ctnewbie- I have the magazine you are talking about and I love the kitchen you mention. I've saved it as an inspiration picture, too. (I also like the green island on the cover and the copper sink on page 44). I'd call the cabinets medium rather than dark; I've seen much darker cherry cabinets. And, with the soapstone, it has the best of both worlds. I believe it falls in the "timeless category" pretty well except for maybe the largest slate tiles (of the various sizes) for the backsplash. I like the tiles and DH says "less grout". I figure if you're not designing your kitchen for resale, use what you like. I've seen lots of white kitchens here that I really like a lot, but I prefer wood for myself. But I do believe that white is timeless.

Hi there everyone! I just found this forum last night while I was searching online for some cabinet reviews. I wish I would have found this months ago.......or even a year ago!! We are in the middle of a complete kitchen redo. The kitchen has been gutted and we are stuck on our cabinet choice. Our old house had a medium stained maple cabinet with dark glazing and distressing and we had pine plank flooring. The kitchen was very open and received quite a bit of light with higher ceilings. Although it was a lot of wood, it didn't seem dark and we liked it. Our new home however has lower ceilings, isn't an open floor plan (although the dining area is attached to the kitchen, but not open to the great room if that makes sense) and doesn't get as much natural light as our old kitchen. We did install the same flooring as our old house so it's a medium colored pine plank flooring. My husband wouldn't mind having the same wood cabinets but I'm thinking it will just be too dark so we are exploring other options. I've been searching and searching for kitchens for months now and I am drawn immediately to white kitchens while looking.......like a French country look......not contemporary. We have distressed furniture in the dining area and I don't think the contemporary look will blend well with the style of our home. If anyone on here has a French country type kitchen with white or off-white cabinets would you mind sharing a pic with me please? We are stuck with trying to decide between glaze or no-glaze and distressing/no distressing. I also will have some questions about the layout of our kitchen but I'm trying to get a drawing made up to post before I do that. Thanks so much in advance for your help!!

it really is a personal preference, but i am doing my perimeter cabs in a cottage white with distressing and the island will be a tuscan sun cherry with distressing. i wanted to be safe at first and do it all white, but each time i flipped through a magazine my eye went to the contrasting color on the perimeter cabs and island. good luck with your decision; i don't think you can make a "wrong choice".

Whether you go with white or dark cabinets (personally, I prefer the dark, even with white appliances) is your choice. However, keep in mind that if your cabinets are in good shape, they will outlive your appliances. You're not enamored of white cabinets, do you want to commit yourself to them "forever"? Unless you plan to redo your kitchen when the appliances die, you will have a similar decision to make when you need new appliances...and they won't die all at once, so you'll be re-committing to the color over and over again. If the cabinets are in good shape and painting is intended to be your only redo of them in the foreseeable future, then paint them the color you want, not to match your appliances. As Rosie mentioned, you can paint the appliances if they really bother you (using, I think, appliance or auto paint or a paint meant for metal). The bottom line is this: If the cabinets are not going to be replaced when your appliances die, paint them to please you, not the appliances. Then, for your appliances....(1) patiently wait for them to die and replace them with black or stainless, (2) sell them on Craigslist and then buy new, or (3) paint them now. I would wait b/f I decided what to do w/the appliances until you've painted your cabinets...then make the decision based on how you think they look! (If it were me and I didn't like them, I would probably go with option (2) or (3).) (If your cabinets are in only fair or poor condition, then you may be replacing them sooner than you think/plan! So, if you're willing to live with white for a couple of years, then it might not be so bad. Oh, and if they are in only fair or poor condition, don't put an expensive countertop on them now...it would be a waste of money b/c existing countertops very, very rarely fit new cabinets...even w/the same layout...and if you end up replacing cabinets, I recommend looking closely at your layout and changing it to be more functional if it's not ideal now.) Good luck!