How to tone down mid-century turquoise kitchen tile
Claudia Hertzog
3 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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Sherry Brighton
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoRelated Discussions
How to get MidCentury Modern feel in kitchen with cherry cabinets
Comments (33)Thank you, thank you for so many thoughtful posts. This is an international move for us, so I have been travelling to coordinate everything involved - I only had 2 weeks to find something and this house ticks a lot of boxes for us, so I will work with it. I completely agree with many of you on working with what is there and with the Scandi modern look - as I said in my first post "will try to go with a mix of nature (lots of wood), clean lines, bright colors (fern green, orange, yellow, turquoise), and some funky accents". My mom is Danish and I have inherited Danish modern dining table & chairs, buffet, turquoise pottery, floor lamp, etc. so that is our style in general. Our stuff is pretty modern, but not industrial, more nature-oriented mixed with lots of ethnic art and crafts bought on our travels. I'm definitely not trying to recreate a period-perfect kitchen or house - as palimpsest accurately guessed, this is a split entry colonial revival ranch so I'm really not sure there is any period-perfect style anyway. But we do like to respect the period features of our homes (most recently an 1882 Victorian and a 1910 Tudor revival, both 4 stories so we are really looking forward to one main level!) (And I really enjoyed reading all the commentary here on period issues.) Nonetheless, Tuscan-looking or even American traditional just isn't us, or the rest of the house, ergo my desire to create a feel in kitchen more in keeping generally with our eclectic stuff and the period of the house. Even though they are not my taste, there is no way I could take down almost new solid maple (cherry-stained) cabinets, as much as I might love IKEA. Anyone have any experience stripping stain off cabinets like these? I "might" think about that as I would like them better in a lighter wood tone, of course even better with a slab front but too many cabinets to contemplate that. I like the suggestion to take down and store the uppers next to the range and do a big tiled backsplash with a big stainless range hood. I like that idea aesthetically and practically since microwave vents are never powerful enough and uppers near a stovetop always wind up sticky and greasy. Will definitely look for a sleek stainless pull, maybe with a curve. I wonder if it possible to somehow cut off the mullions from the glass-fronted ones?? For the floors, I have loved the look and feel of cork previously so I'm inclined to go with that - it needs something less busy to minimize the busy-ness of the cabinet fronts. I don't know what to do for the counters? Formica or metal-trimmed aren't what I was contemplating. I think stone or tile will look too "Tuscan"/90s - whatever you want to call it - with the cherry cabinets. Already too much wood cabinet for butcher block. That leaves concrete, stainless or that manufactured quartz that looks quite uniform. Any thoughts? Thank you for all the links - I loved some of the tile patterns, but am concerned about busy-ness. I haven't had a chance to look at all the lighting links - thinking something clean lined, Scandi looking, not space-age. I'm also a bit stuck on backsplash and paint color. I love green and will be using it elsewhere in the house, but I have too many memories of dark green with cherry in 90s kitchens. Maybe another shade? I do love yellow and orange, which again will show up elsewhere in the house alot. I guess I am just really hung up on that cherry and what goes with it......See MoreMixing white and wood cabinets in a mid-century inspired kitchen
Comments (54)Please please please try to overlook the OTR microwave __ I can't. I simply can not overlook it. Unless everyone in your house is, at minimum, 5 '7" tall, that is a huge huge huge safety and design defect. Per KDA standards, the microwave should never be any higher than 4" below shoulder height for the shortest person to use it. The reason is that for anyone less than 5'7", they * have to lean over the stove to reach up and into it (clothes catch fire from burners - happened to my neighbor who ended up with 6 reconstructive surgeries on her face, neck & arms) and * are lifting hot heavy things from above shoulder level (spills and burns) BTW average woman in the US is 5'4 -5'5. When we were house shopping, kept seeing all these "and it has an updated kitchen" claims. And they were all sticking the microwaves over the range as part of the "improvements" (along with the biology-lab-look stainless steel stuff) and thinking they had improved the house and the price should be up in $$$$. All I saw was a large renovation project to get the #$%@ microwave down from being level with my nose -- I'm 5'2". I simply walked away and looked at something else. If - and only if - I totally loved everything about a house, the offer would be contingent on the seller - at their cost - correcting the safety hazard of the microwave no matter how much it cost to change....See MoreMid century kitchen renovation
Comments (35)Why put wood floors in your kitchen, like so many others do because they don't have many better alternatives (given the way their open concept worked out), when you have a better alternative?! (Yes, I am on about the stone floor again!) I haven't seen your foyer floors up close and personal, but if they are what I think, how spectacular it would be to use that in the kitchen with its eat-in area! More practical than wood, more distinctive, so enduring, in addition to period-related. I think the doorway with the accordian has already been enlarged. It looks like it is half the length of the wall, whereas the original floorplan shows a much smaller opening. Hopefully a good solution to the pantry door situation will present itself....do others in your development have the same floorplan so you can gently query the neighbors about any other approaches? Finally, if this is a split level without a bedroom level above the kitchen, consider a skylight or solatube to bring more light into the kitchen....See MoreMid-century kitchen reno help!
Comments (12)I think a lot will depend on the stain you choose for the floor. Do you have any examples of what you're aiming for with the floor? I have a midcentury home and spent a ton of time researching flooring because we just replaced the original wall-to-wall carpet and changed the flooring in our kitchen. Grayed out wood flooring is very popular right now, and is going to look very out of place in a midcentury modern home if you're trying to stay true to the style. My personal feeling is that 'in' colors for stain come and go, but natural wood is natural wood - harder for that to be dated! I also didn't come across too many (any?) original midcentury kitchens with wood flooring. There are plenty of midcentury modern-style kitchens being done with wood floors now, but it doesn't seem to have been a common kitchen floor material then. (Not sure how closely you are trying to stick to a midcentury modern style, and if you want a time capsule look or a current version of mcm style!) I certainly think that mixing woods works. We went with unstained white oak floors, and I have lots of teak and walnut furniture and I think it works! Here's a pic, since I think the flooring color looks similar to the cabinet photo in your inspiration photo:...See Moredecoenthusiaste
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