It's not working for me. When I just LOOK I want to change the color of the uppers. When I read the content of your post and your husband's preferences I see that might not be an option. I think the stark white and the dark black are too far apart in my opinion. It makes one or the other seem like an afterthought. For me there's nothing tying the two together. I wonder about grey for one or the other? See what others say.

Ne

I feel the same way as doggone. Maybe the lowers in a taupey gray color. I think shades of neutrals could work. I urge you to look at Scherrs for a source of drawer/door fronts. They can customize to both IKEA boxes and your existing uppers. Have them make side panels. THey are not expensive at all. If you have them made in paint grade maple, then you save even more by finishing them yourself. So much less work then sanding then painting IKEA. Plus, infinite choice of door styles.

I don't think I like the stark white with the black either. So you are keeping the uppers? Did I understand that correctly? I think I'd go all white or tone down the black to a soft mossy gray-green or light taupe...sort of a Martha Stewart color. Look at her cabinets...you will see this color. I think that would give you the vintage feel you are looking for and make everything flow better. Black would be too harsh. : )

This is a lousy pic (the cabs are more the colour of the subways in real life and you can't really see the detail of the lowers), but it gives you an idea. Our home was built in 1912, so different period but does have kind of a vintagey feel.

I t hink your idea of barn red lower cabinets would be really attractive, especially with a more subdued white on the uppers (maybe not cream, but something with a gray or greige undertone to it).

I think black and white would be a little too stark & you'd probably be happier with all white (a warm white) for uppers & lowers with a lot of warmth in the floor, countertops, and backsplash. Can you have the lower doors sprayed offsite by a pro? You might get a stronger finish on the lower doors that way & yet you wouldn't be exposed to a lot of fumes (nor would the painter, they have really good protective equipment).

Go check out theresse's thread on her SS countertop. She has really done the two tone thing right in an older home. Sometimes I wish I had done the greige thing or dark brown, but I'm not sure it would have worked as well in our home.

There is a picture of a two tone kitchen with the lowers barn red that comes up on threads now and then. I had torn that picture out of a mag long before our kitchen remodel so I'm guessing it is at least 10 years old. The fact that it is still popping up as people's inspiration is testament to its staying power and impact. I'll see if I can find it for you.

There are a couple of red kitchens here. Scroll down a bit to see the 2 tone. Not sure it would work for you but I still love the look.

Here is a link that might be useful: red cabs

Here are some two tone kitchens. Maybe these visuals can
help you see how to create a space in an older kitchen.
~boxerpups

Thank you all! Hmm, I typed out a reply last night but it didn't post, or else I got distracted and never clicked Enter. No matter, now I can respond to all of you at once.

So the black/brown on the bottom is not a good idea, eh? That's OK, I had been assuming all along I would paint everything white; it was just that watching one of our dogs scrabbling all over a cabinet trying to reach something on the counter gave me pause. (Incidentally, melamine slab doors are excellent for resisting dogs/kids/tomato sauce drips, so I don't fault DH for choosing them back in the day.) I don't necessarily want to do two-tone just to do it, but if it made sense from both a practical and a design standpoint then I would be all for it.

doggonegardener -- DH says he does not care and that I can do whatever I want (code for: please don't ask me for an opinion). So I don't HAVE to have white cabinets, but I like them too so I thought I might as well use something that would also suit him. Unless I go with blue or gray or green just to give myself something different to look at. [grin]

remodelfla -- Yes, I have to decide whether to use Scherr's or one of the other door mfr's. I have a prelim quote from Scherr's and just on the face of it, it looks as though the other places might cost less -- but then Scherr's offers priming if I decide I want that, and evidently they have all the IKEA measurements already, which would save me a step.

farmhousegirl -- keeping most of the uppers is my plan for now, but since they are a different depth and height than IKEA cabs (I would probably add one or two of those up top too) it might turn out to be simpler to use IKEA all round. Still, mine are in good shape except for discoloration of the edge banding, and new doors would take care of that.

Engineerchic -- so I am not crazy to think of red, eh? ha. Of course I also think red can be a neutral... (when it's the right kind of red in the right place, that is). The floor will be orangey, so if I really did it I'd have to be very careful about the shade of red.

daisychain -- Your kitchen is beautiful! That is the kind of look I had in mind. Now, whether it would work in my space is another question. :) You're right, Theresse's kitchen is fantastic too and I love her gray/white cabinets (and especially that SS countertop). I also have that red and white one linked in my bookmarks. I love it. But I would be afraid to use it as inspiration because the details will be so different in my kitchen -- no inset cabs with exposed hinges, no recessed sink base, no plate rack -- but it is very pretty!

Boxerpups -- thank you! Seeing all those two-tones in a row really helps. I like a couple of them a lot but the others don't really grab me, so that's good to know -- that it is something besides just the fact of having two cab colors that is attracting me. I suppose I need to figure out what it is about the ones I like that is different. (Numbers 1 and 8.) Probably the inset cabs or something else I won't be having. haha.

I TOTALLY missed the mention of barn red lowers and had to go back to find it. I LOVE that idea. Deep, flat barn red (avoiding berry or corvette type reds) would be AWESOME!!!!!!!

Ne

One of my all-time favorite two-tone kitchens (by Tommy Smyth):

Jennifer and Francoise -- those are really pretty! I can see why you are so happy with your kitchen, Jennifer! With Francoise's pic, I notice that the lower cabs match the floor and the uppers match the walls, as if the cabs were a natural extension of those elements.

I tried my mockup using Ramsjo red-brown below, but... eh. It would have to be a painted red, I think, to have a chance of looking OK.

There is also the IKEA Liljestad door, which is in my opinion the one of theirs that looks most like Actual Wood (it is stained oak). But it's raised panel and I am pretty set on flat panel for this house; the original interior doors are inset flat panels with some routing around the inner edges, like Ramsjo. I think most of the door manufacturers offer doors like that too. (DH would be edging out of the room by now if I started talking like this in front of him.)

Here's another two-tone Ramsjo kitchen from the Ikeafans site; hope it's OK to link here (it has migrated out into Google Search by now anyway).

I liked your mockup with the dark lowers and think it could work well in your kitchen, with the caveat that that look works best when the uppers are painted the same color as the walls so that they visually sort of disappear into the wall (see the photo Francoise posted for an example of what I mean). I would NOT paint the walls a different color if you decide on that look. I think daisychain's kitchen is gorgeous and exactly when I envisioned when I saw your mockup. It's not really purist vintage but it can have that feel to it, particularly if you go with the butcherblock countertops and keep everything else fairly simple. Since it is open to the surrounding rooms, you should also think about how to tie in the look between them.

Thank you for your input, Anna, and I agree that the two-tone kitchens seem to look best when the uppers blend into the walls. I feel a little odd saying I want "vintage" without specifying exactly WHICH vintage (lol) but daisychain's is also about what I had in mind. It would be fun to do a retro midcentury kitchen in aqua or turquoise, but you are right that the kitchen needs to look compatible with the surrounding spaces in our house... and anyway the houses in our neighborhood originally weren't cute-retro to start with anyway, not that I have been able to tell. Black and white tile and wooden cabinets (not steel), and apparently olive green trim paint at some point (we don't need to reproduce that...).

This would be safer... (walnut for contrast in this mockup, though I'm not sure I could bring myself to cut on walnut, and I'd probably do the backsplash in some color other than white):

{{gwi:1993362}}

Well anyway, my takeaway is that I will need to get doors I can finish myself most likely, and that's what I need to know at this stage. The color decisions can come later. I won't completely discount making it easier with the dark IKEA drawer fronts on the bottom quite yet, though.

Thank you all for your thoughts!

For more inspiration,
a video link to a cute IKEA kitchen with dark lowers.
This is a video of Beth Hitchcock's kitchen
from House and Home website
and featured in the February 2012 magazine

Here is a link that might be useful: House and Home Kitchen video

Oh, thanks, Francoise! I hadn't seen that one before. The butcherblock does look good on the dark lower cabs. I notice that the sink is NOT under the window, and it looks just fine. What a great tile wall!

I have a little off the wall input.

Thru a long story with having my barn painted. I found Red Barn Paint in 5 gallon buckets at Lowe's. There is no other red like it. Take the residential paint chips calling themselves "barn red" and you have horrible variations. Old fashioned barn red doesn't glow, doesn't look rusty, and sure doesn't turn purple in "certain" lights. I strongly suggest you just go get some of the barn paint and match or even USE that with a top coat. It's exterior, so it's pretty durable.

That said...

If you go light colored anywhere, invest in Insel-x' Cabinet Coat. Now owned by BM, it's made for woodwork and trim, and dries very, very hard. When I followed recommendations, did the appropriate sanding and priming? That stuff went on literally, like butter. It's gorgeous.

Another thought.
Sherr's is great.
However, I've also ordered from Barker Doors with perfect results. Drawer boxes and doors. Their info and videos were instrumental in my ordering the right thing after discovering I was way off!
I am also ordering from the DoorStop.com, because all they do is doors and have others, even Sherr's and Walzcraft, do not.

Good luck!

northcarolina, I have a vintagey, DIY, two-(or three)tone budget kitchen. My lowers are green, Dried Hydrangea, but your mock-up reminds me so much of my kitchen with a bisque stove, I'm going to include a picture. The island (not shown in this pic--for the kitchen album link, click on my username), is black with carrara marble top.

BTW, GW Kitchen forum has ruined me for any kitchen (even my own, sometimes, LOL.) I'm always checking clearances, lay-outs, etc., and I don't know how anyone can comfortably remove something from the oven in the first kitchen in the House and Home link. Every component is beautiful--it looks wondrous together--but the function, especially with a barrier island? Eh!

Well, a red and white scheme would certainly be appropriate to the age of your house.

I'd urge you to start by checking out some images of actual 1940s kitchens. You're obviously under no obligation to reproduce any of those kitchens, but at the same time "going vintage" shouldn't mean putting a 1915 kitchen into a 1940s house.

Oh, Marcolo, that picture makes me laugh because I had been teasing DH that our daughter's play kitchen would be a perfect color scheme for a 1940's house. He just gave me that look.

I know exactly what you mean by putting in the wrong decade and I agree with you for the most part, but then our neighborhood houses' original finishes were I think closer to the '30's than the '40's (maybe the builder was using up stuff left over from before the war) -- though I don't really know. All the kitchens I've seen on the street have been redone, or at least repainted, at some point in between and the new ones all look very much like 2000-2010 kitchens. Granite as far as the eye can see.

Christine and mama_goose, thank you for the input! I've looked at Barker Door and I will check out DoorStop too. I will have to go sniff some Cabinet Coat and see if it would work for the resp-sensitive family members. Unfortunately (or not), we don't have a garage or other separate enclosed space for painting. Mama_goose, I remember your kitchen and it is just charming. I love how you have made it all your own. I believe our house's original cabinets were much like yours except with slab doors, from what DH tells me (he was the one who replaced them with frameless melamine in the late 80's).

Thank you!

I love the picture that marcolo posted--vintage-style kitchens warm my heart. I'll post a link to my Kitchen color inspiration album. Show DH some of those kitchens and maybe he'll be happy to settle for quiet barn-red cabinets!

Here is a link that might be useful: Glorious color

i like the dark brown and the white cabs (planning something similar for myself). i wouldn't do the yellowish wood counters and floors though, but would do a more brown or white tone for those..

Mama_goose, that is one terrific inspiration album! Your own kitchen belongs right in there with them. That yellow fridge in the first one is so cool. I also noticed that one of the most colorful kitchens (the one you have labeled "spring green and yellow") is really a standard white and black kitchen underneath.

michoumonster -- I hear you, but the floors are set in, um, stone. :) That unstained oak is in the whole rest of the house including the other half of the room the kitchen is in. The counters, well, we will wait and see how the budget pans out with those. I mocked up using IKEA butcherblock because it is one of the least expensive options I have seen so far and I don't want to get my mind set on something I will have to back away from later, plus I like it. But I still have walnut on my list too.

northcarolina, acually, i think your floors would be fine, but the counters might look nicer if you can stain them. not sure if that is possible with butcherblock? or go with lighter stone, if it is in budget..

here are a few of my vintagey two-tone inspiration pics. i think they have similar floors.. hope that helps! good luck!!

Thanks, michoumonster, for the pictures! That third one is especially pretty. See -- inset doors again. What I really need is a 1920 Craftsman to play with. :) And a budget to cover those cabs and the marble. Yummy. You know, I think the glass doors in the uppers help with the two-tone look as well; they more closely echo the open-shelving feeling so the uppers look even more like a natural part of the wall.