Always a perennial favorite of mine, but the only one I have seen around here is one I designed for somebody. I like that the original has curtains. No one seems to like simple curtains anymore.

The thing is that here, just when I might start to think "Another white and black kitchen?!", I open the post to see that someone has done a very wonderful and unique-to-them twist on it. It often doesn't take a big move on their part, but just enough to make their kitchen fresh and different from the rest. The austerity and coldness of the SGTG kitchen, that was pointed out in the other thread, helps it serve as an almost blank slate with room for individualization, but gives a decent main base from which to start.

Good points, Kris_ma. I think that even if some of us here were house hunting, who aren't really into that particular kitchen look, we'd be happier to see a SGTG kitchen than a lot of the other options we'd likely find.

@Pal - the curtains really add a lot -- I was just noticing them and wishing I could copy that element, unfortunately my windows flank a stove. I think they are a really nice part of the design.

I love curtains but the ones in this image are too washed out for me. I'd like to see at least a pattern of whites on the fabric but better yet - COLOR! Could even be a very pale color.

I'm gonna be on the bandwagon with the "never seen one in person" angle. My kitchen was featured on my community kitchen tour and I was literally the only true white kitchen on it. I had maybe 650 people come through and most people said that what I have was exactly what they were looking for, white, stainless, clean. The others were almost all dark wood, beautiful multi color granites, but lacking in some aspects. The majority of people told me that my kitchen was their favorite because it was "timeless, classic, and had the right elements". I wouldn't say I have a SGTG kitchen but it has some of the same feel, though I think mine is a bit warmer. I don't see the SGTG kitchen style ever fading away, it speaks to a lot of people and is downright lasting.

Kris_ma, I was thinking something along the same lines this morning. Even if we've seen the SGTG kitchen or the OTK a hundred times here, the person doing the kitchen has NEVER had this kitchen. Before I ever knew of this forum, I had a few thoughts about my future kitchen:

1. I wanted the cabinets to be light. Since I've had lightly-stained maple for years and didn't want natural maple, I wanted to try white. I think I actually found this forum while googling white cabinets and how well they wear.

2. I wanted dark countertops. This was just confirmed for me this morning while scrubbing/bleaching my dad's white formica countertops. I've always had flaminate, but the price of granite isn't much higher now than laminate with a beveled edge, and I really want an undermount sink.

3. I didn't like shiny countertops or granite with movement.

4. I really liked oil-rubbed bronze for lighting and hardware, but (straying from the SGTG template) I didn't care for bin pulls. This is where the kitchen forum has changed my mind - I think I'll go with lower-contrast nickel knobs and pulls. And they won't be bin pulls. I'll probably stick with ORB for lighting, but maybe not.

5. After living my whole life with vinyl floors, I wanted porcelain tile. The forum has changed my mind on this, too, and I think I'll go with a medium-toned bamboo. If I were totally brainwashed I would have a custom-mixed stain with jacobean in there somewhere. I think those floors are gorgeous, but they aren't for me.

6. I really liked subway tile, especially glass. I doubt I'll do subway or glass at this point (although I want both in my bathroom), but the backsplash will probably be white. I admired the arabesque tile long before I saw Beekeeperswife's kitchen, and I always liked beadboard and was delighted to find ceramic or porcelain beadboard tile on this forum. It will most likely be something like that.
So if I churn out yet another SGTG-style kitchen, it won't be because I'm following all the other sheep. I'll be doing what I like and I won't worry if my practical Midwestern neighbors like it or drool over it or think it's strange. I plan to cook in it and eat in it, so that's my focus. If I want to show my creativity or artistry, I'll make a quilt. I don't need to do that with my backsplash.

That said, one of the reasons I spend so much time on this forum is that I LOVE to see the amazing things others do with their kitchens. You're all incredible!

jgopp, your kitchen is drop-dead gorgeous. I would definitely forsake my dark countertops for your kitchen, and if I find a stone like yours in my search for the perfect leathered black granite, all bets are off!

You like cooking in a 1940's lobotomy lab. Other than that, I can't think of a good reason.

Thanks for this post, OP. I agree with all of it wholeheartedly. I am really happy with our SGTG-type kitchen.

Like people, kitchens age. The movie came out in 2003 so the kitchen set design let's figure was done in 2001-02. It quickly became a classic and an internet sensation.

Architectural Digest did a piece on it and suddenly it was a "design" classic. It was never an actual kitchen -- just a set. The counters weren't soapstone -- they just looked like soapstone.

But it created a black-and-white kitchen American style for the first decade of this century.

If that's the look you want -- no matter where you happen to live -- then using that kitchen as the base will give it to you. There have been a zillion variations.

So what? There are visual prototypes for everything today. And if you're here looking at kitchens all the time, trust me, you know way more than many so-called experts, some of whom are even on TV. If that's some kind of problem, I'm glad to have it.

jscout -- you're either funny (my initial reaction) or rude.

I l-o-v-e the Peacock white kitchens and have for years -- when I first saw one I knew "that's it!" Couldn't afford it, not even close, plus it would be totally ridiculous in my upper-middle class 'burb. But I got *my* version of a white cab / white marble kitchen, and what we did makes sense with our house, with our lifestyle. Our kitchen was completed nearly four years ago and I still love it. Sure, there are things I'd do differently, but I'd keep the overall white cab / white marble vibe. For sure! (I think I'd do more glass or mirror uppers, and maybe the pantry in walnut or quartersawn oak. If I'd done that, I'd like to see the island in the same wood, but I'd really like to see the island fuchsia!)

There are some white kitchens here in our village but they came with the house and are white laminate raised panel cabinets with laminate countertops. Nothing wrong with them at all, but it's a huge difference in terms of feel (plus quality). I have seen one other white shaker black island kitchen (in a dif't neighborhood), and it was from our cabinetmaker -- he'd just finished installing it in another house. Loved it, and the detailing we saw there made us know he was the guy for us.

The best reason for doing a Something's Gotta Give / Peacockian kitchen is if it makes your heart sing. It does mine!

Even though I've been planning a kitchen reno with wood stained cabinetry for many years, I see the appeal of the OTK or SGTG kitchen in that it works so well with whatever flooring and backsplash you desire. Whatever you pick is bound to look good with white cabinetry. Whereas with wood stain, I am left hoping my wood floor and cabinetry choices don't leave me with a nicely designed cigar box. Also, can I pull off existing white windows, existing white doors and white trim in a space that is now going to be open to the kitchen with wood stained trim? It seems to be a roll of the dice whereas it seems you can't go wrong with OTK.

That's my take, and I'll be trying my best to get as cohesive a look as the OTK or SGTG fabulous kitchens without the white cabinetry. Help!!!!

I've seen one IRL - my 87 y.o. MIL gave herself one one for her 79th birthday. She'd always wanted a white kitchen, has never seen the movie, and doesn't read decorating mags, blogs or sites. To me, that either indicates that the 'look' has been around a lot longer than 10 years, or just that she likes a white kitchen. IMO, it doesn't really matter whether something is trendy or not, just that one likes it in one's home if they're spending the big bucks for a kitchen remod, and that one can get the materials to bring to life one's vision. It's not a religion or politics, it's just a decorating choice... Okay, back to puttting up a definitely non-white slate backsplash in my own non-white kitchen. :-) Not taking either side in the OTK or not battle - I Iike her kitchen and my own, they're just different styles.

Jscout: I vote funny. I laughed, therefore you are funny.

Speaking as a newbie to the forum in the planning stages of a total gut/remodel, I have to say that I love to look at all the kitchens posted on here. The SGTG kitchen is gorgeous and I remember falling in love with the house when I watched the movie, esp the kitchen.
Everyone has their own style and preferences but for me, it's so wonderful to see what everyone has done in their own style. Plus, I'm stealing ideas and avoiding previously unknown hazards like a banshee, thanks you all who post pics and links on here. I won't be doing a SGTG kitchen because it wouldn't fit in my house stylistically (or,to pull it off properly, financially), but good lawd it is pretty in everyone's rendition!

rmkitchen, your kitchen makes my heart sing too.

I have remodeled two kitchen the first thing I do is start with white cabinets. I have said it so many times white in a kitchen makes the kitchen look so clean, and gives me the feeling of clean food. LOL

I knew a white kitchen would make my heart sing (in my 1875 home) and I'd never heard "Peacock" and kitchen in the same sentence, of heard of the movie SGTG. Actually didn't even know about GW kitchen forum at the time.

But like the OP said, around here I'm way out in left field. I bet I'm one of a handful of people in the state of SD that even have soapstone (I take a chunk around to show appliance salesmen, many have never even heard of it).

What breaks my heart is when someone dismisses my white kitchen, accusing me of copying the look of some movie I've never even seen!

Where the OTK does appear, it seems to appear everywhere. Wellesley MA looks like Christopher Peacock went on a drunken rampage.

What amazes me is that people see the OTK as warm. Sure, people have done warmer versions of it. But the true OTK is all white and black. It is so white. A box of ice. I think people are seeing what they want to see, rather than what is actually there, a topic we've discussed in other threads. And no, your credit card bills and half-empty Triscuit boxes do not warm it up.

I can see someone wanting a cold looking kitchen. I can see someone being inspired by the OTK and using warm wood, warm neutrals on the walls, or whatever. But I can't see someone doing an all-white sensory deprivation chamber and expecting other people to feel comfortable in it.

If the OTK = SGTG, then it is anything but "so white" -- in fact in the picture above, when I compare the "whites" of the kitchen cabinets and trim to the white background on this forum the cabinets look yellow and the curtains look beige or gold. And it isn't that the photo's been tinted because comparing the color of the cabinets to the other white objects in the photo (farm sink, pergola outside, book pages in foreground). They're warm. You might not like it, fine. And you might feel cold when you're in one, that doesn't make it a cold kitchen, though.

Even if the paint was a white-white, I would disagree that it is cold. To me cold is wall to wall white (or gray) metal cabinets. White painted wood is not something I experience as cold -- especially when paired with wood floors, and large windows that let in light and outside views. The "lobotomy lab" (a cold looking place for sure) referenced above actually has stone walls, wide plank wood floors, and fisherman sconces -- it isn't exactly the traditional materials of the OTK, is it?

On the question of whether the OTK kitchen......at least the original SGTG version...is warm or cold, I can see why some describe it as warm. Yes, the black and white color scheme is cold, but I think what people respond to as warm ISN'T, the color scheme (although the warm is (at least in most pictures on my screen) warm white, with yellowish undertones, rather than blue ones. I strongly suspect that the reason folks see the kitchen overall as a warm place comes from the way the kitchen conveys comfort, ease and a strong sense of home...a place with history, personality and family connections.

These are conveyed in the cook books, the flowers, the potted herbs and other plants, the wooden bowls of fruit and the personal knick-knacks scattered about. But they are also conveyed in the choices of inset shaker style cabinets, cabinet latches and bin pulls, the overhead pendants, the crown molding and corbels on the glass-fronted cabinets, the simple curtains and more. They all "say" I've been here forever, in a house that has been lived in and loved...even though we know they haven't.

The yellow warm color of the white porcelain is a tip off. The kitchen is actually quite stark. It's the professional lighting trickery that adds yellow tones that are not there IRL.

Marcolo, I love the comment about Christopher Peacock on a drunken rampage. I have a lot of friends who live in that area and I can definitely see that!

I don't find the CP kitchens cold. Here's the first one I came up with in a google search, and it's CP's own kitchen. I don't feel a bit deprived of my senses when I look at it.

{{gwi:1947383}}

Kris_ma, that's a great lobotomy lab. I was quite sure a lobotomy lab didn't have inset cabinets painted the perfect shade of BM dove white.

The floor, warm dark grey paint and orange (which IIRC he carried over to larger curtains somewhere else) are warm elements. But those aren't in the OTK. SGTG has a very dark floor that echoes the black countertops.

I find the OTK as shown on the set of SGTG warm with tone on tone looks. The very white sink shows how creamy the cabinets are. The black counters give great contrast. The wood floors add warmth. I love tone on tone neutral with a pop of color with flowers. IO love how the curtains look so nice and peaceful. I love the recessed doors on the inset shaker cabinets. I just love the peaceful feeling I get when I look at the kitchen and I have been wanting that kitchen for me but with my own sense of style and touch with satin nickel handles and knobs as well as Giallo Ornamental or New Venetian Gold granite counters. I also love Cherry cabinets and Maple stained cherry so much but I am not sure if I could live with a dark kitchen since my kitchen is small with no much light and no window over the sink.

Love the SGG kitchen, but I prefer off-white/cream tones, rather than true white. And if my budget would allow soapstone, I would't hesitate.

LOL, jscout, your zinger reminded me of a comment I received on a stone forum (before I found GW), when I was looking for kitchens with black marble. Someone said, "Why would you use black marble in a kitchen, unless you were doing alien autopsies?"

I used the black marble.

And to coordinate, I threw in a few salvaged lab-table tops, too. They were from an old high school, so I doubt that any lobotomies were performed on them. However, here's a scrap piece that I didn't have the moxie to include in my counters:

kris-ma, I may use your pic as inspiration for my next kitchen. :)

Actually the SGTG kitchen floors are almost black.

It was also set-designed to flow with the rest of the set, which had lots of molding, posing as an old shingle style coastal house. Same cannot be said of some of the post-1930 houses where it has since been plopped.

I meant that to be an example of a OTK, not a SGTG kitchen. It's got the white inset cabinets, the veined non-colored countertops, the white subway tile, and the neutral wall color. Everything but the kitchen sink, and since the Great Schism, some reformed sects have been using Silgranit.

It's ok marcolo- you can just admit that you don't get it. We won't make fun of you....

Maybe the OTK or SGTG kitchen is like a Rorschach test. One sees based on where they are coming from. I see it as unassuming and warm/homey and others can't see the beauty of it. If there wasn't a OTK or SGTG kitchen, then everyone would do the same as yours.

Here is a link about color. I don't know when it was writen but there are older citations in the text like 1980. There is a comment about white in the kitchen and a comment about socioeconomic classes. Take a look if your interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: Frank Vodvarka, Aspects of Color

Thank you enduring for the article.

My first love has always been cherry wood and that is why I did Brazilian Cherry floors in my two room home office and family room since I wanted a reddish floor. I lived with light beige carpets for 12 years in my first home where I am living now and before that with off-white floors and white walls for 3 years in the prior apartment. The prior apartment before that had very dark old needing refinishing hardwood floors.

I wanted anything but beige carpets and I wanted color so I added Brazilian Cherry Floors.

Before changing the carpets downstairs, I lived all my life since a child with golden oak bedroom furniture and when I moved out, I bought a golden oak bedroom set. I had builder grade oak furniture, cheap oak coffee tables and end tables I bought. I then gave away my furniture and sofa bed for free to the couple that lived under my two bedroom apartment that had two children in a one bedroom apartment and no bed or sofa for them to sit or sleep on. They were so appreciative. I bought office furniture and saved for my home. Finally in 2007 when my oak platform bed fell apart and I was sleeping on the floor without those big drawers for my clothes, I bought off-white creamy furniture (Maple with a washed out finish) since I wanted a light room after living in the dark for so long.

Then after living with the light furniture for 2 years, I bought the Brazilian Cherry Floors. I love my floors but they do darken my rooms due to being in an interior townhouse. Now I want either a very light happy kitchen or a warm cherry kitchen with added overhead lighting. I am tired of the builder grade oak cabinets despite liking the shaker look of the doors. I do not want my counters too dark since I want to keep the room light. I admire dark and light counters in the kitchen of others.

So every time I see a white or cherry kitchen on this site, If all in love. My two neighbors gutted their kitchens and did cherry cabinets and I was in love. My other neighbor added Santa Cecilia Granite to her white kitchen and I was in love. I think I could love almost any cabinet that is different than what I am so bored with that has no real organization in the cabinets with many blind cabinet areas that are difficult to reach or know what is being stored. I had oak cabinet kitchens my whole life and now I am ready for anything but what I have.

I had no idea that the white kitchens I have been admiring were taking ideas off of the SGTG kitchen and other white kitchens. I think many people added their own touches and many changes out the hardware and also went with the CP kitchen look with the lighter counters and lighter hardware. I just love seeing the kitchen transformations.

Then their are the cherry kitchens and the maple kitchens that are so warm and beautiful. Then there is my kitchen with nice appliances and a nice warm beautiful kitchen table but the counters, floors and cabinets I dislike and I think I was looking at off-white since despite loving cherry, I do not have a lot of light in my interior townhouse kitchen. I am still open to cherry cabinets or off-white but the cost is amounting with what I want.

Well, if you're insecure about yourself and your design choices and feel defensive, then you'll definitely consider me rude. But I vote funny, so take me with a pound of sand, pun intended.

There's just something about white kitchens that always felt antiseptic to me, like some institution somewhere. I grew up in a white kitchen, albeit 1950's painted metal cabinets. I've also seen some of those white, subway-tiled, marble-countered servants kitchens in those Industrial Revolution Newport mansions. But somehow neither sounded as funny as calling them lobotomy labs. I grew up with black and white TV, and all those mad scientist labs always appeared to have white cabinets. So forgive me if I have zero bit of nostalgia for white kitchens.

Throw in the Restoration Hardware craze over the last ten years and what's old is, well, old again. No thanks. I'm not saying the topic kitchen is ugly, because in the right house it makes a great statement. But I am saying that those kitchens are way overrated.

Mama_Goose I like your photo of you lab slab, the SECOND time I looked at it I thought it said GONER, but then said "no, I was right the first time".

I agree that these white kitchens seem pretty chilly to me, lovely as some of them are in photos. The SGTG kitchen is the ultimate WASP kitchen. It's Calvinist, it's restrained, striving for humility, reflective, asceptic.

In short, it's verklemmt.

It's also a beach kitchen, full stop. Just try to keep that place warm in the winter, with your heating dollars trickling out all those single-plated transoms. As such, a beach kitchen, it's meant to be cooling. White, blue, shiny stainless or nickel. Just what you want when you come in after a day in the hot sun. Ahhh.

But definitely not what I need when it's -10F out and howling with snow. Brrr.

Look at page 3 of the article I linked about 5 post up. Look at the middle paragraph about black & white kitchens.

Enduring, that is interesting. I will comment more later on but my laundry is beeping. I am now confused again if I want Cherry or off-white for my kitchen but I do know I want more lighting in my kitchen than I have now and I wonder if I should hire an electrician first.

Enduring, what that paragraph shows, no matter what the author thought his point about color was, is that at the time of the survey, colored appliances were still being sold to the masses, but the designer employing upper crust had already moved on to black and white. This wasn't the "classic" black and white of the OTK, but mostly a shiny lacquer Euro one, or one taking some cues from that. At the same time, black was becoming the hot color for interiors, and black furniture was happening all over in a way it really hadn't ever done before. This look totally exploded in the '80's. When Z Gallery opened they sold the posters and black furniture, thereby conveying out of the NY scene and into the suburban malls.

BTW, all, be careful of becoming that kind of adherent that Marcolo warned us about. I like white kitchens. Always have. Almost had a white kitchen myself. Where I live--completely opposite of Circuspeanut's locale, a white, cool kitchen is a good thing. I agree with JScout about the old white St. Charles--it was a rather sterile, gray white that had an institutional look about it (though, not having grown up with it, I kind of love it too...). I also love wood. And I also love color. This isn't about any of your white kitchens in specific. It's about this attitude that one little peep against the One True Kitchen is an affront--that pushes it over into silliness.

Kris_ma had some good reasons for using SGTG as an inspiration, as have some of the rest. Why not? There are some nice elements. The set designers were aiming for lovely home. It's okay if you don't see the lacks that were designed in for story telling, and if you project the life you want to lead onto the picture, if doing so gets you where you want to go.

I think what we have here, however, are several groups with competing agendas saying is-not/is-too. I agree with Marcolo that overzealous "help" has been given by the devotees of the OTK to people who are doing white, but not inspired by SGTG or Peacock, and who aren't trying to match that template. I agree with the SGTG/CP inspirees that the backlash has been a bit over the top, where it didn't have to be either disdainful nor insulting to their own well loved rooms. Having both sides running pitched battles isn't getting us anywhere, though.

The pitched battles are entertaining, though. Just look at Marcolo's Ten Commandments Post in the OTK thread (scroll down a lot).

And lots of people learned new words.

And monkeys flew out of Christopher Peacock's butt.

So all in all, a good day.

Here is a link that might be useful: OTK Ten Commandments

jscout -- people are defensive about it because it never feels good when someone bashes something you love. it's a normal reaction.... I don't think it means anyone is "insecure" in any way. I don't think your comment was nice since the OP obviously likes white kitchens.

RE: a white kitchen being sterile or similar adjectives.... to me, that's a good thing. I like clean and to feel like my surroundings are clean. I am not a fan of kitchens with lots of clutter or items out..... it's all just places for dust to accumulate and makes it more difficult to clean. To someone with allergies, that cleanliness is a comforting feeling. Anyway, my point is that everyone is different. What might be "cold" to one person is not "cold" to another. What might be "comforting" for one might not be for another... etc. I think it's wrong to suggest otherwise.

Anyway, obviously I have a white/black kitchen. It's what I've liked for years. I never saw STGTG and couldn't tell you what influenced my choice.... I don't care if it was something mainstream. Simply, the look is what I like, and it makes me happy! I feel warm and comfortable in the space. If anyone who comes over doesn't, they can leave! :)

plllog writes: At the same time, black was becoming the hot color for interiors, and black furniture was happening all over in a way it really hadn't ever done before. This look totally exploded in the '80's. When Z Gallery opened they sold the posters and black furniture, thereby conveying out of the NY scene and into the suburban malls.

Too true. I was a grad student and living in Brookline, Mass and rented a tiny bedroom and a second huge room in a house. I outfitted it with a black sofa, black filing cabinets, black table, black chairs, black floor lamps, black bookcases, black folding screens .... black everything (all cheap stuff, pressboard, etc).

When I moved to the west coast and advertised the furniture for sale, a young couple came to look at the sofa and when they saw the room, looked at each other, walked out of the room to converse, and came back and asked: "how much you want for everything?" It was so IN.

I've always loved a black and white kitchen especially with black and white checkered floors. Couldn't afford white cabinets in our first house, so got builders grade white washed oak which just about everyone here hates. Got the same ugly cabinets in our current house and now that we're talking a kitchen remodel I will finally get my white cabinets. I don't think the SGTG kitchen look is very popular in my area. Everyone here has dark cabinets and granite with lots of movement. You gotta go with what ya love.

I had actually been planning cherry and DH talked me into white. It didn't really matter to me, I saw his point that it would be brighter (and it is). Mine wasn't planned on here (found this site too late), nor had I seen SGG, so no shaker-inset-soapstone-bigsink-binpulls.

But AFTER finding this site and all the look-alike kitchens (made me feel funny I wasn't using the *right* accessories), I began noticing those same kitchens in every TV commercial. DH watches a lot of TV, but I don't.

It's amazing though, car insurance? Sitting at an SGTG kitchen counter! All sorts of non-kitchen commercials take place in them. You can see several just watching the news.

There's nothing wrong with it. Every decade has it's trends. It will pass. Then later be rediscovered. Don't know if people should obsess over it.

I also think in the movie they were playing against the BC kitchen. All its warmth and coziness vs the perfection and loneliness of SGTG.

... interesting point about the Big Chill kitchen. On it's own the SGTG kitchen seems (to me) full of charm and warmth, but compared to the BC kitchen it does seem a bit sterile... funny that they're both white inset cabinets. Can the wood countertops and the beige paint make that big of a difference, or is it the magnets on the fridge, and junk on the countertops that gives the pull up a chair and sit a while vibe? Might be that there's actually people in it making a meal together, too. I find it a bit messy for my tastes (even in the "after clean up" shot) -- I'd be clearing the stuff off the countertops if it were my place. And I far prefer the big windows int he SGTG kitchen....

Isn't the reason for using white cabinets simply that they photograph better?

Like a white background for the actors to be shot against?

Like the white dog syndrome?

Kris, I definitely think it is the mess of daily life that is the difference. But yes, ALL of this is staging to evoke a feeling and help tell a story visually.

Especially the plastic dish drainer. Or look how the top shelf left of the sink is not lined up with the mullions on the door on the BC kitchen. BC is supposed to look lived in and a bit messy. Story of the movie was about how messy life is.

Story of SGTG was about how things can appear to be one way, and actually make you feel the opposite way .

I think both kitchens are cool not warm at all. The BC kitchen is not meant to evoke warmth just look at the title of the film....
Lolauren, why is it ok on this forum to say one does not care for oak or formica that resembles stone and a whole list of other items, that are also thought of as classics to many people, but it is "mean" when someone voices their dislike of white kitchens. Oak, alone,has been slurred in this thread more than a few times and no oak owns are chirpping in about how rude those comments are.
The white kitchen appeal, or in many cases, the lack there of, is only a matter of taste not fact. Some will love it but others will not. And To not like it is in no way being in the wrong any more than not liking, say, oak or formica.

If you've always been drawn to white cabinets, that's a good enough reason for me. I'm not *only* drawn to white cabinets, but I'm quite sure it had nothing to do with the movie.

The first white kitchen I picked out was when our tenant accidentally set our kitchen on fire, in 1998. We rebuilt and I chose white thermafoil cabinets and black speckly laminate counters.

About that time, I had started tearing pics out of magazines and catalogs, and the first kitchen I tore out was from a Pierre Deux catalog -- white cabinets, tumbled stone backsplash, and painted stools with rush seats. I still use the French red/yellow/blue in the our cold sterile ;-) kitchen, and painted stools and rush seats, and white cabs but not the stone backsplash. I figure if I liked it back then, I'd like it for a while.

And I still haven't seen SGTG ... I recorded it on our DVR, though. One day..

I do not have but I do think white inset cabs are the "little black dress" of kitchens. Classic & timeless. They have always been in style and in MHO always will be in period homes.

roarah, you misunderstood what I was saying. There is certainly nothing wrong with disliking something or having a personal preference. However, if someone starts a thread saying they love something, I don't see a point in responding with something snarky about how that loved thing is bad. There is nothing nice about responding that way. We are all entitled to our opinion, but there is no reason we have to give it at all times.

If this was a thread started by a lover of oak, I also wouldn't comment on anything negative about oak. I think that would similarly be insensitive to the OP and anyone else who enjoys it. Please don't think I am suggesting similar behavior or comments are appropriate on other decor topics. I never said that.

For the record, most people on GW are sweet enough to interact nicely and respectfully...... I've always appreciated that about this board.

I like the OTK, but it would look silly in my house. The only issue I have with the OTK is that so many people try to shoehorn it into the wrong context.