caligal ,

I love stiles kitchen! Who wouldn't?????? That is gorgeous and way out of my league for my space. As I have told one kitchen designer that I have worked with. My dreams are entirely too big for my space. There is a really great designer at a Home Depot that is about a hour away from us. I have a really good feel about him. He's had several years in interior design. I just started talking to him about a design and he has some great ideas. Now this should be a new thread. But can you make a great kitchen through Home Depot with the right designer? Even a great white kitchen, or would it be better to go custom?

I have probably 1/8th the size of her kitchen and 1/16th the size of her budget. But, it is such a good example of diff elements. I am currently doing an IKEA kitchen w/ higher end appliances.

I, too, met a really good designer at a HD (not my local HD). He gave me great advice about sinks and didn't upsell any HD products. Go talk to that designer. Oh, and maybe you should start a new thread.

You're welcome!

Wow -- what deep and thought provoking postings!

We are in similar situation -- planning a kitchen that will open up into the family room with living room and dining room connected so that it all flows together. The rooms are formal with early french and english antique, so white or even creamy would look a little bit too "english" for the space..

So we started thinking "painted" vs. "white".

As the moment, the plan is to pain the cabinets light green/gray, i.e.. the light weathered green you see in antique furniture.

I think this would help us blend it very well into the rest of the space.

Which other color would look good for you? Taupe, blue, warm yellow -- are all posibities and found in traditional kitchens..

So much agree with the breaking the monotony of whatever color you choose and also with introducting something bold and unexpected, i.e., crystal chandelier..

Tanya

Here are the "before" pictures of my white kitchen...I have no "after" pictures...yet. :)

I'm not changing much, actually...just countertops, sink and faucet. Still planning.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I forgot to say what makes this kitchen "right" for me. I liked it the first time I saw it and the said to the realtor 'We'll take it!". My husband almost croaked. :) I think what makes it right for me is the layout and that it has lots of storage space. Function before form for me.

Pam

Pfmastin, your before kitchen looks great, it doesn't need much at all.

This has been a fun infomative post for me. I've had people tell me anything goes today. But I say anything doesn't always look good! You can take expensive cabinets and make them look cheap and cheap cabinets and make them look like a million bucks. I think many of you have really nailed what makes any kitchen work. Cabinets are a huge part but it's the details that really make the difference. There are some beautiful kitchens on this forum. I should have joined ina long time ago. I am really learning so much and appreciating every bit of it.

pfmastin,

Tha't funny, I'll bet your husband did about die. But seriously you knew when you saw it, it was for you. I would love for it to be that easy with putting a kitchen together. That will be a fun kitchen to work on. It has a good start already, some really nice classic elements. Nice cabinets and a nice hardwood floor, good counter space too.

mpeg, I felt exactly as you do. I orginally wanted a white kitchen because I felt when its done right it's beautiful, classic and bright, yet warm and inviting. I preceeded to start in that direction than feared for not being able to pull it together right. I have seen many that are fabulously beautiful but I've seen alot that I didn't like AT ALL. I was almost talked into wood but than decided to go with my initial love. I'm glad now that I did. Good advice segbrown and live_wire_oak. It would have made things a bit easier I think if I had looked at it as "breaking things up" I would spend so much time in magazines and here at Gardenweb and would look at the white kitchens and try to determine what it was that I liked and than duplicate it if it would contribute to the feel I was trying to achieve.(One of the things I noticed was that every kitchen I loved had the white inset cabinets as ela socal mentioned - we couldn't afford that so we finally settled on a style with full overlay and hoped it would look as nice - we are pleased with the result there. I also noticed that most of the ones I liked incorporated glass, so I did. I wanted alot of light (we have no direct sunlight in the kitchen) so I knew the glass and stainless steel appliances along with the reflection of granite would give me light. Like caligal I found that it really opened and lightened up my space. We ended up with twice the amount of cabinets and yet it looks so much larger than before! My kitchen is open to the dining and living area, all small areas, so I wanted to keep things neutral. (I currently have a post going that I started last week with some pics entitled "I need advice to finish my kitchen" if you'd like to see my white pictures-although not yet finished-if anyone would like to comment please feel free!) I'll have to go look at stiles kitchen :)

lovetocook9,

It's so nice to hear from someone who went through the exact same diemma with the exact same feelings! I can't tell you what the means to me. This has been my struggle for a long time now. I will look at your kitchen and I appreciate all of your thoughts about what you incorporated to help you achieve the look you wanted. I am the same way, love inset doors on white cabinets but it's out of my league and wouldn't refelct well on my home value in the area I live in. Glad to know you are making your dream kitchen come true, and thank you!

lovetocook9,

I did find your kitchen and posted a long comment. It didn't bring the thread back up to the front for some reason. I had trouble finding it and googled it. But you have a grgeous kitchen that I just love!

Peggy

Hi Mpeg,
We're doing a white kitchen with many of the elements mentioned in the above posts but the one thing I wanted to add is that for the cabinets that will frame the opening to our family room, I picked a sage/celedon color cabinetry because I wanted a different transition to the other part of the house. I agonized over this but now I'm really happy I did it. It sounds like you have a very good idea of what you like so you should go for it!

I posted somewhere else but look at this Wood mode white kitchen. fantastic!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

blakey,

I like the idea of changing colors in trasition to another room. Gives the kitchen more charachter and interest. I would love to see what it looks like. The celery/sage color would be fresh looking with white. Please post when you get that far. Sounds great!

I guess I didn't catch your concern(s) about transitioning your white kitchen to the rest of your house.

As I've already written, we have a white kitchen, and our kitchen opens to our family room (which has no pure white in it); the trim there, and throughout the house (except the kitchen) is so creamy it's practically yellow. What we did to marry the spaces is this:

The pony wall (which holds the sink on the kitchen side) had wainscoting applied so as to bridge the two areas.

That sage green sounds pretty as well.

Don't talk yourself//allow others to talk you back into white if it's not what you want anymore. I personally don't care for them, but that's irrelevant.

Our secrets: Classic elements. Not quite white (go creamy); period lighting; warm wood floors and contrasting soapstone countertops; accent color on a couple of the walls; lots of negative space (glass-front and open cabs, cool range enclosure); the right cabinet design (face-frame or "inset" with paneled doors, bead detail, period knobs and pulls, go to the ceiling with the uppers).
Here's what we did: see link.

Here is a link that might be useful: 1930 Spanish kitchen

yesdear,

Absolutely stunning kitchen! Your home has so much charachter and so many architectural details. What I like about this kitchen is it really has a very cheerful bright feel while being very classic and timeless at the same time. I tend to think that is hard to pull of for an ametuer like me. Love it!

rmkitchen,

Beautiful white kitchen! Nice open feel and lovely to look at. I can't imagine ever getting tired of that space. Do you have really dark hardwood floors? Everything is so simple with such clean lines. What type of cabinet doors do you have? I'm assuming they are custom. Also what kind of paint did you use. lots of questions I know but I really like your kitchen! Wondering if I caould pull this off. This would be similar to my space if I removed the wall. Thanks for posting the photos! Do you have a link with more photos?

yesdear,
Your kitchen is wonderful...all the details are beautiful. It must be a joy to use!
Pam

Our kitchen is in the center of our 1890 home. I wanted white painted cabs and I knew I wanted a lot of glass . I also had certain architectural features in the kitchen that I wasn't willing to give up as they were original to the house. I have all the elements that are listed above except the shallow cupboard over the hood...instead we have the open area to add visual interest.

The appliances were the single most important item in my kitchen as we really use it for so many cooking adventures and our DS1 and DIL are chefs . I also wanted the timelessness of design given the age of our home. I think we achieved that look since I hear all the time that the kitchen looks like it has always been here ( appliances notwithstanding :) )

Here is a link:

Here is a link that might be useful: 1890 white kitchen

Yes, we do have ebonized floors. (They're red oak stained ebony.) LOVE them!

Our finished kitchen photo album can be found here, and the finished kitchen description here.

What made our white kitchen "right" for us was definitely breaking up the cabinetry. One our main focal wall which is the lengthiest, we have a ceiling-to-counter glass cabinet which will store tons of glasses and off-white dishes. We also have a window on that wall above the sink which brings in the beautiful warmth from the outdoors, and two polished nickel pendant lights hanging in front, to create a nice focal point and add warmth and interest. On our other wall, we have long open shelving where I'll display various things, mostly white or off-white with touches of silver, and maybe sometimes a few pieces in lavendar or blue.

I don't think you need to add colour to a white kitchen. I think it's a similar approach to doing a monochromatic room, in that you need to add layers, textures and visual variation, so your eyes have areas to rest on rather than being blinded by a sea of whiteness. I also highly recommend contrast, which is why we have dark hardwood floors, and a dark stained island, although a white island would have been pretty too.

Finally - I really think white kitchens benefit from metal accents which are easy to add with faucets and hardware. They just add a sparkle that goes well with white cabinets.

I think white kitchens are definitely classic but they can be tricky. For those of us tackling one in a smaller space without much character detail I think a lot of the advice offered still applies but more contrast may be necessary to avoid that antiseptic look than in a larger space that has more period detail. We ended opting for a creamy white for the cabinets and fairly dark floors and walls to ground a small room with a lot of relatively uniform cabinetry (necessary soffets made it impossible to vary the height or depth of our uppers). Each space will have its' own parameters. I also agree texture and pattern are very important - we chose solid colours for the walls and cabinetry so the countertops, floor, backsplash and glass all have pattern or variation for contrast.

We didn't work with an inspiration kitchen as a lot of white kitchens are usually either very period or very contemporary and usually are on a scale that wouldn't translate well into a small pretty uniform space. Cabinets are scheduled to go in November 14th so we will start to get an idea of how we did soon.

After seeing this thread, I almost wish I had stuck with my original plan of using white cabinets in my kitchen. These white kitchens are really nice!

Thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread. Excellent ideas! Reading all the messages has really helped me to see more how the really nice white kitchens pull it off. All in different ways. I am struggling with what caryscott mentioned. A samll space without a lot of architectural details. I've changed how I am going to my kitchen so many times! I am now leaning towards mixing a dark cherry and cream cabinets together. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I don't feel I have the space to pull off all of the above mentioned details. It's just not there no matter how I slice or how many times I think it over. I can't leave a lot of things open, ie shelves, have a lot of glass. I can do the lighting, the texture and the contrast. I just don't feel I have the interesting space to pull off white and that is my problem. So the next best thing for me is mixing finishes. I just went and visited with a designer that has some really wonderful ideas for my kitchen, mixing cherry and cream cabinets in a tasteful way. I'm really exctied about his design.

This is a minor detail and not subject to just white kit. I frequently see the question asked "one pull or two on various size drawers"? When a kit opens to another space I really think two knobs/pulls etc look more furniture like than one. I also like to see lots of drawers.

eandhl,

I like those suggestions and I think you are right. So keep it pulls, or knobs and lots of drawers if possible. It is a small space and we are really struggling with adding as many drawers as possible. That is one of the challenges we talked about and are working on. Thank you! The finish is still up on the air and undecided at this point but I like mixing also, as well as white.

I was thinking about this and I remembered what a friend just said to me. She had seen a gorgeous new kitchen and said it was just too perfect. It didn't have personality. I think finding a way to put your personality into it helps--with any color kitchen. That is one issue I have with the Peacock kitchens--they are so formulaic at this point.

For personality, it might be an interesting backsplash, mixing an island color with a different perimeter, hanging your kids' artwork, a special pantry door, etc. Something that makes it different--and not just a showroom kitchen. Just my thoughts...

kelleg,

Like that idea!

The Peacock kitchens while beautiful are a little too perfect for me too.

My confidence about it waivers but I was walking out of my Mom's building Saturday and peered into a window and they had done a more pure white cabinetry with a sort of deep azure blue and POW! the deep colour all around the cabinetry looked great. I'm back to thinking the deep rust colour (BM Rusty Nail) we chose is really going to make the creamy cabinets pop and give a room with very little personality a real kick.

I like the sound of what your doing, and the cherry and cream will give you a lot of contrast to up the visual interest some of our spaces don't have on there own. Good luck!

caryscott,

That color sounds like it will really give you some nice contrast with your white cabinets. I do think if you can't add interest in a lot of other ways a can of paint can make a world of difference.

with the creamy white what kind of countertop and floors will you have? I always like a dark floor with white cabinets.

It isn't my kitchen I am reminded all the time but my Mom's, I don't even live in the unit. I have however slogged a lot of hours researching and shopping for her.

Floor

I agree about the dark floors and we went pretty dark - image is, depending on your monitor, a little darker than the sample reads in person. No seams was very important (I don't know why) so it's a sheet floor (fibre floor) from Tarkett called Copper Concrete. We have a pretty tight budget but I wanted to stay away from faux finishes as much as possible (so we didn't want any of the faux wood or tile patterns). Very soft to stand on and should be kind to falling objects. Probably not for everyone but she wanted a transitional look not traditional.

{{!gwi}}

Counter

Good old laminate. I was horrified when she wanted laminate but it isn't nearly as terrible as I thought. I wanted granite but she nixed it and after spending a lot of time here I am so over granite. I loved the colours in Meganite but with only one local dealer the price on the Meganite wasn't much less than other solid surface products and the wait time was huge. This pattern is Iron Rust in a Riverwash finish from the FormicaFX Collection and it is very matte (has a sort of pebbled surface with high and low lustre -- looks nothing like granite so again steers clear of the faux finish). The colour reads a bit deeper (not pinky at all) in a bigger sample - the floor and the counter are similar registrations but the counter is lighter. Countertop isn't set in stone (irony) as I think we will bring the larger sample from the fabricator home once the cabs go in just to make sure. We have chosen a new postform edge called Geneva but we have an angled cab in our design and it means the postform edge can only go on one side of the 3 sided angle cabinet. I'm still looking into a product called Gem-lock (from the Loti Corp) that would let us go around corners with the edging.

We've given it a lot of thought but whether that will translate into a great space I'm not sure. We couldn't afford the expensive finishes so I have tried to embrace that and at least select less common ones. Sorry this is a thesis not an answer, if you speed read it it you'll probably be able to screen out the blah blah blah.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: current pics and the cabinet drawings

Cary,

I think you are using some nice colors to warm up the space. I think anything can look great. I've seen some laminate counters that look really nice. Around here very few people have granite. So it's a splurge in this area and won't do all that much for our home values if I use it.

I have a neighbor that has a huge kitchen, she had the Amish make light stained cabinets for her out of Maple for about $6000, finished. Then she topped them with a fairly dark brownish laminate, oil rubbed bronze hardware, and faucet. Then she put in a large dark tile floor. Her kitchen is gorgeous and was inexpensive but you would never know it.

Your moms kitchen sounds very practical, yet up to date at the same time. How can you beat that.

I can't wait to see the finished product. Please let me know and post pictures. Your mom is so lucky to have you helping her! I wish I could borrow you!

mpeg

You're very generous, don't be too sure on any given day I'm not sure my present "employer" would give me much of a reference. Start was bumpy and my desire to collect information is not a trait we share but as we enter the home stretch I think she knows that it may not have been quick but we got a little something from almost every vendor I made her visit (I finally got wise and started going on my own which made things much better - I just called her in at the end for final deliberation).

My Mom's condo building is mostly seniors not a lot of hip urban professionals or the monied set strolling around so similar to you I'm not sure it would be that much of a selling point to have granite. Units are large, reasonably priced and close to amenities so they often attract seniors downsizing from single dwellings. Regular folks need to live somewhere. However because there are a lot of people on fixed incomes a lot of units still have the original kitchens so if my Mom needed to sell the renovated kitchen will probably give her quite an advantage anyway even if the finishes are not the top of the line.

I will post as things proceed and I look forward to seeing your progress (you sound like you have found the right person to work with). It was a great thread, very helpful for me and I appreciate it. Take care.

caryscott,

I can do a lot of the preliminary stuff but sometimes I just need a storng arm to say let's do this.

FWIW for many reasons sounds like you are going the right route with your mom's kitchen. Even resale, W/O going over the top or what it takes in the area you are in.

Another thought about white kitchens here.......they are very uncommon. We've been looking at a lot of model homes and open houses. So far 100% that we have seen in a local city are wood, medium to darker tones. It just tells you what most people are buying and putting in their kitchens in my area.

I still love a beautiful white kitchen and it would sell a house to me in a heartbeat!

Market in Canada is so different, top selling cars here are all sub-compact or compact. The mid-size models that top US sales chart are second tier players in our market. With cabinets I don't think one showroom and definitely not a single box store I visted had displays with anything but frameless cabs. Local custom and semi-custom places laughed when I asked about plywwod construction they said they could do it but they rarely have anyone even request it and even fewer go through with it. Also I've noticed that a number of US lines still sell laminate but don't have thermofoil. If you look at Canadian lines like KitchenCraft and Canac that have been bought by larger US companies they have extensive thermo choices and very little laminate.

As a result of the popularity of thermo in Canada white white kitchens are not uncommon on the lower end. Routered doors, white white with a moderate amount of sheen tends to be quite common though I don't think it rivals wood. We went with a recessed panel and a matte antique white finish hoping it would read a little less as generic.

Granite is popular but I didn't see too many places pushing soapstone (I think for Canadians soapstone is something the Inuit make carvings with not something for countertops). Solid surface is common, marble, concrete and stainless definitely get some play.

I like the elements of a white kitchen but I think I am more drawn to stronger opaque colours - though not too strong. It's fun to work on a kitchen that isn't your own, I'll be prepared when my time comes.

caryscott,

That is so interesting to hear. I didn't know you were in Canada. I live in the Midwet US in a rural area and what is poplular here in the US I think varies a lot by what area you live in.

I really like frameless cabinets. I looked at some that a local shop was making. My only issue with them was how the doors shut and I wasn't sure about the shops reputaion. You hardly see them in the box stores here in the Midwest but I expect that too change.

I see Candace Olson using them. I always like her style.

Best wishes on Moms remodel!

In our weekend home, we don't have a lot of space but we do have tall ceilings that give it a more spacious effect.

another view

I think classic lines and having a focal point helps a custom white kitchen have more interest.

mpeg, I don't think small kitchens can't be white. If I can figure out how to scan a magazine page, I'll post a picture of a small white kitchen that looks great to me. If I remember right, it had white marble counters and backsplash, and glass fronted uppers. These make a huge difference in small kitchens.

I agree ... it might be more difficult to break up a lot of white in a smaller kitchen, but surely it can be done well. Use a stainless, not white or paneled, refrigerator. Use a metal range hood, even if little bitty, or maybe tile over it or something besides paneling in white. In addition to glass-fronted doors, incorporate shelves and use different sizes/heights of upper cabinets. Different counter materials. Wood really (to me) softens up the possibly sterile look of a white kitchen.

I think it's probably easier to do some or all of those things in a bigger kitchen, but I've seen many great-looking kitchens around here that were white and smaller.

One of the biggest, to me, is making sure that it isn't thermofoil or any kind of glossy finish. I think the finish on white cabinets is terribly important.

Well, my white kitchen is small and has thermofoil. So I will post a link and maybe it will help you decide what you like..or would do differently! Honestly, during the research process, I found pictures helped me decided what I didn;t want as well as what I did.
I did not go with stainless appliances because I felt it would focus too much attention on them vs. the other stuff. I seriously considered the Bosch titanium ramge, which is a great combo of white and stainless. It would look great in a high contrast kitchen like the first picture posted in this thread. But I felt better in the end with the all-white. I did use ss accents to break things up: microwave, hood sink.

Here is a link that might be useful: My White Kitchen

flash407,

I love everything about your classic white kitchen! Can you tell me about your floors, countertops, pandant lights. Love it all! My layout would have some similarities.

The penninsula could be similar. No higher ceiling unfortunately, just 8 feet. This is lovely!

glad, I love your little white kitchen! And I love your bird!

flash407, if that's your "weekend" kitchen, what's your weekDAY kitchen look like? Cuz that weekend one is scrumptious!

There was someone here recently who did a gorgeous and cozy little white kitchen with cherry butcherblock counters. I LOVED that kitchen and it almost made me wish I'd kept my white cabinets (we went from white to maple).

Oh, I found that kitchen, it was sprice5105's. Sprice, I hope you don't mind me linking to your kitchen!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sprice5105's kitchen

glad,

Gorgeous small white kitchen and so well done. Love your style and I can't imagine ever getting tired of that! It's really cute and you've got one of the granites that I really like.

mpeg,

The floors are pine with a custom stain.

countertops are an antiqued black Angola granite.
sink: Whiethaus with Danze Parma PreRinse Faucet
air switch
pendents lights....I can't remember. I need to look them up! Too many details to remember
backsplash: crackle finish 3x6 subways from Arizona tile

Thanks for the complement! We are really pleased with the results!

I have always loved white kitchens, and my last house in FL had one. Here in Wisconsin, not very common. Our house was a spec home with typical midwestern oak cabinetry, and the kitchen is very open to the rest of the oaky house.

For 7 years it has bothered me, and without the cash to redo perfectly good, solid cabinetry, we started on a kitchen face-lift a few months ago...with my creamy white cabinets!

I have paint on my hands every day, and it is still a mess, but if you see from my blog, it is coming along nicely. But, still a lot of work to be done!

What works for My house is that we mixed in a few oak elements (oak beadboard on the inside of a few open bookcases, an oak desktop- which I need to redo a better color, ugh), and we are hand antiquing the doors with an oaky brown accent glaze in the crevices.

But, what really makes it work is that it's what we wanted, and sometimes if you really like some style, chances are that similar style is reflected elsewhere in you decor and it will eventually work together.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Dream Kitchen Blog

glad, your thermofoil looks great! I haven't seen any that good, most of it to me looks plastic-y and has cathedral doors that don't work with "MY IDEA" of a white kitchen. (That part is important ... we all have our own things in our heads.) What brand?

Bump. Great thread.