Show me pics of your bright, wood kitchens!!

12 years ago

So, I'm remodeling my kitchen in my new (and first) house, so I'm a bit nervous about the consequences of my design choices! I'm attracted to the french-country style off-white kitchen for a few reasons: a. the kitchen is SMALL, so I want light colors to keep the space looking as big as it could look; b. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so I want something bright and calming at the same time. I must admit that I am generally attracted to a slightly rustic look when it comes to kitchens, albeit slightly contemporary as well (I wouldn't say terribly contemporary - maybe best termed as transitional?)

So when I walked into the cabinet store last week, I saw a backsplash that I LOVED and a granite that looked GREAT with it, and decided I'd go with the off-white cabs. (Here's a link to the backsplash, and the granite is arctic white with a beautiful vein: http://www.ceneo.pl/showPicture.aspx?productID=7674372).

Of course, I'm now being nagged by doubt. Generally, I like the look of wood, better than painted wood. I'm nervous the style will go out of style in ten years. I'm nervous I'll be a slave to the white cabinets, with the kids and all.

My main requirement is that the kitchen be BRIGHT. There's not a ton of natural light coming in, so this is a MUST.

So, I ask you, can you pls post pics of your beautiful, bright, stained or natural wood kitchens?? I need some visual inspiration here to see if anything else appeals to me, so I'm sound in my decision making.

THANK YOU!

J

Featured Answer

kaismom

12 years ago

All the tricks in decorating is not going to help you if you don't have enough natural light coming into the room. I would focus on that first if you have the budget. If you really want bright space, you need to focus of the architectural elements that brings in natural light.

You can add clestory windows, windows between counter and the upper cabinets, enlarge windows etc. If you don't have the budget or the ability/right house etc for that, try opening the wall between the kitchen and another place that has natural light. Replace solid doors with ones that have glass, etc. If those canot be done, then you add lights and turn them on during the day as the last resort. Lights will not create the true bright space that natural light gives. The pictures are very deceiving because architectural pictures are taken with "bright" photographic lights that are lit with probably megawatts of worth of energy. Just because they look bright in the picture does not mean that they are actually bright IRL. Notice many of the pictures are taken with the lights on.

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Comments (34)

tinker_2006
12 years ago
Hi J, I too LOVE natural light, AND a bright kitchen. Our current home, which is only 3 yrs old - has neither! It's a beautiful kitchen with beautiful wood floors and cabinets, but I feel like I'm in a cave all the time. I on other hand, LOVE white/off white kitchens... and if I could redo it, I would have never picked these cabinets (pressed by DH & Kitchen designer). Cabinets are a pretty expensive item, so I think you have to be happy with your choice, and if you're not a fan of white cabinets, you may never like your kitchen.. even if it is brighter.

So hard to make the decision.. I know! Good luck!
NatalieChantal
12 years ago
I think it will depend on your floors. If they are light or mid-tone, you could do a light or mid-tone stain, and then put glass (frosted or reeder maybe?) in upper cabinets to break up the wood, and make sure to put in under-cabinet lights. I think you could get away with a gingery wood stain to coorinate with the brown pieces in the backsplash, and still keep brightness in the kitchen but have a warm rich quiet brightness, if that makes any sense. But, floors will be important - you'd either want them the same tone or lighter than the cabs if wood, or a nice lighter neutral if another material.

Just my two cents!
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Jagamaha, I like the look of natural maple and we even strongly considered them for our kitchen. Being a bit of a woodworker, one thing I want to warn you about is how different natural maple can look under different clear finishes. I would say that most of the cabinets sold in the US are clear coated with a pre or post catalyzed solvent based varnish. These products have a slight amber tint to them and tend to look really good over darker woods. Over a wood like un-stained maple the look has a yellow hue to it that many don't care for. I certainly don't. This tends to get worse with age. While shopping for cabinets we pressed a lot of suppliers and custom builders on this issue and all indicated they considered natural maple a "risky" choice when used under their finishes. The other basic group of clear finishes are the waterborne finishes. On most woods these tend to have a cold look but over maple and pine they look much better. The only risk here is that some of the waterborne finishes have the slightest blue tint to them. The upshot of all this is that once you pick a builder or a supplier I would order one of their doors and leave it in your kitchen for as long as possible. Near a window if possible. Even maple under the clearest of waterborne finishes can develop a slight yellowness to them which I just don't like. Or you can just find a lighter stain in the honey/cinnamon spectrum. Then it really does not matter so much as these neutralize the natural yellowness with age look of maple.
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sadiebrooklyn
12 years ago
While I know my modern kitchen is nothing like what you want with your country kitchen I figured I would still share. I will have an amber maple floor and chose walnut cabinets - the KD wanted me to go with a dark gray laminate for the lower cabinets but while it looked very sleek and modern it really didn't feel like me (stay at home suzy homemaker mom). So I pressed for White laminate lowers. I am so happy with the result. The uppers are walnut but lowers are all white with white counters and backsplash. The Kitchen doesn't look dark or somber at all.

the uppers you see in this picture will also have frosted glass sliders covering the open shelves- which will lighten them up.

Here is a link that might be useful: my kitchen now
formerlyflorantha
12 years ago

Taken on an overcast day. This is unstained red oak. Floor is same. Windows make a big difference if you want a bright room. There are uppers on the two ends of the room. Refrig (white) is on photographer's right.
[Ignore the chicken planter--I don't want to start another chicken thread.]
Spinory
12 years ago

Hi there-

it took me a while to get the picture to actually show up!

We don't have a lot of natural light in our kitchen and obviously, it isn't done but I wanted to show you what we have so far. This picture shows LED recessed lighting (6 of them) and one fixture over the window. We also have undercabinet lighting (LED at 5000K) if you want me to send that...(haven't taken that picture yet because we just had it installed).

Outside the kitchen window is a back porch, so not much light comes in there. We get more light into the dining room. We took the wall down between the two. Just fyi =)

Let me know if you have any other questions!
Heather
sparklekitty
12 years ago
I also struggled over painted versus natural wood, so I used both. I don't have any recent photos (new light fixtures) and still need a backsplash & to do something with the stools (from a kitchen from another house, want to recover and paint.) But you get the idea. The corner of my kitchen faces north and the neighbors have big trees so we don't get a ton of direct sunlight. The cabinets are natural red birch, which has a prominant but subtle grain that you can't really see in the photos. The pantry cabinet and the island is painted white-ish. We used soft gray pietra del cardosa on the perimeter counters to ground things, then the white and gray supreme white quartzite to keep it bright. I also think the white trim on the windows brightens things as well.

I love a natural cherry kitchen, but thought it would be too dark, though in retrospect I think it would have been lovely to have cherry lowers and painted uppers (and I think I have seen that in some photos recently.)

I do think lighting can make a huge difference. We only put in four recessed lights, have two small halogen pendants over the island and are large pendant over the sink and honestly I am not happy unless they are all on and planning on putting in two more cans and having dimmers.

I also love the natural wood as the upper and white or other painted on the lower as sadiebrooklyn has done, as well as the reverse. If you really love wood, it can definitely be done in a "bright" way.
Jlahav
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for the pics of your beautiful kitchens!!! In thinking about my attraction to white and wood at the same time, I'm wondering now about frosted cabinets. Anyone have any frosted cabs they can post pics of???

Thanks again!
Daicey
12 years ago
I love wood. I like white kitchens, I think they can look really great but we are going with cherry.

One of my inspiration kitchens is linked below and it captures exactly what I want to capture in mine, warm & bright.

http://www.mnbuild.com/mn_tours/sf_kitchen/index.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Cherry kitchen
boxerpups
12 years ago
I have a few images, not my kitchens but lovely.
Floors, counter, backsplash and even undercab lighting
can add brightness to a space.
~boxer

Do you mean frosted glass? Or frosted paint?
Frosted uppers glass....

Bright wood kitchens.....
Jlahav
Original Author
12 years ago
Yeah, I realized that the key is a lot of natural light, like the kitchen that Daicey posted. Unfortunately, there is nothing in my budget and/or house structure that allows for opening up any more than the two 36" windows we currently have in the space. One brings in very little light (the house next door takes care of that!) and the other is a west-facing window, so I'll get some pretty sunset light, but that's about it.

Boxerpups - I was talking about frosted wood. I'm going to do frosted upper cabs (18" cabs above the 36" ones) if it's within my budget. Thank you for the nice pics!

Anyone out there with frosted cabs???
Cloud Swift
12 years ago
Our kitchen doesn't have a lot of natural light. It has one west facing window though the adjoining family room also has a sliding door (west-facing too) and the breakfast room has windows on the East wall. But the kitchen with natural cherry cabinets is bright enough. Woods aren't always dark. Maple, birch and others can be very light and natural cherry is medium.

Here is our kitchen toward the end of our remodel. (I should take new pictures some time - the white fridge died and has been replaced with a more matching stainless one.)
jessicaml
12 years ago
I'm sensitive to light (often deal with SADD in the winter), and without either lots of bright window or really light wood, like birch or maple, wood kitchens seem dark to me. Not to say they're not beautiful, but if dark will bother you, stick to light, light wood. I love sparklekitty's birch & white kitchen! Our cabinets used to be a medium-toned fake oak, so I'm painting them white. Even just primed it makes a big difference!

Have you looked into a solatube? Possibly cheaper than enlarging windows.

I haven't heard of frosted cabinets. Is that like a glaze? Google is just bringing up lots of frosted glass cabinet fronts.
wizardnm
12 years ago
Not sure what you mean by frosted, are you thinking about the pickled look from the 80's? That's what I had that we just torn out.

When I was deciding on what I wanted for my new kitchen, I knew I didn't want dark wood or woods that were too yellow or orange. I did know that I liked white birch more than red birch. I talked this over with my cabinet maker and he seemed to grasp what I was saying. I wanted as much light in my kitchen as possible. We came up with a gray stain on the white birch, it does have some white in it and it was applied thin enough for the wood grain to show. We promptly named it 'driftwood'. I love the look and it is calm but light. I have only one east facing window in my kitchen but there are other large windows in the dining area and living area that are all part of the open room concept. Additionally, I wanted something very neutral so I could change my paint color on a whim. Right now I'm trying to find the right shade of aqua but I have other colors picked out for the future.

So here is a picture of my driftwood kitchen...

Nancy
bjwright1
12 years ago
We were able to use all wood and get a bright kitchen. Maybe it has to do with the lighting (undercab and recessed.)

Are frosted cabinets the same as "pickled oak"? I agree with the person that said cabinets are a big investment and you should get what you like more - not what will look brighter. Paint color, counter top, backsplash can all be lighter colors to reflect light and make the space seem brighter.
adh673
12 years ago
bjwright- I really like your kitchen. Very nice.

OP- here is my kitchen, its not all wood but sort of french country. I think the reflective backsplash helps brighten and it all comes to lighting (we have like 6 light sources in the kitchen). Our kitchen is dark in the summer b/c of all the trees close to the house. Only two lights are on in this photo and its pouring rain out.
From Kitchen Remodel

Here is another one before the backsplash but sunnier day no lights.
From Kitchen Remodel

It's very bright now with all the lights on even with our dark floors. I unfortunately dont have a picture of it ;-)
Jlahav
Original Author
12 years ago
Nancy, I think you have the closest to what I'm looking for. One cabinet store I went to had a beautiful Italian painted oak cabinet where the paint was light enough to show the grain. It was beautiful. Another dealer had I think WoodMode in a white painted oak, but it had so much texture that I could see myself having a hard time cleaning the cabinets. It also was a more opaque paint, so you couldn't see the grain so much - it looked more like cracks throughout the paint, know what I mean?

A lightly painted light wood in a slab could give me the modern yet rustic look I like. I'm really ping ponging between this look and a transitional white kitchen, but I really like your concept. With the riverstone backsplash and a veiny granite, I think it'll be perfect. If I go custom, I don't think I'll have a problem finding the perfect paint/wood combo, but if I go semicustom, I'm not sure what I'll find. The only site I found with "frosted" cabs was Shiloh, and they do have a little bit of the pickled 80s look.

Cloud_swift - did you find that your cabs darkened with time? That's a major fear of mine in using cherry wood...
jolsongoude
12 years ago
Unstained 2nd & better Maple floors and select Maple cabinets:

Jay
Cloud Swift
12 years ago
Cherry does darken somewhat, but most of it happens in the first few months. Before we started the remodel, I thought of cherry as the dark stained cherry in some furniture, but natural cherry never gets that dark. The picture above was when we got the stone wall plates so the cabinets were almost 4 months old by that time.

Our contractor lent us a sample cabinet door that was natural cherry a couple of years old that we used when choosing colors so we knew what the final cherry color would be like.

Here is an example to calibrate you on how cherry darkens. Our prep sink cabinet arrived with full height doors so the door and false drawer front had to be reordered so we could put an outlet on the cabinet. In this picture, the outlet cover (which was a sample we ordered early on) is over six months old, the drawers next to the sink cabinet are a couple of months old and the doors and panel on the sink cabinet are brand new:
phoggie
12 years ago
I am going to have the same problem in our new build....no windows in the kitchen, but it is open to the DR where there will be a wall of windows.

I am planning to put in a solatube....my friend has one and her kitchen always looks like there is a light on in there.

Although I would love to have darker cherry with SS appliances, right now to keep it light, I am leaning toward natural maple with white appliances.....unless I can talk DH into white, but he always thinks it has to be natural wood.

I hope more will chime in to your post.....and good luck!
kitchendetective
12 years ago
This one, from Boxer's photos above,
,
is from a House Beautiful that I happened to peruse last night, in case you're interested. It was designed by a husband/wife/designer/architect team for their own home in L.A. The cupboards are comprised of solid boards of rift sawn oak with a pale gray wash. (The island is 11' x 4' and the marble, of course, is Calacatta Oro. I thought it had an interesting mix of contemporary and traditional elements.)
wizardnm
12 years ago
Jlahav, feel free to email me thru GW if you need more information. I have the recipe from my cabinet maker for the stain. It might give you a starting point to work from.

Nancy
sparklekitty
12 years ago
Side comment - jolsongoude - Your space is so open and clean and your kitchen lovely. And I love to see a classic eat in kitchen with a table, not an island. No disrespect to an island (I have one - we needed the storage) but a table is so homey. Maybe it reminds me of my moms kitchen :)
kaysd
12 years ago
Boxerpups, I am very intrigued by the kitchen in the first photo you posted. I think I saw another photo of the same kitchen in another thread. Do you have a link for the kitchen or more photos? I would love to see more of this kitchen.
boxerpups
12 years ago
Thanks kitchendetective.

Kaysd,
The images below are all I have. I can not remember
where I found these images. I think it was from someone
blog, they were images of a kitchen that won an award.
Maybe NKBA not sure.
Sorry.
~boxerpups
Jlahav
Original Author
12 years ago
Hey Nancy,
I emailed you a few days ago...please pardon my excitement, I just eat, breathe and sleep my kitchen, so a few days feels like YEARS :)

Did you get the messages?

J
wizardnm
12 years ago
Just found the emails...sorry. You now have mail!
sayde
12 years ago
Jlahav, I sent you some photos via email. Did you get them?
ideagirl2
12 years ago
Hi Boxerpups,
I really love the wood tone in that sixth photo down on your Monday post, the kitchen with the black (blue?) range and the French-door fridge. Do you know what that wood is? I would call it "golden natural cherry" if I were making up names, but would like to know what it's really called... it might look nice with my burgundy range and pale yellow sink...
Thanks!
farmgirlinky
12 years ago
Jlahav,
Check in with me in a few years! Vertical grain fir will darken a little over time, but so far, the kitchen feels both bright and warm. And I love that rift-sawn oak and marble kitchen above!
Lynn

{{!gwi}}
stogniew
12 years ago
kaysd
the kitchen you like is of Jennifer Gilmer design.

there are a few new kitchen with similar "vibe" on her WebPage and in various articles on the Web. YOu can find it easily when you google her name...

Here is a link that might be useful: Jennifer Gilmer WebPages
boxerpups
12 years ago
Ideagirl,
I think its maple.
And maple does not always stain evenly but it looks like
the stain is a light cherry. The yellow base in the maple
makes the color look so pretty.
~boxer

Efs,
Thats right it is a Jennifer Gilmer. thanks. I had a
serious brain freeze.
~boxer
formerlyflorantha
12 years ago
Cloud_Swift, Just want you know you have a fan of your kitchen. Good job.
rosieo
12 years ago
I'm looking for the same thing. I want wood but I need it to be light and bright.

Here's one I really like. I think the cabs are painted here, but the effect would be the same with a light wood finish.

[traditional kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by other metros interior designer Debra Campbell Design