Home4all6- Thank you for the picture and the link! I remember seeing this keeping room, when it was in the magazine...especially this picture :) From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures The yellow walls and the blue fabrics, look great with the wood furniture and those tile floors. That's almost the color of my brick fireplace. If they had some green plants and a bit of lavender, it would be perfect! LOL Did you notice though...how the kitchen looks a little colder than the keeping room. Love the tile (especially on the island) and the floors, but all that white is just too bright and new (IMHO) to go with the older/collected feel of the keeping room. I think antique (rather than shiny) brass would help...but some wood cabinets and maybe a warmer white would make a big difference. Thank you so much, again, for the pictures and it would be fun to be neighbors! (LOL) But, I don't think that would be enough land for my horses...they eat a lot and need a really big pasture. Mike- I'm glad you like the pictures! I really like that finish, too. It's not too glossy and does look more like a natural finish. My guess (and it's just that) is maybe they have a satin finish on them and aren't stained. A good finish should protect them...and again, guessing, but probably several coats, sanded in between. If you want to use these pictures, please feel free to post them and ask if anyone can give you more info. How goes your kitchen remodel and what did you decide to do with your hearth? Sorry, if I missed a post...but I've been wondering how you were doing. It's going to be such a great kitchen!

Thank you all. Either painting the ceiling or the cabinets would be the easiest way to avoid too much brown wood everywhere. (I actually rather like modern high gloss lacquered cabinets.) White paint with a slight blue tint on the ceiling with walnut stained beams sounds quite pretty. However, my DH hates painted wood. Given the choice, he would much rather go with tile floors than paint the ceilings or the cabinets. The wood ceiling doesn't look too bad as is in the photo I posted. I like the depth of the color it is now - not too dark and overpowering - but the tone of the color is the problem. At certain times of day, as the light changes, the ceiling takes on an unattractive pinking or yellowish cast. One of our big problems in the house is lack of lighting, so we are adding as much as we can during the remodel, including cove lighting on top of the cabinets (we can�t do any recessed lighting because there is no space between the wood ceiling and the roof), so the wood ceiling will become more of a feature with the lights aimed at it. Our contractor is supposed to do samples to see if we can dye the ceiling to a more neutral brown shade, without going much darker. We could try to do a greyish tone, like driftwood or aged teak, but that will probably be harder to achieve successfully over a large area than a brown tone. There are little wing walls that separate the kitchen from the dining/living area, so we could do separate flooring in each space. I do not mind using tile in the kitchen, it is the living room that concerns me. I agree that the trick to using multiple woods in one space is to vary the tones and textures, but they still must be complementary. We could leave the ceiling lighter, like it is, and use darker wood floors in the living room, but the furniture in that room is a mix of pecan stained cherry and teak, with medium-dark brown leather couches. I will buy a new contemporary styled rug in lighter tones (creams and blues most likely) no matter what we choose for flooring. In the kitchen, we are using white quartzite counters, stainless appliances and some glass doors in cabinets, so that will break up the brown wood. I still think wood floors in the kitchen at least will be too much with the cabinets and ceiling. I am really torn between lighter or darker walnut cabinets because I love both looks. Black walnut from Smallbone (not sure if this is stained or natural): Sanjuangirl, we are south of you, in San Diego.

I have it and love it. We did do a project with the man made and I regret it. Nothing compares to the natural stone. The super white has enough movement that you won’t even notice an etch or a stain. We’ve had ours and used them for 7 months and have had no issues SINCE we resealed them. Note we did have issues when we first got them. Had the fabricator buff them out and then resealed. And we resealed again and since then have had no issues. I had decided that we’d use the counters and if there was etching or staining we spend a couple of hundred dollars every few years to buff them out, but we haven’t had any issues! Get what you love. You’ll regret it if you don’t. Excuse mess.

A few thoughts (from a non pro)… all quartzite would look lovely. If not the best. I really do NOT like the look of the contrast wood counters above. To me, they look like aidfferent kitchen got accidentally dropped in…. I too am concerned about the size of the bar. And what is the purpose? Does it have extra stoarge below that you need? It doesnt look that way in the pics but hard to tell. If no extra storage, then I would just scrap the bar and have the countertop be deeper on the penninsula so you can have stools. But be the full length of the penninsula. And horror or horror, what if for the 15 inch countertop overhang, you curved the corner so as to take pressure off the pinch point? i know this forum generally hates curved counter edges, as they are features in a lot of dated houses. But sometimes they serve a purpose and Ive seen them used to good effect a few times on here. I think the risk of datedness is low if (as it sounds) your kitchen is otherwise fairly contemporary and clean lines. also worth adding, my kitchen (which we inhereited when we bought the house) has a 32 inch aisle between the island and the main run!!!! So 32 inches in front of the range, the DW and the sink. It is bananas in a kitchen that otherwise is not that small. Having two people cooking in there is unbearable. But its not so tight that walking is a problem (for reasonable sized people). Im also not sure why, if your current situation is tolerable, adding 15 or 30 inches would make it that much worse.