I think glazing usually only shows in texture (where it gathers in crevices of cabinet door details), so I'm not sure it would highlight the grain on a plain door. I haven't read much encouragement here for sanding then staining cabinets, as it is much more difficult than painting.

I think beadboard and stainless could be a great combination, but am having trouble envisioning it with brown beadboard. That's probably just me, because when you first mentioned those 2 materials together, I imagined the beadboard in white or cream...More of a classic look.

I would definitely consider doing something new with your countertops...Tiling over, or replacing, even if it's with the preformed laminate tops from Home Depot. It would be a more updated and clean look, and you could have the dark counters you'd prefer. We have the preformed laminate tops from Home Depot in our temporary quarters while we build, and I have no complaint about them at all. They're inexpensive and go in pretty fast for anyone with basic carpentry skills...Just careful measuring and cutting. You can buy already-mitered pieces for the corners, and they're routed underneath for bolting them together. They have a low backsplash formed on, but I don't think it'd keep you from using the beadboard above it.

Stainless is rustic and old timey as you want it to be. In a rustic rooster-inspired kitchen, it'll take on the feel of old tin or zinc--think of the old dry sinks and Hoosier cabinets. Tin ceiling tiles. That sort of thing (and you could use ceiling tiles instead of the stainless behind the range if you really want to go totally DIY).

Now, brown beadboard...when I picture painted woodwork I think of some awful shade of brown my last house had, but I'll assume you have a better feel for color than those people. It scares me, but I'll trust you. :)

Do you have pictures of your cabinets? Stripping and staining is an excruciating project, but people here have come up with some excellent alternatives. On the other hand, as your doors ARE totally flat, it'll be less nasty than most refinishing jobs.

It really sounds like you could, and should!, have a lot of fun with this project--good fun stuff without money--and be very pleased with how it turns out. Fixing up an old kitchen on a budget is liberating--no limitation to standard off-the-shelf choices or danger of having to live with hideously expensive mistakes.

1. Also like the idea of beadboard and stainless together. Like Fori said, if stsinless sheet ended up looking too modern to you, you might look to a more weathered version/different texture vaguely suggestive of old working materials. Our friends used to have an old house in California's Gold Country with the whole wall behind the wood stove covered with flattened-out and carefully fitted tin cans. It was tidily and well done originally, and after they cleaned it of wht sweemed like the better part of a century's crud, it looked wonderful--not kitschy or junky at all, just a survivor from a very different era. I mention it because your description of your rooster made me think of the metal of those cans.

2. A nice rich brown could look great on the beadboard backsplash. This might be the place for some glaze. Brown paints sometimes end up looking flat and lacking, but a top glaze would fix that.

Those cabinets sound intereseting. It's likely that what you dislike most about their finish could be wiped off with some solvent on a rag--no sanding!--then replaced with a new coat of poly, Waterlox, or whatever.

You know, if you want to DIY those cabinets into new ones :) You could use a very thin bead board skin (I don't know what it's called but I've seen it) and put a piece in the middle of your flat cabinet doors. Trim it with a very small trim piece in wood as well, (epoxy glue them on, with mitered corners...I'd use a little decorative one but a quarter round or something thin and flat would work too). Basically you're trying to frame the beadboard middle. THEN paint! And paint them the rich brown you want to make that rooster sing :)

I'll post a picture of my dining room to share a "brown" color with you. This color is a rich and deep brown that warms up a room. I've used it throughout my home on all wood, doors, window trim, and baseboards. I absolutely love this brown. I had done my original kitchen cabinets in it and they were lovely, but I don't have a picture of that. The secret to doing it though is found by clicking on my name in this post and looking at "My clippings". I've pasted the formula for this paint because I've been asked for it several times. And the best part of all of this....no sanding at all!

I'd then consider doing your backsplash in either white beadboard with a brown glaze (glaze will not bring out your wood grain by the way) or going with tin ceiling tiles throughout the kitchen backsplash (which I'm going to do at my mothers 100 year old home). THey sell a reproduction tile at Home Despot that is quite in expensive and paints up lovely, but also comes in a zinc tone and gold tone.

Use the tiles (color) as your inspiration for the cabinet hardware. I really think you'll be suprised how different your kitchen is when you do this. The white countertop might even work for you after all of this!

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We painted the cabinets in my soon to be old kitchen and it was a ton of work,~but it really looked great when we were finally done.We also did the HomeDepot premade laminate tops which were quite easy for a DYI, the only tricky part is that sometimes the sheetrock behind the old countertop and backsplash gets a bit mangled, but if you do the beadboard you'll have that base covered. I love the idea of framing a little beadboard square on the cabinet fronts and I also don't think you need to worry about combining beadbaord and stainless~both are classics...have fun with your project~Jeannie

Oh you guys are just great! Thanks for all the great ideas and input!

As for the brown beadboard, yes, I think you are right. I recently spent days and days striping my brown paneled foyer in neutral stripes. And I think the beadboard grooves might get lost in shadows. Now Im leaning toward ivory beadboard and maybe a dark, rich color on the counter tops. IÂm not a very bold person though, canÂt handle a lot of contrast. Any suggestions on counter top color? Cabinet color? I have red kitchen canisters, and have my eye on a decorative plate that has sort a kiwi green and red in it (maybe light green beadboard?)
IÂm glad to hear that beadboard and stainless can go together, I feel good about that now. I Âm glad so many of you responded to that point.

As for the cabinets, I too was thinking of a way to get the beadboard look on the cabinets, but didnÂt know there was such a product as Igloochic suggested. Is it a veneer do you think? IÂm very sold on that idea. I think it will be tricky, seems like a very precise project, but IÂm willing to give it a try. I will also give my cabinets a good scouring to see if that helps. I bought some heavy duty wood cleaner at Menards tonight. As to their orange color, the previous owners seemed to like orangey stains. All of the stain in the house has an orange cast, and I donÂt think all of it can be attributed to dirt.

As far as glazing the cabinets, maybe glaze is the wrong word. I have a wood counter top in my greenhouse. I mixed water 4 to 1 with light green paint and sort of white washed the wood. The wood now has a green tint, and the grain shows through. I though maybe that would add a hint of color to the cabinets without hiding the grain, but not sure if it would work. I also love the look of ivory cabinets (with grooves and crevices) that have been antiqued.

So, with ivory beadboard, what color counter tops and cabinets? And how do I transition on and off the beadboard? Currently the peach tile surrounds the window above the sink. Do I put beadboard around the window? Or maybe some sort of tile, especially above the sink because of water?

Thanks again, IÂve just loving this! Amy

Amy, if you have a digital camera, or can borrow one and take a couple of photos to link, that would be most helpful. We can redecorate your entire kitchen for you for only $34.95.
(well, maybe not really, but we would love to try!!)

Red

I have some digital photos, but don't know how to upload them. Can anyone give me help on this?

Here are the pictures of our current kitchen (definitely a "before" kitchen photo) in our 1880's house. Hopefully this works. Thanks hubby, for figuring this out!

http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/11/rooster_4.html

http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/11/cabinets_1.html

http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/11/whole_kitchen.html

I'd vote for dressing up your doors by making picture frames with half-round molding on them (I'd probably skip the beadboard insert since that's more work and this is a temporary get-you-through-a-few-years fix). Then paint your cabinets either an off-white or buttercream color, potentially with the whitewash-style finish you're talking about. That would give you the country/rustic feel you're looking for.

I agree with the laminate countertops, and I like the idea of metallic backsplash with tin ceiling tiles. Countertops come in a gazillion colors/styles, so you could pick one to coordinate with the backsplash once you pick it. And if you've got light cabinets you can have darker countertops without making the room feel like a cave.

Oh My Gosh, seedsilly. You have the same cabinets that I do and I am in the process of stripping/cleaning them now.
It will be of great interest to me to see what you finally decide on doing and I hope you post pics when you are finished. Personally, my problem is deciding whether to paint or just restain. That is beautiful birch under there which I discovered in the stripping process.

Do you think removing the wooden cornice over the sink and
putting in an updated light fixture would help, as well as some of the other suggestions.

We plan to change the window, redo cabinets, laminate countertops (either blackstar granite or granite), new floor and gradually add new appliances.

PCweary, that's pretty funny that we have the same cabinets. Any closer to your decision to paint or stain? What color is your backsplash/walls/countertops?

I like the idea of removing the cornice and updating the light fixture. What type of lights do people put in those kinds of spaces?

I have a 4x4 piece of stainless I plan to use as the backsplash, I'm pretty certain about that now.

I new surprise today. While trying to remove a built in plant stand (waist high, 5 feet long, 1 foot wide) from between the dining and living room, we found a bunch of electircal wires build right into it. Hubby is not interested in trying to move them, so now I have to plan some sort of breakfast nook to cover the wiring (which is what my hubby wanted in that space anyway, guess he wins). I found church pew on Craig's list (if it's not yet claimed) that would make a neat corner seating area. Oh, the weekends are too short.

Any more ideas on beadboard color? Wall color? Counter color? Thanks, Amy

This article really helped me. It's about designing a stylish, timeless classic kitchen. I hope it helps you too.

Thanks Volleyhead, that was very helpful. Some of the article confirms what I suspected, other parts I think will save me from some mistakes I hadn't thought of. Thanks, Amy

Pcweary, how is the cabinet stripping on "our" cabinets going? Ive done minimal stripping in my day. Any advice based on what products/methods worked and didnt work for you?

Im leaning against the trim and the beadboard veneer afterall. I read the article volleyhead posted, and I think Ill just keep it simple. Im leaning against painting due to the lack of details in the cabinets. I definitely decided against painting them white, as I dont like to clean cabinets. I dont like to clean anything, actually. Having decided against white is another knock against the beadboard and trim idea, because I think that would have looked so nice in white but not many other colors. I read a post by rhome410 on Satin Waterlox on wood, and rhome410 was kind enough to send me pictures of wood that she has done with this product, and it looked good enough to eat! Im very excited, I think I will give that a try on a door and see how it goes. I dont, however, want to strip the face and sides of the cabinets, wonder if I could paint those? Or maybe leave the faces as is and strip the sides. Ill have to experiment and see what color I come up with on the doors first I guess. So, for the moment, that is the current plan. Knowing me Ill be on an entirely different track tomorrow. Amy

Hello everyone, couple more questions. I'm going with the stainless behind the stove and beadboard around the U of my kitchen, probably in a cream color. I read one suggestion on this forum of using miniature coving, I believe she called it, to finish the junction between the beadboard and the counter top. I might do that also, but wondering if anyone knows of other options? I know they make tiles that curve and serve that function in bathrooms, I think, but don't know what they are called. So, any other ideas on finishing the beadboard? Any other misc. suggestions? Thanks, Amy

fwiw, thats' pretty much what my kitchen looked like when I bought my house in 94 - only not so pretty. lol. We had the added benefit of having brown 1970's paneling on all the walls used as a sort of wainscoting. What we did was painted the cabinets white and replaced the counters with HD laminate butcher block style (it was the 90's and it was in), What we did with the paneling was paint it dark green (stay with me) and wallpapered above with an apple motif paper. So white cabs, green bottom walls, apple paper. I even stenciled apple trees on various parts of the cabinets. It was very pretty and it cost us very little money - wallpaper was the most expensive. Now, yes, it is now very dated. But the dark paneling did work.
here's a picture so you can see. Yes it is a bit outdated now, but I wanted to show you that the dark color can work.
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I love that you kept in your curly window cornice (valance?), Buffettgirl. I'm gonna have one put in, most likely. :) I think that's one of the GOOD things from that era's kitchens. But Seedsilly's aren't as cute, and she doesn't have them over the stove. No need to save them if she wants them gone, but they'd melt away if painted.

See, Seed, I can't tell you what to do with that kitchen. It has too many features I like, and yet I know to pull together the kitchen you need, you're going to have to demo some of the things I like. The good and bad are integrated so thoroughly. hehehe....

yeah, I am sort of going to miss them actually - the valances that is (nothing else) On the wall to the left of that picture is where our stove/fridge is right now and originally there were no cabinets there. DH built some above both, and added in a curly valance piece to match. :)

Hi seed, I have linked a decoupage cabinet door idea site, of course you wouldn't need to go so bold or put it on all the doors. However, it is cheap and easy and adds a lot of personality. Ikea has some nice low cost butcher block counter tops to DIY as well.