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...

I have been looking for years, too. Now more intensely because we sold our house and are living in a furnished apt. I'm not a shoes off in the house person, but because this place has that awful cheap, light colored carpet I'm going shoeless and I've injured my toes. I need a house. There are mini-blinds in the bedroom: it's not dark in there. A couple of years ago we found 3 nests one Spring, scattered about the lawn. One was a big, mud-fortified robin's with an escape hatch where there must have been a supporting branch, one a sweet, perfect, feathery finch's, and the third was in between. Figured it was an omen. So when I found a property with a regular house, a mobile home and a really cool tree/guest house I thought maybe we should take it. DH didn't agree and I didn't feel that strongly about it. I keep trying to figure out a business where I could make this search process easier. I'd like to rich while I'm homeless. So the rental will be for you to live in?

Oakleyoak, People in the US may decorate in a "French County" or "English Cottage" style but it does not always translate to what I have seen in France, England, Italy, Mexico and other counties I've visited. Our decorating styles in the US tend to be heavily influenced by what the retailers push as the trends to be followed. When in Spain we stayed in a beautiful hotel that was so ultra contemporary that, to me, it seemed cold. Yet it was in a historic area in Barcelona. It's all good, even if not anticipated! In fact, maybe it's finding the unexpected that makes it so much more interesting.... I've never seen any other country try to interpret Americana. They tend to be proud of their heritage and embrace it, which means different styles depending on the country. English Cotswalds means chintz and a layered look, whereas London, being more cosmopolitan tends to be contemporary. When in Italy we had dinner on several occasions with a family in Tuscany. Their house was very traditonal on the outside but ultra modern on the inside. The kitchen was very utilitarian with all stainless steel appliances and countertops. It was small by our standards but functioned extremely well. When it England we stayed with a family in the Cotswalds. Their home was traditonal English in both design and furnishings. What was most challenging to us was the lack of screens and the proponderance of flies while we were eating......ick! We have had Italian guests here at our home in New England. One commented that "in my country the houses are very old yet are decorated in a modern style, whereas here your houses aren't old but are built and decorated to "look old". Yes, so true! He was getting a doctorate in architecture and was very interested in such features as a central chimmney and multiple levels for living. Another thing that we have heard from many of our international visitors is how fortunate we are to have over an acre of land, yet be so close to a major city. What I enjoy most about traveling is seeing how others live!

I can somewhat relate to the article linked because where we live nothing modern exists (now-modern or MCM) unless you build it yourself. We bought a 1959 MCM/ranch that was remodeled and added to at least three times and started rebuilding. Our choices of random color slate flooring in the entry hall and grasscloth wallpaper for the formal living room were a bit confusing to people we know since the prevailing style in the region is southeastern or new-but-old looking (distressed?). Our kitchen and family room are more now-modern since we wanted a new kitchen to use and the family room is an a ~2002 addition. The two bathrooms and the dining room and den in the original parts of the house will be even more confusing because the goal is to make them basically look like the place was built that way. Bathroom #1 will be ming green, bathroom #2 will probably be blue, and details are still TBD for the other two rooms. Nobody has been critical anyway, just a bit surprised. However, none of it will be authentic to the house. Bathroom #1 was taupe, bathroom #2 was bright yellow with a built in hamper and a corner of the room used for an air handler that is long gone, the dining room has yellow/beige VAT under '70s linoleum (under a floor that was raised 1'!) and the den was a large 1 car garage before the existing garage was built decades ago. Anyone critical of not going back to exactly that would be another "bite me" recipient. If we're rebuilding bathrooms that were remuddled poorly we're at least going with colors we like, and why in the world would we try and re-stick asbestos tile that's all warped and lifted up in a color we aren't even fond of? And since I'm already ranting about things there are a couple of things about our master bedroom/bathroom redo that I'm sure will be unpopular choices, but not something that can be worked around. The washer and dryer are moving to the master closet. Utilities, venting easy access to that location and wanting to get them out of the garage (1/2 mile walk from anywhere) drove that decision. The bathroom will suffer from the dreaded wasted space, but dealing with existing windows in a brick house and wanting the size of the room to be proportional to the bedroom and rest of the house bumped its size up some. There, that feels better :)[/rant]