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Home Decorating Design Dilemma Kitchens

Please Help with counter tops materials!

5 years ago

We renovated our kitchen, finished May 2018, and then had a massive water leak on second floor and kitchen ruined, now gutted :(

We are doing a soft white cabinet on perimeter with a "smoke" grey island. Island is a darker gray, but to me looks dark grey/blue. I like the idea of a wood top island - and like the reclaimed look of wood, like wormy chestnut. Thinking of a white look quartz on perimeter tops. We previously had a white quartz (Brittanica) with large gray veining on perimeter and island and I felt like kitchen felt "cold." Any advice???What type of wood for island to get that reclaimed look and warm up the space? We have medium brown wood floors. I guess because island color will be dark then I should go with a lighter wood top - don't like red tones. Any help appreciated!

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Comments (5)

User
5 years ago
I would probably go with a countertop with this tone since your floors are a medium shade
PRO
Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
5 years ago
Either two cabinet colors and one countertop color or two countertops and one cabinet color. Othewise the island tends to not feel like it's apart of the kitchen.
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What about a piece of granite that has a lot of movement, and some burgundy tones in it? Honed finish, not polished. I know nothing about granites, but I looked under "burgundy granite" and found several that seemed interesting. Lambada was one, Maracana was another. Another alternative would be some kind of mosaic in a matte finish. Or, you could do a wood countertop. I am a big fan of zebrawood, so I could see something like that as a great accent on your pantry cabinet. Matte finish, very hard wood. Plus that is considered sustainable wood for harvesting, so eco-friendly. zebrawood counter
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It may be that the person installing the counters is worried about a good tight fit against all the walls where counters will run. If your walls are not flat and straight, the installers can cover a pretty good sized gap with that thick strip of countertop material laid a few inches up the wall ( the older style installations). But with good modern templating, you should expect a good fit even if your walls are a little bit off, then the tile can come right down to the counter and still meet with a small caulk joint at the change of plane. Perhaps you can ask them if they're worried about uneven walls, or you can take a yardstick to them yourself to see how they look. If it were my kitchen I'd certainly want the newer style installation.
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Comments (13)
maxiepines, I didn't follow your thread about cook tops so maybe someone already mentioned this. A downdraft set within a gas cook top pulls at the flames. This isn't an issue with your old electric cook top - no flame. I have a pop-up downdraft for my island's gas cook top. Even though it rises 7" above the cook top, it pulls the flame when turned on high and even on medium, it pulls on the back burners' flames more than I'd like. The downdraft blew out (would that be sucked out?) a burner when it was on low a few times. Today's gas cook tops generally come with automatic re-ignition, which is good, because the only way I know this has happened with my old cook top is when I smell gas. Anyhoo, a downdraft set at the same level as the burners will do this even more than my 7" pop-up does. Can you add a pop-up downdraft, preferably one of the newer models that rises more than 7" above the cook top instead? Stunning photos, as usual, boxerpups. You rock!
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Comments (8)
Egan-I would reduce island length by around 12”. I would eliminate pony walls on ends and use decorative cabinet end panels and reduce 18” cabinet on far end to 12” cabinet. Make sure your cabinets are designed with proper metal support plates for slab. 12-13” overlay for stools is tight. I would expand to 16”. Most slabs can accommodate that total width. 36” deep plus 4” more would mean slab has to be 40-44” wide and 108-112” long. That is doable for most slabs without seams.
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Cheryl Hannebauer
5 years ago
walnut
PRO
Anglophilia
5 years ago
It really depends on the size of the island and it's prominence in the room. I have gray cabinets and Glacier White Corian countertops on all my perimeter counters. Since my kitchen is small (and enclosed), I don't have room for a "true island" so I have an Ikea island cart. It came with a solid birch top. The cart itself was in natural birch, but I painted it black as I wanted it to sort of "float" in the kitchen. I have oiled the heck out of the top and do it every 6 months or so. It warms up the wood considerably. I also have mid-brown hardwood floors. I'm not a "matchy" girl so I didn't want them to match and actually wanted the island top to be a bit lighter.

The kitchen itself is "warmed up" by using polished bass pulls on all the cabinets, the warm brown hardwood floors, and by some display polished copper. That's really all it takes.
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Can you pics of your kitchen?

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