Your kitchen sounds just like mine! We are in the middle of our demo. We decided on using Applad for the tops instead of Abstrakt as I looked a photos of both online combined with the Sofielund and I liked the matte look of Applad better. We are also doing Applad on the front side of the island, all trimmed by Sofielund.

With respect to counters, light and not shiny is exactly what we went with. Glacier White Corian was the winner and is used extensively in contemporary design in Europe (just Google "Sofielund Corian" and you'll likely find a lot of examples). The integrated sink also provides a modern design feature, especially the large single square "Vaso" sink we selected (it's not cheap, however).

Floors--we did a light, whiteish 12x24 tile. Salerno Dove. It's rectified and the price is right. The Terrazo tiles we loved from DalTile or Concrete Collaborative are contemporary but at $12SF for material only, too steep for our budget since we are tiling about 1200 SF of the house. Wood or laminate would look awesome too, choose your shade carefully.

Backsplash--we are going with a Brio "blend" from Modwalls. Adds a needed punch of color, in a contemporary way.

Can't wait to see the finished project.

I think of corian as shiny. . . .

Maybe a concrete countertop? No experience, just a thought. Honed marble would be another possibility. Laminate would have lots of possibilities. Maybe a honed engineered quartz.

Quartz tends to be really shiny. I like it and it was close runner up from us.

Second the laminate. Lots of possibilities and $ savings if your willing to forgo the premium surface.

Links to IKEA white and Sofielund.
Another option for the backsplash would be backpainted glass.

Here is a link that might be useful: white and Sofielund

Your kitchen plan sounds beautiful. I also prefer the Applad finish to the Abstrakt because it has a softer gloss. For a contemporary kitchen I like the idea of large format white matte tile backsplash (12x24").

Counters are always tricky. I wanted light and non-shiny, but I am having polished River White granite installed right now. It was the most practical choice for a busy kitchen for a messy family. Basically any matte surface will be more susceptible to staining from what I understand.

Is your kitchen open to any other rooms? I would consider having continuous flooring if that's the case. I ruled out wood cabinet fronts so I could have wood floors. Actually I am doing gray stained custom fronts with IKEA cabinets.

Love the advice so far! We are having a continuous floor throughout the 1st floor. Do think we want wood, although DH and I both LOVE concrete (just concerned about environmental factors).

Will take another look at Applad now - thanks for those suggestions!

Off to check out some additional links and ideas you've provided!

Cheers - T

You probably already know this, but Ikea is going to be changing to a new kitchen cabinet system sometime this coming winter, and from what I understand, parts won't be interchangeable between the current system and the new one. Kitchen people at my local Ikea have told me that parts for the current system will be available for 2 years after the switchover. I just thought you might like to know so that if you don't want to wait for the new system, you can be sure to go ahead and get any parts you think you might need in the future now. I don't think the door styles are going to stay the same, but I don't know for sure. I'm planning to get a DW front to match my Ikea cabinets before the year is out, even though I shouldn't need a new DW for a while.

I also love sofielund and thank everyone in this thread. I know the prob with making the floor and counter work together. I don't really want a hard tile floor but maybe a white one. Oh, no, it hurts.

Feisty, aren't your beautiful cabs going to be a gray, weathered look,but still a weathered wood look? Wood? My mental prob here.

I want a wood floor and a sofielund. I guess I have to play with different wood floors. Why set myself up for a painful, but pretty white ceramic floor?

We are in the middle of designing an IKEA kitchen as well. We decided to go with the rubrik applad turquoise doors on top of the Gnosjo black/brown on the base. For the countertops, we are going with this really nice recycled glass countertop from Curava (the "Arctic" style). You can get them at Lowes or other kitchen supply places.

Here is a link that might be useful: Curava Countertops

I have Corian Maui in my mom's house..It is not glossy just a bit of a shine. I see more granite and quartz that equates to shiny/glossy.

Mwkbear, what is the price per sqft on the Curava? It's pretty nifty..

I'm not sure of the exact price. Our contractor is ordering it for us. From what I understand, the cost is similar to other solid surface countertops such as Corian or Quartz, but less expensive than Granite or Concrete.

MWK Bear -- I think that kitchen sounds great...the Rubrik doors will make it pop. I too think the Curava counters look great--very Terrazoesque. I'd like to know the PPSF as well--recycled glass typically costs 2-3X more than Quartz and Corian in my experience so I would be interested to know. BTW, many granites are actually cheaper than most other premium products these days. Also, I noticed the Curava stuff is made well so it will have the durability of Quartz and Corian. A similar product I ran accross, called IceStone, is basically made with a concrete filler which is a huge pain to take care of and is not very practical as a countertop given all the maintenance required.

Terri--I agree. Corian is not shiny...it has a matte finish to it, one of the reason we selected it.

This post was edited by ChrisInSD on Thu, Jul 3, 14 at 1:58

"Feisty, aren't your beautiful cabs going to be a gray, weathered look,but still a weathered wood look? Wood? My mental prob here. "

Sorry I didn't get a notification of this reply.

Yes, my fronts will be gray stained oak and the wood grain will show. But I think it will be in strong contrast with natural oak floor. The plan is for an effect halfway between and stain and paint so I hope to avoid the feeling of two wood looks competing with one another. Hope that helps.

For those who want a strong, dark wood look on their cabinet fronts and also wood floors, one option is to go with a white stained floor using Rubio Monocoat. Really cool product.