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Kitchens Design Dilemma Flooring

Too many types of wood?

5 years ago

We are building a house and I’m having problems picturing my kitchen. We are doing a mostly gray with some dark brown laminate hardwood floors, dark oak cabinets and white with a little gray counters. I love all of that. The issue is that the trim in our house is a honey oak. And there is a corner pantry in my kitchen. Is this too many different colors of wood? I’m struggling with the honey oak trim and pantry door in the middle corner of my L shaped kitchen.

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Beth H. :

5 years ago

the honey oak trim needs to be painted white. it will not go w/your 'gray' theme, or the darker stain of your cabinet.

is it from the 80's or 90's, the oak? time to paint it.

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Comments (11)

Reanne Olson
5 years ago

Hi, which flooring will be in the kitchen? Grey will clash with the red undertones of the cabinets. Stain the oak trims in the kitchen to match the cabinets or paint them white.
Fori
5 years ago
Can't you do the oak trim in the same stain as the cabinet? I'm fine with mixing woods, but not two stains of the same wood.
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Does your son have any sensitivities to smells along with his allergies? (I do. Most smells hurt my sinuses.) After ordering several samples to examine/smell, I didn't order rubber flooring in my home gym because of it. I wouldn't have carpet as an option at all. Personally, I would do hardwood throughout with similarly-toned tile in the wet areas - or - cork throughout. This includes the hall/loft area, but not the stairs. (The stairs match downstairs wood, right?) I have frequent guests, but I don't have any that spend extra time in their bedrooms. Certainly, they aren't on the bedroom floors much. So, I would do what made me happy to look at that unified all the spaces.
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"With so much of the flooring available as a DIY project, is it becoming a common thing to have a variety?" It has always been common to have variety. Even going back a hundred years, even with newly built homes. I was very common at least in my area to have the LR and DR in oak. Then to save money the homes were built with pine in the bedrooms, or maple. You wanted to "impress the guests" with oak. The kitchens and hallways always had linoleum when they were built. Bathroom had white/bright tile. The entryway was always built with deep colored tile. Entryways had to be waterproof because of snow being brought in, in the winter and sturdy and resistant to wear due to sand being brought in in the summer. Tile looked prettier than linoleum to impress guests too. This is how homes were built. Different material in respective rooms. Then, mid-century additions were built onto these homes for family rooms and extra bedrooms. Due to both cost considerations and the popularity of wall-to-wall carpeting, these additions were built with particleboard covered with carpeting. It is in these additions where the flooring mismatch looks bad. In the original floorplan of when the homes were built, the flooring choices were carefully thought out for both utility and eye appeal, while allowing for cost cutting maneuvers that would not stick out like a sore thumb. As long as everything flows nicely there should be not problem with different floors in a home. Who would really want a wooden bathroom floor to take care of?
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Comments (2)
You can use white for doors and trim, and it will give you continuity between rooms without clashing with anything. The light maple cabinets and dark island will look fine with white trim. For the stairs, I would stick with one of the maple woods with your wrought iron, especially for the handrail, which will look better over time than a painted surface. Be sure to consider your flooring choices with everything as well.
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Sure. Bathrooms often have different floors. My house has 9 bathrooms. None of the floors match the adjacent room. (We are a B&B Inn.).
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rantontoo
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Why does the trim have to be honey oak?
cpaul1
5 years ago
Absolutely no to honey oak trim. And that color of cabinetry does not go with gray floors. Yes, you have too many woods going on, but you also have a "warm" vs. "cool" color problem.
waverly6
5 years ago
Beth H , I like what you did. Did you paint out the brass trim on your pendant lights ( in the bottom photo ) as well? If so, what did you use ? What about the chain ?
greenfish1234
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I have to agree with what has been said, but I don't think the trim *has* to be white. But the words you are using, "honey oak" do evoke the 80s and 90s. The second room beth showed IMO looked better before (except i love the wall color) so the RIGHT combination of floor and trim (and cabinet) stain can look really good
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Beth H. :
5 years ago
waverly,, those aren't my pics,,just pics to show you before and after.

but yes, I have painted metal lights in the past. it's simple. Rustoleum metal paint. light coats. tape off anything you don't want painted, hang and spray.
waverly6
5 years ago
Thanks for the tip.
Fori
5 years ago
Amanda, if you are building a house, how is it that you have honey oak trim?
cawaps
5 years ago
And if you are building a house, why are you putting in a corner pantry? They went out of fashion because the turned out not be be as cool as they seemed on paper, since they take away valuable counter space and the storage that they add is not as functional as alternative storage solutions, such as pull-out pantries. I realize this seems like one of those out-of-the blue unsolicited suggestions, but I came to it in a completely on-topic way, since if you get rid of the corner pantry, you also get rid of the honey oak trim on the corner pantry, and lose one of the woods tones that is causing you concern. Getting a more functional kitchen is just a possible bonus.

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