Your cabinets and floor choices sound spot on! I would love to see a pic of the flooring you are getting, actually (love wide, hand scraped planks).

Below I linked a blog post I did with style boards for a Tuscan kitchen. Actually, the boards include creamy perimeter cabs and a dark wood island...plus...hand scraped floors!

Also, check out the FinishedKitchensBlog...I think there are some grape/Italian styled kitchens on there. Many people choose to really bring in something decorative/thematic with accent backsplash tile.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Here is a link that might be useful: style board: tuscan style kitchen

Thanks so much sabjimata. The style board is going to be very helpful. I will post some pics tonight of my floor. I already have some of it installed in my bedroom.

Take a look at "Under the Tuscan Sun" a couple times for some inspiration. Then (she said as she hijacked the thread) look at these....

Rustic beams, wood or stone walls that are maybe whitewashed, or maybe natural. casement windows, wood or terra cotta floors for the architecture. The size should be small and compact, with everything you need in reach. Maybe an interesting antique like a Chambers or a real Italian range like a Molteni type look.

For the cabinets, natural rustic wood like a hickory or rustic cherry, or potentially 'bult in' out of the same stucco as the walls with nothing but open shelving below in unfinished wood. Open opper shelving, maybe in stainless or plain painted white or even more unfinished wood. Maybe a tile topped table with a marble baking area. Or entirely tile topped counters. Italian kitchens generally don't have granite, and if they have marble, it' usually more of a pastry board section rather than the whole counters. There is no 'island' per say, just an eat in table that doubles as another work surface. A hanging pot rack to get free up the cupboards for other storage. In the pic linked below, you'll notice there is no 'traditonal' cabinetry at all. It's all unfitted pieces.

Or, there are plenty of Italian kitchens with uber modern design, even in their farmhouse. Slab front cabinets in a pretty wood, again with open shelving and the open shelves stocked like you'd see some pantries stocked with everything on display.

Simple, rustic, and small, is what an Italian Farmhouse look encompasses.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Hers's another kitchen direct from Italy.

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

Notice that in this one, there really aren't any lower "cabinets". Just open shelving covered with fabric curtains. That fireplace wall is yummy!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here's one that's more in the line of the American tradition, with painted cabinets actually installed on the wall. Notice how small it is, and how everything is there one one wall. The eat in table. The beams. The simple design that lets the architecture be the dominant statement.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks live_wire_oak. I may have to consider the tile countertops. I'm having problems viewing the last link you sent....

Live Wire--Great kitchens! All the "real" Italian kitchens I see on Google Images are super modern.

Flor--Are those pulls? Amazingly intricate!

You can get better pics of Italian country kitchens if you search on "Tuscan Kitchen."

I also use the rental/for sale sites to get ideas from around the world. There are many and I've attached a link to one. Open the photos tab under the listing and you will usually find kitchen photos in the gallery.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rent a Villa

Ahh, now I get it, rental kitchens, I knew those drip coffee makers were not part of a proper Italian kitchen ;)

I wonder if suburban French and Italian families are saying, "What I'd really like to do in this remodel is an American farm kitchen! Hey, Honey, how do you feel about American farm-style?" LOL

Here is one of my favorite kitchens from the Kitchen forums:

Here is a link that might be useful: Il Poggio Secco - kitchen

I wonder if suburban French and Italian families are saying, "What I'd really like to do in this remodel is an American farm kitchen! Hey, Honey, how do you feel about American farm-style?" LOL

Actually, a lot of Europeans do do their kitchens in American style, at least "New England" style. There's nothing New Englandy about this. It generally looks like a midwestern farmhouse had a drunken night with a Cape Cod taffy shop and they threw up on a Pottery Barn.

The absolutely classic piece of Italian kitchen design is an armoire. It's where all the pasta and pepe nero goes, in lieu of roll out pantries and upper cabs. Good news is, you can get beautiful second hand armoires extremely cheap on craigslist, now that no one uses them for TVs anymore. Save yourself the price of a few cabinets, and do an armoire instead. You can retrofit with any Rev-A-Shelf pullout your heart desires.

Also, a word of caution: As with any decorating theme, less is usually more, and more is way too much. Focus on texture, color, materials, and hold off on the chianti bottle candlesticks a bit lest your neighbors think you're opening an Olive Garden.

The "real Italian farmhouse" above makes me think about Uncle Thorvald's kitchen. More minimal and functional than you'd expect.

I keep trying to remember a food movie that shows an Italian kitchen in the countryside...called "The Story of Boys and Girls" (link below). It was set in abt the 1930s mebbe 40s, had a boy and girl who were rural + urban mix who were getting married. The rural farmhouse family cooked and cooked and cooked for the engagement party within an absolutely spare rural kitchen. Whitewashed. I have no idea what it's like in the Italian countryside today.

[hijack begins here] Anyway, Sabjimata, those are indeed pulls. Richelieu pulls, which are among the items I can't forget from my former (abandoned) designs in earlier evolutions of my formerly Gustavian kitchen design. Now that I think about it, maybe I should go back to this pull in my dream plans. Although I've abandoned the modern bimetal expensive pulls (see the thread about Hunter's Wife's Revenge), now that the Hunter is back he's muttering about helping out a guy who has deer eating up his garden and maybe we should just get a few more DNR permits for DH so he can help out this poor guy and .... on and on....I'm so bummed that I can consider $20 per pull right now because I'm eating venison and upland birds for the duration. And besides the "faux iron" pulls I'm drawn to which are in sorta pewter with matching "faux iron" knobs in the same elaborate and funky historical mode as the mega-sized item above. Gotta think on this. The new range is already a done-deal. [self-absorbed "I'm a jerk" mode off]

I am still not sure what the original poster wants from her Italian farmhouse kitchen. Faux Italian farmhouse is fine with me--no, change that, it's GREAT with me, as long as it pleases her. There are a lot of Italians who know no more than I (Am. Swede) know about the subject of the Italian countryside but we sure know a thing or two about olives, wine, noodles, wine, garlic, wine. Go have fun, nollie_gardener. You have a world of choices and adventurous nutty thinking ahead of you and it should be a great trip. Don't forget to write.

Here is a link that might be useful: Boys and Girls movie should anyone need to order it

Here's a picture of some of my flooring already installed:
{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}
Some cabinets I have been looking at although they may not be Tuscan or Italian Farmhouse....
{{!gwi}}I have also been admiring this island
{{!gwi}}
I saw this island online today:
{{!gwi}}

I realize that what I end up with will not be a true Italian Farmhouse kitchen. I just want as much of that feeling as possible and for my Italian decorating accessories to look at home.

Would you believe I have a little oil decanter and bowl set that I bought at a little kitchen/hardware store in Cortona, Italy (where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed)! I just have to display that somewhere. I think after I do some painting tonight I will have to drink a glass of wine and watch that movie one more time....

Thanks everyone!

Nollie- Beautiful floors and your cabinets and island choices are wonderful...and I LOVE that tea kettle :)

I'm doing a french country kitchen. I think your italian country kitchen is going to be amazing and you've chosen such great accents, with the wine, olive oil, bread, tomatoes, grapevines, etc.

My kitchen is more the blue and yellow, with sunflowers, lavender, maybe a wrought iron pot rack, herbs, and a banquette with table and chairs.

While it's easy to get caught up in the old style kitchens, it's nice to have modern conveniences with the charm brought in with the accent pieces. I'm so jealous that you've been to the same area, where they filmed Under the Tuscan Sun...I love that movie! :)

Here's a pretty kitchen, I found while looking at old world/country kitchens, on the Internet.

{{!gwi}}

Here's another picture from online of the kitchen above with the black island. I know it's not Italian Farmhouse, but what do you think of the kitchen? Isn't it just awesome! This picture wasn't in the Kitchen and Bath Ideas magazine. It's my favorite pic.
{{!gwi}}

Wow! That is a beautiful kitchen! :)

I think it looks like old world/country...the chairs at the ends of the dining table are perfect...they bring in so much character.

If you took out the foo dog (?) and the orchids and put in some tuscan accents, it would be a very italian country kitchen. The cabinets and island, the floor and the table and chairs are all wonderful choices.

Is this what you plan to do in your kitchen?

Pretty much so. I've given my cabinet builder all the pictures from the magazine article where I saw this and he has the posts and is very good at the distressed finishes, etc. My hood will probably be more like the one in the picture you posted, but it won't go all the way to the counter. I don't know about the wood countertop on the island. My DH is very against that... hmmm We'll have to see. I'm also reluctant to get black countertops, but if they are leathered or riverwashed I think they would be okay. My table and chairs don't look like these, but maybe later.... I also have 8 foot ceilings so my cabinets will all go to the ceiling.

Do you like soapstone? That seems to be very popular, right now. It's very pretty, with the cream or white cabinets.

While I like the wood countertop on the island, if DH is against it, what about a nice granite? Or maybe marble? If you had a solid countertop on the perimeter cabinets, a nice stone with pattern, would be lovely on the black island.

Table and chairs are easy to replace later, depending on what you find. I want to have a banquette, with an oval pedestal table that will expand to seat 8-10 people. With the banquette on one side, I can have two chairs opposite, and a chair on each end, for every day.

When I put in the leaves, I want to put all three or four chairs opposite the banquette, with something like those wing back chairs, on either end. The rest of the time, I'm planning a little seating area by the woodstove, that would be perfect for a couple of wing chairs and a small ottoman :)

What are you planning to use for lighting, above the island?