As I continue my kitchen design, Allison's beautiful kitchen always come to mind. I especially love the gorgeous island with the fantastic butcherblock top.

But I have been scared away from painted surfaces (my 2 gfs' new white kitchens are chipping and wearing terribly) because of my 2 crazy kids, my brut husband, and my own tendency to rush and bang doors, etc.

Then I learned about milkpaint (still learning) which acts more like a stain and wears off, instead of chipping.

http://www.milkpaint.com/about_art-fw.html
"Being water based, milk paint has far less body and lays on in thinner coats. Also, much of the water-based milk paint soaks into the wood, so it does not chip. In normal use, it will only wear."

Before I forget, 3 questions:
1. What do you think of my color choices?

2. What stain/finish for the wood flooring?

3. How to best handle the window by the peninsula looking into the familyroom (is currently the doorway before moving toward the porch)? I need a way to easily see into the familyroom and the exit to the patio/backdoor.

So do you think these elements would work together?

My layout:

Inspiration kitchen - Allison's:

And then I found this inspiration picture:
- Notice how the sink is NOT centered, but I did not notice that even after having seen it 15+ times. All I notice was the focal area of the windows and the lighter paint, so I could use it for my layout.

Marble backsplash/island color inspiration (blue gray with a black or brown glaze) :

So this is what I am planning:
- focal point at the windows: sink/DW/dishstorage, and peninsula (with butcherblock top)
The focal point panels would have corbel-shape at the bottom (instead of the angular rectangle edging)
- warm cherry on rest of cabinets
- carrara marble on the perimeter countertop and cooktop backsplash

Please forgive the coloring of the design software

My ?mood board:
- 42inch copper hood over 36inch Miele induction cooktop
- single bowl 36inch sink
- this style door: Barker Cabinet Westminster Inset:

- in cherry like Coglesby40 island: espresso stain (or like burnt sugar)

- milkpaint windows cabinets/island: like the blue/grey with brown glaze (see above)

- 2 schoolhouse pendants over island:

- flooring: 3 1/4 inch wide maple -- BUT in what finish? Natural would be too light. I do not like really dark because it is too high maintenance (similar to owning a black Corvette).
- How should I handle the window looking into the familyroom? I need it to easily keep an eye on my children and the exit to the patio/backdoor.

Thank you so very much for any input/feedback.
Really appreciate it.
Amanda

I just wanted to say how beautiful I think your choices are.
You're going to have a gorgeous kitchen. I'm interested to see how the milk paint works out.

First, you do not have anywhere near the amount of structure and emphasis around the windows to define them as a space, compared to the pic you showed. Look at it again. That has a valance, a change in countertop and a change in cabinet color, so it reads as a unit. Yours absolutely does not. The arrangement of sink cab, DW and drawers only make it worse. If you are going to panel your DW (I hope) you need to work with your cabinet maker to force that entire area to read as a unit.

Second, I agree with rhome that your plan lacks the contrast of your pictures.

You have a pretty good, symmetrical focal thing going on around your range. It'll be tough to have that butted up to another, especially when your base cabs in the blue area don't form the unit Marcolo mentioned. And I hope you don't mind the abruptness, but the arrangement around the window looks a little forced. I'd let the windows be the star in that area (like in the last inspiration)... and let some simplicity there allow the range area be the fancier section...for a balance instead of competition.

2 of your inspiration pics have blank/empty space for breathing room, and in the center one, the extra expanse of white cabs to the side of the big sink section serve the same purpose. I think you'd have to start by reducing the size of your windows to possibly make this work better, which would be a loss you probably don't want.

I know you are certainly aware you have a difficult space for which to plan the layout, which ends up being a bit unique. A traditional, large-kitchen style is a tough fit.

I don't care for this layout much. It IS forced and doesn't really feel comfortable. You don't have room for wall ovens or double dishwashers. And the main path to the fridge has that pinch point at the seating. A U shaped kitchen is what is needed here. It would be best served by taking down the wall between the kitchen and family room and making that leg of the U have the seating in the family room. Put a small prep sink there and scoot the range to the left a bit more.

As far as the colors, I'm not really liking the blob of not enough contrasting value in the middle of the run. If you are going to go for an unfitted look, it needs to look, well, more unfitted. You need changes in counter material and height and cabinet style to pull this off correctly. And really, the kitchen is too small to do correct homage to any of your inspiration pics unless you start whittling on that chimney.

I hope I can combine a few of my answers/responses.

2 main reasons for my kitchen reno:
1. Need a hood. I�ve gone 5 years without one and I cannot wait for my 1000cfm copper hood to kick on!!!

2. Need 2 dishwashers. My countertop dishrack is constantly full because we hand wash pots/pans/knives, etc. And no, I don�t dry w/ a towel and put away right away. So the 2nd DW will be my drying rack. And we often host large parties where a 2nd DW comes in handy.
So if I switch the sink w/ the right DW (to center the sink), then the 2 DWs would be next to each other. Not sure if I like that functionally, especially when I prefer function over form (do not need symmetry).

I may have the loudest children ever, or something. In my previous designs, I wanted to remove the wall between kitchen and familyroom. But as my children get louder with each passing day, I am very certain that the familyroom wall will stay, with door that will shut most of the noise away. My whole first floor is pretty much open. So I like the fact that I can send my children into the familyroom and do their screaming in there.
Unless many of our friends, we do not have a finished basement to send the kids to play in. We may finish the large room above the garage someday, but until then, I will have my door to close off the familyroom.

Sorry, will be back later, off to Chinese school with my loud children.
Thank you,
Amanda

Sorry, I meant "UNLIKE many of our friends" (about the finished basement familyrooms).

Also, yup, that monster brick fireplace is staying. It is structurally part of the house, so much that the flooring joists changes direction, depending on where it touches the fireplace.

Also, I plan to use the area next to the kitchen (back of the peninsula) as a keeping room, since EVERYONE who comes over hangs out in my kitchen area. No one ever goes into my spacious livingroom (opposite corner of my kitchen), I will flip them and put the diningroom there. So I will need the 2 stools eating peninsula.

I tried out the shallow U-shape, but I like the fact that the peninsula is a barrier for me so that people do not come into my cooking area. People can easily go to the sink/fridge, but I like having my own space in the cooktop area.

Sorry that I couldn't add any ceiling moldings or valances or glaze on the painted cabinets w/ my design software.

Rhome410/marcolo: Can you please help me understand your feedback: "arrangement around the window looks a little forced"?
Also: "keep the range area one color, and not pick up that colorway again on that run. You could try going back to wood or whatever once your turn the corner on the left".

- So sorry, but I am not sure which left. Should I keep it all in warm cherry, even peninsula?

On the color part: I wanted to break up the monotony of just the warm cherry and to bring a focal to the windows. My 42" copper hood is gorgeous, but I think it ranks below the windows. So I thought to milk paint it blue/grey like the island in the marble backsplash inspiration.

I don't think I want the cabinets any lighter.
Could I get the lightness from the daytime light (from windows) and lots of recessed lights/pendants/undercab lighting? Or should I have the 3 uppercabs (on sink wall/flanking hood) painted also (see sink inspiration picture)?

So would the sink/DW/dishes jut-out be fine WITHOUT the same color valance/awning/corbels, etc, and just leave the windows as in and just have the painted bottom 3 cabinets?
And not paint the peninsula also? I thought to paint the peninsula because I haven't love any butcher block on stain cabinets.

Like the sink inspiration picture, for more contrast, I can put marble on the sink countertop (and on the hood backsplash). For left DW and cooktop area, I can put ink-dark-stained butcherblock.

Or am I missing it entirely?

The 2 DWs will be paneled: the left one will be cherry, and the right one will be milk paint. I will try to make the sink cabinets as 3 drawers, same as the 3-drawer dishes cabinets.

Christine40: I love your kitchen!

CEFreeman: do you own Barker Cabinets? I thought I saw your login name on their Google Review. How do you like Barker Cabs? The more I read about them, the more excited I am about using them for my kitchen.

Mama_goose: my sweet darling husband does not seem to notice his strength or may be a bit clumsy, as he often drops big stuff onto my soft pine floor, leaving lots of dents/indentations.

Again, thank you very much for your help.
I really appreciate it.

Amanda

I'm answering for Marcolo, which could be a mistake, but I think that meant to do the range area in the wood... then not do wood again until the adjacent wall, where the fridge is... Leave the last upper and last lower on the sink run in the painted color.

What I meant by 'forced,' if I can explain this at all, is that you're trying too hard with what you have going here. It's not a natural arrangement over the sink and windows and connected with the bases. First of all, it seems crowded. As we said, your base cabs in that area would be difficult to form into anything that looks like a unit, without some trickiness to incorporate your doors and drawers to make a symmetrical or properly balanced design together, which I'm not sure is possible.

The narrow pieces down beside the window are meant to be part of a grander whole, not the end/borders. Your wonderful windows are hemmed in by it, not augmented... again, my opinion. None of the inspiration have focal points right next to each other and that's what you're trying for, or what you have by virtue of the arrangement that happens much more naturally around the range and hood.

Styling what is, for the most part, a one-walled kitchen is tough, especially if you want a traditional look that is built around symmetrical units. As I think I've tried to say, I'd build more focus around the stove, and let the window area be elegant and beautiful in its simplicity, keeping details cleaner...The color change and maybe some furniture legs or something, but not much to take from the windows. Then maybe add more detail around your tall elements.

Do you remember ErikaNH's kitchen? Great windows and a couple of hutch pieces to give the kitchen some flavor... but simplicity in between to keep it clean and not to heavy or busy. Her windows were the star, but without extra detail. But maybe I'm off track for what you want.

And it should be a range, not a cooktop and wall ovens. Getting rid of the wall ovens will allow the dishes to be stored there, where it's much more logical for them to be.

I do plan to buy probably 28 doors from them. As I've said, I've already purchased a few. It was so painless, I'm planning on more!

Note: with my design software, I don't know how to put marble backsplash only on the cooktop area w/out on the sink wall around the windows. I don't think I want marble on that whole wall. Since my windows come down to the countertop, I don't want another backsplash material.
It also changes all the countertop when I change one on the sink wall.

Option 1: remove 'valance' - less forced?
- Made sink base into drawer front to match dishes base
- I would make the countertop for the cherry cabinets a dark stained butcher block, so the marble would be on the sink jut-out cabinets and the cooktop backsplash.

Option 2: left of cooktop/hood is painted (no jut-out at sink)

Option 3: my current favorite: no upper cabinet left of window
- Switched trash with dishes drawer
- Tried best to center windows on jut-out
- Like the sink jut-out (more space for facuet/splashing)

Is any of the 3 options heading in the correct direction? Which one, and how would you tweak it?

Here is a similar kitchen:
- Similar layout (sink/stove on same wall)
- Similar stain cabinets, painted island
- Schoolhouse pendants
- Wood floor
I am not trying to mean or anything, but I want my kitchen to have a bit more ?drama?
Does a kitchen have to be large to be dramatic? Or have painted white cabinets? Or both?

Just look at ErikaNH's gorgeous kitchen. I love it! I followed her kitchen progress everything step along the way because I had similar constraints: long/skinny kitchen (especially when I had my kitchen going into the familyroom).

GreenDesigns: thank you for your ideas and passion.
From all the reading, I highly value wall ovens, especially since DH (the baker of the house) is not getting any younger. He often injures a new body part at his weekly soccer games.
I find it "half of a dozen, 6 of the other" because I need a place to store my pots/pans, so if I had a range, I still need a place for pots/pans.

CEFreeman: oooh, please tell me more.
What style and what type of wood doors did you get? Are you finishing the doors yourself?
DH and I can certainly assemble the boxes together, but I am not sure if I have the patience or skill to stain/milk paint/?varnish all the doors. But even if we outsource it (one quote was $120 per cabinet), it would be less $2000. The tentative quote from Barker was $6500, so total = $8500, which is half to 2/3 of the other quotes I received.

Thank you so very much for everyone taking the time to read and post feedback. Even just thinking about possible improvements or solutions requires your precious time and I appreciate it.

Amanda

When you panel the front of the dw, it can be any configuration. You're not confined to just one big door if there's something else you'd prefer.

If so, then the cabinets on the perimeter could be a bit darker and then have the granite (or other countertop) in that area. Since you like Alison's and Erika's kitchens...you might consider stainless steel appliances (brighten up the wood a bit) and a granite/shiny countertop. The darker hardware might be a good idea, too.

When you like certain kitchens, it's often the combination of elements (not just one or two) that make the space so wonderful. If you don't copy enough of the kitchen...you often lose the things about the kitchen that appealed to you, in the first place.

I'm a little confused with all the details and missing most, but I like what you're trying to do. You're fortunate to have a relatively eccentric space that requires its very own special treatment.

Echoing those who said it, I think the trick is mostly achieving balance, with symmetry neither expected or needed in an old "evolved" space like this one, although the stove area adds a nice touch. It also seems right to allow your window area to shine through simplicity and openness, complementing the warm detail of the stove area and vice versa. People are naturally drawn to light (big time), and the window area won't need more than that to establish its primacy. At least in the daytime. I'd guess bringing the window cabinets forward and thus recessing the cozy stove area would also enhance the special qualities of both, besides, of course, making wonderfully inviting spaces to work.

BTW, love your explanations for keeping the FRM wall. All your explanations make perfect sense to me. For the window, how about a handsome pair of solid, antiquey shutters that don't match anything at all and could fold back against the wall to decoratively frame the window when open? They'd stop a lot of noise and also "honor" the fact that the window was and is still...a window. :)

I was wondering about marble on the window counter and then on the stove backsplash, creating two discontinuous blocks. One would be horizontal and one vertical, so they'd read differently, but among all the rest I'm guessing there's a possibility of a disjointed look that'd have to be handled carefully. I have a horrible memory, so I don't recall if you were going to add in another hue on a backsplash design to help it blend in that area, or something. I'm just assuming the marble is light and don't even remember that, but while I'm thinking of it, a treatment that encouraged the recessed look behind the stove might work nicely, as in a second subtle hue to let it settle down while the sink counter sparkled. And/or matt behind the stove, gloss at the sink?

Sorry for the quick drive-by (I'm drowning in Accounting work this week):

- Thank you so very much for your feedback.

- My friend helped me choose the following colors:

- Cherry cabinets with crystal knobs
- Sink jut-out and Peninsula = Nimbus Gray 2131-50, with an espresso glaze
- stain butcherblock a warm cherry for peninsula countertop
- Walls (into keeping room) and the Inch around sink wall/trim = silver gray 2131-60
- Trims = Cloud white OC-130
- Accessories = Smoke stack gray 2131-40, and stainless steel and chrome, and crystal knobs

Nimbus Gray, with espresso glaze:

Cloud white:

Silver gray:

Smokestack Gray:

Kinda like this bathroom w/ the dark cabs, marble countertop, blue/gray walls:

This bathroom wall is BM nimbus gray w/ the nice trim, and dark cabinet.

So sorry for the bad copy/paste job, but I got the blue/grey inspiration from an Ethan Allan catalog. I then put Christine's cherry island against it.

What do you think?
Too dark w/ all the dark cherry cabinets?
Too baby blue (especially the silver gray)?

Thank you very much,
(now back to my accounting hole: only 4 more days until I see daylight!)
Amanda