken from banister thingy; crown molding mimics LR moldings (without the box beam ceiling).

- make own. Prolly doing a stained glass insert which I decided to add to kitchen just as the walls were going up. I wish I had thought of doing it earlier so wall could have been framed differently. Oops

- fav design element. Whenever something new gets installed, it becomes my new fav element.

- name style: classic

All the 'prolly' above means I have time to second guess myself and get myself re-worked up about my decisions.

@mags438: The stools are working out well. The stools are comfortable (more so than dining chairs) but not super plush (like an overstuffed club chair). The swivel does allow you to pivot in and out relatively easily.

Here's a picture for you to get an idea. The overhang is actually 16 inches (with the counter, forgot that bit) and my aisle behind is narrow, only 41.5". The ridge on the back will prevent the last five inches from being flush under the overhand.

I may just barely qualify for this quiz, in that I do have white shaker cabinets. I have not really remodeled my kitchen so much as made small incremental changes (a range hood and backsplash behind the range may be in the near future; getting a sink in the same room with the range and refrigerator will have to wait a bit.)

What style is your kitchen? (traditional, transitional, etc.)

Transitional-ish. The scullery qualifies as transitional, but the main part of the kitchen is completely unfitted and therefore defies categorization. The house is a 1911 classical revival.

In what ways did you choose what's popular?

I think white Shaker may be the only way, although the choice was driven by the house itself. We replaced only half the cabinets, and the other half are (to the best of my knowledge) original to the house and are inset Shaker, and were painted white when I got the house. Ergo, white Shaker when I replace the sink run.

Did you do anything risky or did you play it safe?

I just painted the walls of my scullery purple, and the main part of the kitchen is chartreuse. There's a link at the bottom to my paint reveal.

How did you make your kitchen your own?

Purple. Chartreuse.

I have 4 pieces of artwork in the kitchen. The first is an original acrylic painting by my daughter of a volcano (I think she was 7 or 8 at the time). I also have two pieces of artwork I got a local art studio for disabled adults. One is a colorful drawing in oil pastels on purple paper of a piranha and the other is a small painting of pink daisies on a periwinkle background. I also have a poster of sunflowers in a blue vase that I have had for years and is sadly fading from the sun.

I have this fixture over my kitchen table:

The main part of the kitchen, the unfitted part, had a couple commercial worktables, and my kitchen table also came from the restaurant supply store (very simple black table designed for a restaurant booth.

The main part of the kitchen also has a chair rail with V-groove panelling beneath, which I plan to keep regardless of what other changes get made to the kitchen

What is your favorite design element?

The colors.

If you did go out on a ledge are you glad or do you regret it?

No regrets. Paint is easily changed if I get tired of purple and chartreuse, but I don't think that will happen for a long time.

I have not named my style, but probably should.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paint reveal and not being on trend

@gooster: thanks so much. Our aisle behind our proposed seating is 42" with a 15" countertop overhang, so our area mimics yours. Thanks, I'll pursue them. Btw, I absolutely adore your pendants. Wish we had space for multiple pendant lighting. P.S. Didn't realize I had posted earlier for u, sorry.

Cawaps: love that pendant too. If it was sourced, mind sharing from where?

This post was edited by Mags438 on Sat, Jun 28, 14 at 21:43

@marthastoo: gorgeous kitchen. Just what I would have wanted could I have done a more transitional style. Classic with an edge to it.

deb52899, Love the blue w/white in your kitchen! Makes me consider redoing this old kitchen of ours, that we remodeled in 1986. Yep, golden oak, cathedral, with Formica! Yuck!

We just remodeled the kitchen in our vacation/retirement home, so I keep thinking that I'll just leave my everyday kitchen alone, hoping to retire within the next few years. But... We do LIVE here NOW. Maybe???

Our house is full custom. There is no one else on earth that has the same combination of cabinet layout, size, finish, hardware, backsplash tiles & mosaic, granite, and appliance mix. It's 100% unique in the universe, I am sure of it.
So it was "our own" from vision to design to implementation to finish. Color of cabinets is wholly irrelevant.

Query how everyone that chooses stained cherry cabinetry "makes it their own"? Or oak, or maple, or soapstone, or marble, or or or...

DH and I talked about a cherry kitchen in our future, but after he convinced me to completely replace our white cabinets so we could start fresh, I couldn't see that much brown. I've always been partial to white kitchens and when I went through kitchen photos, at least 80-90% of those I was drawn to were white. Sooo....

I would call our kitchen transitional

I had never seen or heard of Christopher Peacock and white kitchens were not so popular, but I think the shaker and similar plainer front cabinets were, so going simpler seemed a popular choice. It was driven by hating the heavy moldings on our custom cabinets (wall trim used on cabinet doors). It made a statement, but that and the short counters meant every drip got caught on the paint and stained -- and there were lots of grooves to clean. DH is s slob in the kitchen. I had to have something very simple so the choice was desperation, not fashion.

Our tile had to be patched in the reno and was done poorly, so we later replaced the floor. The dark wood was probably a popular choice then, but it fit our house.

Risky -- did white marble counters in both the cooking and clean up zones before it was making every magazine cover. I am not a granite person, didn't like my mom's Corian and the cool recycled glass was uber expensive and didn't really go with our house. I saw a slab of marble with squiggles that reminded me of the stray marks on old ink drawings and thought of Da Vinci (my boys and I were into him) and I had to have it. End of story.

Other not so safe choices -- I did three cabinet finishes (wall of tall blue storage surrounding my fridge and knotty cherry island and hutch in the breakfast room, did a 3 tile combo (from 2 different sources) for the inset in my backsplash, and mixed metal finishes on hardware, lighting and faucets.

All of the above plus the fact that the layout was designed by me to maximize every inch of possible function for the way we wanted it to work and adding fridge drawers to our hutch made it right for us. I designed it to make me happy and with no consideration for resale or what others would think.

My favorite design element -- the different cabinet finishes -- the wall of blue as a backdrop plus the knotty cherry -- and the custom leaded glass in the uppers of the hutch. But my favorite thing is how it functions. DH even said out loud last night (8 years later) how he loves the way we designed the kitchen. It just works for us.

I'd say the marble and the three cabinet finishes were a bit of a ledge, maybe mixing metals -- no regrets.

We didn't name our kitchen, but we had in mind a couple of things -- an old bakery or ice cream parlor and kind of the gentrified plantation/ranch style of the rest of our home. I also kept saying I wanted a workhorse, not a showplace. It needed to be almost understated and yet, at the same time, go big or go home. Probably doesn't make any sense, but no sissy stuff here. The sparkly bridge faucet, chandelier over the island -- beautiful, but didn't fit here.