help menot have nervous breakdown over cab colors!

9 years ago

Hello All,

I have been working on a stressful and exciting rehab for many months.

My brother is a architect and has been the overall design person and I have worked, on and off, with 2 different designers to help with colors and pulling things together.

Unfortunatley, the new/old house is 4hours away and I am also very busy getting my old old house cleared out and ready to sell!

The bottom line is I have always loved white painted cabinets and have been leaning that way since the start. I also love soapstone. And wood.

My current kitchen was dark maple, and 8 years ago I painted it white and put in soapstone. love it.

Ok, so I feel like I am totally whimping out by going with the same thing in the old new house! My brother/architect wants me to dark dark painted cabs, like deep olive,with the dark tops. he says it will look rich and inviting? Ugh. It sounds depressing.

But then again, every single kitchen I have see lately is white shaker cabs with dark tops! I do NOT want to look like e every other kitchen in the world so I keep trying to want a color. I run to the paint store and pick up all kinds of greenish, blue, even yellow samples. Love the idea, but seriously, won't I get sick of it?

The shaker style, paint grade cabs are currently being made and I am supposed to pick now!

BTW, the kitchen has a large north facing bay window and a north oriented sky window. Also has a small window but that one is shaded by evergreens.

It is a 1948 cape cod. the kitchen is about 12 by 12 ... Floors are oak which will be stained a medium brown and appliances will be stainless.

help, why can't I make up my mind? I think it's because I am afraid that the white cabs will look too cookie cutter and 2014 --- will they? Can I do the white and add interest with a backsplash?

Paralyzed by indecision,
Shadey

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Comments (10)

LeeMiller
9 years ago
We are closing on a house on Monday and have to do a full kitchen remodel. In over 2 years of looking in a pricey metro area I rarely saw a white kitchen and don't think I ever saw one with a soapstone top. Most were some mix of brown wood with brown or black granite counters.

Personally, I love white kitchens with white marble, but I am scared about stains, so I'm thinking dark cabs with a bright white quartz top. I like the high contrast look. The only dark green I've ever seen which looked good were some actresses' NYC kitchen redone by Kelly Wearstler - maybe that blonde one with short hair in Charlie's Angels?

Go with what you love. If it ends up out of date at least you love it!
Kathy Harrington
9 years ago
Well I can't comment on whether white cabinets are too "cookie cutter" but I can tell I suffered from wanting to do something different in my new build just because I could. In the end, I'm sticking to what I love even if it's already similar to what I have now. So follow your heart. Choose something that will make your heart sing whenever you walk into the kitchen and no apologies necessary:). Good luck
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I hope it's totally normal to feel anxious and sick when ordering cabinets because I know I did!!! I felt that way on every major decision I had to make. This stuff is hard!!! You're plunking down a huge amount of cash on something that it's not easy to change your mind about later (at least not without another huge chunk of cash and having to live through it all over again). So no wonder it makes us anxious! That said - your kitchen's going to be beautiful! Whatever decision you make, whichever door style you choose, it's going to be gorgeous and a big improvement over what you had before. So really, there's no downside here. :-) Just take a lot of deep breaths. (And feel free to come back to us for emotional support!)
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Thanks, everyone, for sharing your similar stories. Baligirl, I agree that it feels somehow "wrong" to be worried about all of these silly details. A friend of mine just returned from a mission trip to Haiti. Her pictures certainly put all of these ultimately meaningless little decisions into perspective. Nontheless, we started down this road, we're in the middle of the project and so we must continue. Here's an update. The cabinets arrived yesterday and are all in place, although the trim and a few tweaks and adjustments need to be completed. They're coming back Thursday to finish because they need to remake a beadboard section that they had measured incorrectly. Yes, the cabinets are darker and redder than I would have selected, but they really are beautiful. They are SUCH an upgrade over our previous cabinets. The drawers don't make an awful creaking sound when you pull them out! The doors and drawers close softly; there's more storage; the wood finish is beautiful; the magic corner (which I think we're going to refer to as "the contraption") looks wonderful. I love how the glass inserts above the hutch area look. I guess you could say I'm feeling more optimistic about this whole thing. Jillsee, how is your install going? Did I see on another post that you're in PA? We are too. My kitchen floor isn't hardwood like yours, but it sounds like our cabinet choices are similar. There is hardwood adjacent to our kitchen--that's what you see in the photo. Our kitchen floor is currently plywood subfloor. I still haven't selected the flooring for the kitchen. I had a whole other thread about that subject. At this point, we're leaning toward Duraceramic Tile or Marmoleum Click. Since we were so close to getting the cabinets I decided to wait and see the samples with the cabinets before making the final choice. Either choice doesn't need to go under the cabinets anyway.
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Fleur 222, I stumbled on that photo years ago, can't remember how, but I keep going back to it for the total simplicity of it. I will have a range hood, so it won't be as uncluttered as that, but I love the sort of organic look to it. Like it developed slowly over time. As a fan of the white cab/soapstone look, I also love the particular warmth of the kitchen. Odiegirl, I am thinking 9001 also. Can't believe they don't have more buttery colors. But here's what's weird... we saw a bluestar range that was PERFECT in a showroom. It's gone now so I can't personally check. They swore it was 1015. But in the swatchbook it looks so fleshy icky. When I cover the other samples around it, it looks less so. I'm scared they were wrong. Sayde, Believe me, I am going to COMPLETELY check this out. I plan on springing for the metal swatch for $100 from Bluestar that I've heard about before commmitting to it or cabinets color. But I want to try to bark up the right tree from the get-go. This is the ONE kitchen I'm redoing so I want to get it right. I have also emailed Trevor at Eurostoves to see if he can check out his AGAs for color. I am pretty sure they sell AGA. But that's somewhat less important than getting a cream/ivory range to work with.
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User
9 years ago
For a color, maybe a classic light yellow instead of a white. Or that 30's minty green. Heck, even the palest pink if that doesn't make you nauseous. And that olive suggested by your brother would be great as an island or hutch cabinet. Just not the whole kitchen in a north facing room!

SW Venus Pink

SW Dill
christina222_gw
9 years ago
If you love it, go for it! All white is wonderful, bright, clean and you can accessorize however you like. That said, if you do want color how about painting the lowers a darker color and the uppers white?
shadey
Original Author
9 years ago
yes, I think my heart says white! But a creamy white. I can use the olive as a accent color or even toned down, OMThe backsplash. if the kitchenware bigger I might consider painting the island in olive, but an island barely fits and I think I should stick w one color.

Thanks for the pointers!
romy718
9 years ago
Nothing cookie cutter about soapstone & wood. Get what you love.
greenhaven
9 years ago
Absolutely get what you love and "dated" be darned! White is classic, counters can be changed....I will repeat what others have said: go with your heart.

Do what your budget dictates and what will make your heart happy every morning when you stumble in for your morning cuppa.
fouramblues
9 years ago
How about a mix? I fell in love with this BHG kitchen (the green, BM Dark celery, isn't properly represented in this pic) when I was planning my remodel several years ago. I'll happily live vicariously through you if you use a bold green!
desertsteph
9 years ago
" My brother/architect wants me to dark dark painted cabs, like deep olive,with the dark tops. he says it will look rich and inviting"

but it isn't HIS kitchen! do what YOU want!
Kippy
9 years ago
Personally I like white cabinets and have for decades so I don't think they are too 2014.

Google 1948 kitchens and see what period colors would have been. Maybe matching the style to the home will make it raised to decide.

I like deep olive too. But not sure I would want that in a dark kitchen. Does your brother cook a lot? Maybe there is a reason he likes that color?

help menot have nervous breakdown over cab colors!

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help menot have nervous breakdown over cab colors!

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