I did however decide to start a brand new project in the midst of, like, 30 other "in progress" projects. I decided to start redoing the downstairs powder room. In so doing, I thought, wouldn't it be great to paint the old oak cabinetry a warm rich espresso color? And what a perfect opportunity to practice the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations on something
The kitchen I have been planning on doing is really more of a compromise in working with what I've got and not really what I want. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. . .but when SO much work and precious time is spent on it, I thought, wouldn't it be worth it to spend a little more and go for something more like what I love?
So I see the following kitchen in a magazine today:
I adore this.
It is warm and homey, yet classy, sleek and modern. Love.
I want this to be my inspiration kitchen, but a lot of questions have to be answered:
1) Painting Two-Tone Cabinets: I can no problem physically paint the cabbies white on top and grey on bottom, but I think part of the reason it works is because the cabinet doors are of modern styling with the clean Shaker lines. Remember, our cabinets (on the top only, for some reason) have an arch like this:
So I am very unsure if the cabinets would just end up looking more like a crappy DIY project than a snazzy modern kitchen. Below is a realization of my fear:
I really do not want my "after" to look like someone else's "before" (I really hope the above picture was a "before". . .)
So do I go back to my original idea of hiring the cabinet maker to make the Shaker style doors or will it really matter? Is it worth the something like $1200 for new cabinet fronts? (that come unfinished that I still have to paint, mind you)
2) The countertops. So in the inspiration pic, they are a light-colored poured concrete. I don't necessarily want that but our countertops are the Uba Tuba black granite that are very pretty yet go with nothing I like (hence why I was straying from my design loves in the first place - to work around the granite). The lighter countertops do look great with the other colors in that room, but would black work? I whipped out my trusty Microsoft Paint for a mock up: (I think it may work. . .)
3) The Bane of My Kitchen Existence - the floors. This is my greatest conundrum in the whole kitchen remodel thing. So all the pictures I like have wood flooring in them. Problem: the entire house, save the kicthen/ laundry room complex is a light-colored cheap laminate. The kitchen floor is a gray tile, which makes the kitchen a very dark, cold place whereas the rest of the house is very warm and bright. So what the heck do I do with it? I can't find matching laminate (nor do I really think laminate in the kitchen is a good idea) and I especially don't want to tear out ceramic tile to lay down more crappy laminate. I don't want to rip out the whole first floor and replace with something new and cohesive (well, yes I do want to do that but that is not in my budget). I have looked into vinyl wood planks a bit but the color will be different from the laminate, and the tiles may not stick right because the tile floor isn't even. Or I could rip out the old tile, and put a warmer colored tile in. This is looking like the most reasonable option, but a) I didn't want to have to rip out tile (mess and expense) and I really like the wood look. What's a picky girl to do?
4) Soffits - I originally was going to DIY remove the one above the peninsula myself but looking at this maybe I want to get that one and the one above the sink removed to put in cool lights above the sink, but then same problem I discussed before - suppose there's something in the soffit above the sink (I hear dollar signs adding up. . .)
5) Backsplash - I was just going to be lazy and try to cover it up with something, but I should probably just have it taken down and do it the right way. (More dollar sign sounds. . .)
Sigh. I don't know. But thanks for listening. :) Let me know if you have any ideas!
Hi Jamie,
ReplyDeleteI don't think the cabinet style doors will matter - the ones you already have should be fine. I do like the cabinet handles on the model pic better than the small nobs... just my opinion.
I also like the white on the bottom of the cabinets, and maybe paiting the island grey - as shown in the picture. I think the black granite counter will look wonderful with the white cabinets, and backsplash. You can always add "color" with the curtain and counter accessories/art.
For the floor - if you keep the cabinets all white and the counter with the black - I think the darker floor would look good and would make the white more dramatic. I saw these on Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/Blacks/Flooring-Tile-Tile/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbbcuZ1z119veZ1z119veZ1z1409i/R-203620857/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051
However, when we redid our "powder room" we had ugly white tile on the floor - and we just put the "luxury" vinyl tile squares from Lowes:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_356535-84875-MB2341_4294773820__?productId=3386288&Ns=p_product_avg_rating|1&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_avg_rating%7C1&facetInfo=
We put these on top of the current floor tiles (Liquid Nails works wonderful) and spaced them apart as if they were ceremaic tiles and added grout.
You're doing great! So excited to see the end result!
Hi! Yeah I agree with you that an island would look good in an accent color, but it is more of a peninsula and is connected to the rest of the cabinets so I would need to do them all in the same color. The "gray" to pick would be hard though, because the granite has green and gold flecks in it so I couldn't do the pretty blue gray because it would clash, so I don't know - maybe I will keep it all white. I think I will be doing as you did in the powder room because we have the same thing! I guess you have no problem with the vinyl tiles coming apart?
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