I'm not sure why you think being trendy isn't a risk because it's a farmhouse? Do you mean because it's a "farmhouse look" you are after?

I could see a light quartz countertop instead of marble just because it's so much more bulletproof. I like a beadboard backsplash in a farmhouse kitchen, don't know if that is trendy or dated, or just not extremely common. A few glass-front cabinets with a fun color on the back wall? Maybe some slightly industrial elements as in some metal, but nothing too "sparkly."

Have you collected images of things you love? That's a good place to start even though it sometimes takes a while to see the pattern emerge.

Any elements of this one that you like?

(I love the wood counters, but they are not for everyone!)

Here is a link that might be useful: farmhouse kitchen #1

A few of my favorites kitchens...at least one is from a movie and some belong to GW posters :)

Sorry I don't have them labeled, but please chime in if they're yours! {{gwi:1931137}}From Kitchen tables and vintage kitchens
{{gwi:1739347}}From Kitchen tables and vintage kitchens
{{gwi:1739348}}From Kitchen tables and vintage kitchens
{{gwi:1965742}}From Kitchen tables and vintage kitchens
{{gwi:1739358}}From Kitchen tables and vintage kitchens
{{gwi:1739356}}From Kitchen tables and vintage kitchens
{{gwi:1962651}}From TV kitchens
{{gwi:1965743}}From 1920s kitchen project
{{gwi:1965744}}From 1920s kitchen project
{{gwi:1965745}}From 1920s kitchen project

If you have to give up the things you love and want in a kitchen out of a fear that it will look outdated or too trendy in the future, you will have a difficult time choosing anything. If you have to "live with it for a long time," chances are something in your kitchen is going to become "dated" between now and that distant date. Even your own tastes what you love will more than likely change in the future. Some of the things that many think of as "timeless" (think white kitchens) are "trendy" to others (I'm in the timeless camp on that one!). Look at it this way ... whatever you do now will likely go out of style and then come back in again by the time you retire.

I absolutely think choosing things that are appropriate to the house will help insulate against the kitchen looking dated down the road.

For countertop, how would you feel about butcherblock? It can stain and may not be the best choice next to the sink, depending on finish, but it seems like it would fit in very well without being as trendy as marble or faux marble.

Stainless steel with a matte finish might be an unexpected countertop option. It is quite durable and with a matte finish has something of the look of an old zinc countertop.

I agree with crl_ if the kitchen is appropriate to the house, it will look great.
I just put in a farm house kitchen and I don't even live in a farm house (it is a rustic-ish stone house in the country though).
Farm house kitchens are classic if you don't get too busy or cute. I designed mine so I could change little details for a different look - hardware, paint, different things on the open shelves. Except I do have a farm house sink, hmmm
I would consider a dark soapstone counter top - they look so crisp in a white farm house kitchen. They are pretty tough if you don't mind the " living" surface - except don't hit them with something hard.

Sounds like you are in a good position. You know what you like and it has become affordable due to current popularity. Do what you've always loved. Then stop looking at decor "magazines" that want you to feel dated and needing an update.

I would skip the laminate floors. They will date your kitchen and look trendy more than anything else, imo.
Not good with water either. I would not trust them to wear well over time. All that gritty farm dirt will not help either.

Chalon kitchens from England work well in this setting. If you google "Chalon images" you'll see what I mean. I built the Island in the picture which I like to call a "Chalon Clone."

Is this a remodel? I definitely think a kitchen should fit the house, and you said it's a farmhouse. How rustic do you want to go, or is it the white painted w/marble look you desire? While it's popular (trendy) now (and has been for years) it's not new.

Great examples have been posted. I also have a Chalon clone, built in England by a wonderful cabinetmaker. Love the one you built jdesign.

Whitewashed eastern pine, with a hutch instead of more cabinets. This one is at the beach, has a modern farmhouse look to it and would work elsewhere. It's certainly not trendy:

Here is a link to my Pinterest Kitchen board - lots of beautiful kitchens:

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen board

Pick something other than the ubiquitous white cabinets. Yellow. Blue. Green. My grandmother's 20's farmhouse had jadeite green cabinets, with only the sink run being a cabinet run with the integrated stainless top. The sink run had a Hoosier with a pull out enamel top between it and the refrigerator, and a small actual stump from a cut down tree butcher block on the other side. Unfitted. With real linoleum floors that were a breeze to mop clean. Through the whole house. Unless the room had one of her rag rugs on top.

Get out of the rut of the holy trinity of white, marble, and wood floors. That is NOT ''farmhouse''. It's Peacock's faux nostalgic idea of Edwardian times overlaid over a poor historical grasp of American vernacular living . Real farmhouses were all about hard wearing and functional materials. And they still are about those materials.

I am linking my favorite farmhouse kitchen of all time. It is not some romanticized fantasy farmhouse kitchen. The thread provides a lot of detail.

Some things to note:

- the use of Ikea frameless cabinets in the linked kitchen. Akpick mentioned inset. She should keep in mind that inset cabinets tend to be more expensive, and unless they are good quality, can be tricky in that the expansion and contraction of wood will make inset drawers and doors awry unless the carpentry is top-notch. Also, you will lose storage space with inset compared to frameless. Some inset cabinets have the dreaded stiles in the center, which are a pain; other inset cabinet lines do not, so be aware of that when choosing your cabinets if you opt for inset.

- bridge faucet that Akpick mentioned. They are very pretty. But in a hard-working farmhouse kitchen they are less practical than a single-handle faucet. A bridge faucet means you have to adjust both sides with two hands every time you turn on and off the water; if your hands are dirty/greasy, that's an extra cleaning chore, plus the time to fiddle to get the temperature right. And, with three holes in the counter, plus perhaps a side spray, that's more holes to have to clean around. A single-handle faucet with integrated sprayer is more practical. You can find many in a traditional style.

- floors - what has been already said above.

- white sink. The apron front fireclay sink is what is expected in today's idea of a farmhouse kitchen. It is very pretty. The kitchen I've linked has a Whitehaus fireclay and an Ikea Domsjo ceramic apron front sink. Unfortunately, fireclay is known to chip and craze, so not sure how well that works in a real farmhouse kitchen. You may want to look at the Kohler Whitehaven apron front sink with the shorter apron. If you look at old photos of farm kitchens, their sinks would have a shorter apron front than the large fireclay apron front sinks that are popular now. Kohler claims they have engineered their enameled cast iron to withstand banging by pots, and people on this forum seem happy with them.

Counters - soapstone and/or butcher block would be classic. Lots of threads on soapstone on this forum, so you can read about the varieties and the different hardness levels of soapstone. Regarding your comment about marble - how about having just a portion of your counter be a square of marble for rolling dough. Allow the marble to "patina" if you want it to be authentic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Brickmanhouse's Circa 1840 Working Farmhouse Kitchen

Farmhousebound's kitchen is pretty farmhouse-y.

White is not ubiquitous. I'm tired of that GW trope. For a quick proof, go to houzz, look at the kitchen photos and focus on the left column where they break down the cabinet colors. Add the variations of wood together and wood is quite close to even with white. And that's in houzz land. In my real world, I think white kitchens account for less than half of the kitchens I am familiar with. So apparently wood toned kitchen cabinets are ubiquitous.

Has white been very trendy lately? Yes, I think it has. Has it appeared in kitchens in every decade since there have been kitchens? Yes. Will it look dated soon? I'm no professional, but I doubt it. "The" white kitchen with a farm house sink, shaker cabinets, marble counter tops, white subway backsplash and wood floor with stainless steel appliances in a 1950s suburban ranch house? Sure that might look dated at some point. (Though I love the look.) But white cabinets won't be the reason, IMO.

Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz kitchen pictures[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-ideas-phbr0-bp~t_709)

Unfitted is the key to a real farmhouse kitchen. Maybe a marble pastry board. Not marble counters. Unless you're more than OK with the decades of patina look very quickly.

Think "modern farmhouse" though, not faux vintage. What are the materials available in the 21st century that will stand up to heavy wear, and be easy to clean? Frankly, oak cabinets in either shaker or slab doors would fit that bill really well. They're practical. They can always be painted later if you want a change. Same thing with vinyl floors, or Marmoleum. They stand up to hard wear. Counters that stand up to wear and tear well. Like a budget granite that you don't have to fuss over. Or laminate. Laminate is a very practical choice, because it will let you change it out later as fashions change without feeling like you're wasting money to do that.

Thinking of the long term functionality, and the fact that your taste may change is what a modern farmhouse should be all about.

I am in the same position as you. We are building a new house and I want a kitchen that will not date it's self within a few years.

I currently live in a neighborhood with homes that were built about 15 years ago. I have white cabinets. Several of my neighbors went with white-washed wood, and it has looked dated for many years already. Many any of my neighbors have either replaced or painted over them. My white, however still looks current.

I will be going with white or off white cabinets in my new kitchen.

I will also go with a fire-clay sink. I have researched both the fire-clay and cast iron farm sinks, and it appears that the fire-clay is usually stronger than the cast-iron. I had an fire-clay, apron front sink while I was living in Europe. It was beautiful and fit in well with the old home we lived in there. I also enjoyed having one, large, deep sink to use. I never had an issue with it chipping or cracking. However, I was gentle with it and we never dropped anything in to it.

I also had a bridge faucet and it fit the style of the old home and the semi, remodeled kitchen. I think it may have been original to the house as it had a beautiful, patina on it. It didn't have a spray attachment which I will buy with my next bridge faucet.

The countertop is a concern for me. I would also like to go with marble, but like you I worry that it will be quickly stained and damaged. Just when I think I've finally gotten over the marble, I remind myself that many of the homes I visited or stayed in in Europe also had marble countertops. The etching and stains never seem to impact their appearance or the owners love of the marble. Could I live with a big, red juice stain right in the middle of the countertop? I doubt it.

Another surface that was common in Europe is wood. Not butch block, just solid wood planks. I like this idea and may use it for at least a portion of my countertops. If I do, I will probably go with walnut. My other choice, if not marble will be Bianco Antico granite.

As for a back splash, the current trend for a 'traditional backsplash' seems to be white subway tiles. I won't, be using them, they feel way too trendy for me. I'm trying to decide between a tumbled stone backsplash or bead board. I love the bead board, it is subtle and won't over power my granite, wood or the marble. It is also very appropriate for a traditional kitchen and doesn't seem to be too popular right now. I've read that it can be hard to keep clean, but I'm prepared to deal with it.

For me, when I think of timeless, farmhouses, colonial salt boxes, cottages and true Tudor styles homes, always come to mind. These styles age, but they age gracefully and when done well can be built today and it's difficult to know exactly when they were completed. This is the same approach I am taking with my kitchen.

Good luck!

Made this a while back as part of a kitchen where we did all free standing unique pieces instead of typical built in cabinetry.

wow, that's so nice jdesign.
I agree that a freestanding kitchen would be the best option. But isn't it also the hardest to pull off?

Akpick, I could have written your post because we too will build a farmhouse on a working farm. Sadly the small worker's bungalow we're in now is in horrible shape.

I see a lot of white kitchens above and while pretty they're not like the kitchens I see in old magazine ads from the early twentieth century. It certainly doesn't look like the kitchens my grandparent's grew up with in the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. I was also an archivist so sure I'm a stickler for historically accurate things.

Look for Sayde's Gumwood kitchen on Gardenweb because it is gorgeous. It is a nice update of what could have been a rural house in the Northeast (I think NY).

It really depends if you want to use historically accurate materials which means finding regional materials that would have been used if you're planning a certain era of farmhouse. I'm looking to build a slightly modern version of the classic Midwestern 'L,' 'I,' or 'T' shaped farmhouse since we live in Iowa. I will use woods and materials that would have been found in the early twentieth century in Iowa.

I do have a big kitchen table in the middle of my current kitchen and most likely duplicate that in the new house. Although some people here are totally against it I love it.

There are other issues that make the farmhouse kitchen harder to figure out because of the current notion a kitchen is the heart of the home. Maybe I spent too many summers with my grandparent's, but to me the kitchen is strictly a utilitarian room and if people are in there while I'm cooking they're helping as well. Gossiping over cleaning green beans is one thing while people hanging out on barstools when I'm making meatballs is another. So my kitchen will be closed off like they used to be. I'm sure many people just gasped-no open floor plan for me because I don't like it, and I am the cook in this family.

So what is my takeaway? You need to figure out what works for your house and your family. Are you going for even a little bit of historical accuracy? Realizing those things will keep your house from looking dated because they will 'fit.' The houses that look dated are the houses that have elements that are out of sync with what they really are (ie: an early 1930's Midwestern tudor house with blood red walls that resembled a Japanese steakhouse. I saw that one while house hunting with my sister and talk about getting thrown off your bearings.)

I love Sayde's kitchen SO MUCH. Since it was mentioned above, I'll link to an article about it. It's worth a look...

Here is a link that might be useful: Sayde's Vintage Kitchen, Atticmag

i am going to chime in here on 2 points
first i have a wilsonart laminate floor in my kitchen that is 15 years old. it looks as good as the day i put it in despite pool water, snow melting, dog dirt being tracked from my slider through the kitchen. my hard wood in my dining room with low traffic that is 10 years old is scratched quite a lot. when i redid my kitchen i kept the wilsonart and am very happy with my decision.
second point trendy/dated only comes in to play when you sell the house. if you plan to retire there and choose elements you love, then the trends will mean nothing to you.
have fun with process:)

A favorite farmhouse inspired kitchen of mine is the one in the Signs movie. I love how it is simple yet interesting and I really like the table in the middle of the room.

I think that a lot of what people are calling farmhouse kitchens are way too fancy for what would really be found in a country farmhouse, the vast majority look like they would be kitchens in Colonial Revival or Neoclassical homes. And note, not many American houses would have had British style apron sinks that are so common in the the modern day "Farmhouse kitchens". Nothing against this style, it is lovely! Just not a very accurate name.

Here is a link that might be useful: More pics from the Signs house

I'm loving all these responses!! It's making me really wonder WHAT IT IS I'm actually after. I think for the most part I'm driven by my fear of not loving something after a few years, so I'm trying to pick things I've always loved. I change my mind a LOT but when I really love something I wear it to the bone (I have four pairs of the exact same Levis, just different washes. ;) ) I realized the love for most of the things I've chosen is based off of the house I grew up in. It doesn't fit well into any period, it was built in the 1950's (all by hand - even the windows) by the previous owner's husband. I'm from a town in rural Wisconsin of about 150 people, so it takes a LONG time for trends to catch on. Some of the things in the kitchen I loved (that I still love) were the three windows behind the sink, a white drainboard sink (maybe I could find one at a garage sale?), the white cabinets (though they were 3/8 inset, but I'm not going to lie, I love the squeak of those rickety cabinets. Looks-wise, though, inset cabinets have absolutely won me over). Those are things I know I'm not going to grow out of.

As far as laminate goes.. That has been a huge struggle for me. I grew up with beautiful (scuffed, but still beautiful) hardwood floors. Our last rental had hardwoods and I hated it with having boys. This house we ripped out the carpets and put in laminate (it doesn't make financial sense to put in hardwoods in this neighborhood) and we've had it for two years now... Not a single scratch. You cannot beat the look and feel of hardwood, that's for sure. But my plan is to use laminate to save initial costs on building (if I'm doing inset cabinets we just can't afford many other upgrades) and then after 10-15 years when all of my boys are older we can splurge and put in custom hardwood (I love when they lay it different ways, not sure what it's called or what time period, just that I love it). Hubby doesn't understand my desire for hardwood floors OR inset cabinets, but he said he's okay with me doing the kitchen however makes me happy (he doesn't want to here me complain I didn't get the kitchen I want ;) )..

I've just started looking at time period appropriate pictures. I have to stop it because I will obsess over it and just can't afford to put a lot of extra money into some of the things I know would make it more appropriate. My main focus is just to get the bones right.

jdesign... I absolutely LOVE that island! Maybe if I found an old ornate table and had that turned into my island?! Wow!

I wish I had time to respond to everyone individually, I love every kitchen that was posted in the responses.... But right now I have an overtired two year old, a waking-up one month old, and a home-from-school-sick seven year old!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!

You can get a drainboard sink. The most expensive ones seem to be the vintage ones at around $1200 being common. You can get some new ones that are cast iron for around $900 and stainless or acrylic ones are much less.

I think that a lot of what people are calling farmhouse kitchens are way too fancy for what would really be found in a country farmhouse, the vast majority look like they would be kitchens in Colonial Revival or Neoclassical homes.

This is exactly what I was thinking. White cabinets inset cabinets, wood floors, and marble countertops sounds fancy to me. When I think farmhouse, I usually think of mixture of painted surfaces and worn or weathered woods, some kitsch or character: open shelves, freestanding unfitted island, table in the middle of the kitchen, unfitted cabinets, freestanding sink, antique bakers table, antique light fixtures, etc. I really never think of glossy surfaces or that white on white look (white inset cabinets and marble countertops).

Can you post some pictures of the kitchens you're loving?

Marco . . . thank's for posting the picture as I've been away long enough can't figure out how to anymore :) We bought my husband's grandparents' farmhouse and renovated it but tried to keep everything along the same lines as was in the original portion of the house (beadboard ceilings and walls). Our kitchen was actually built around several pieces of antique furniture we already owned, i.e., pie safes, baker's cabinets, Chambers stove, workbenches, along with some new pieces . . . the run of cabinets under the window, sink & faucet, fridge, barrel hood, shelves, soapstone countertop. I agree with posters above that the unfitted look will give you a great start for a farmhouse look.

Farmhousebound- Your kitchen is one of my favorites! It should have been in those pictures I posted earlier. Adding it to my album now :)

Every time I see your kitchen, I want to drink cocoa and start baking Christmas cookies!