another view

ok one more :) also i dont know if this makes any difference but my kitchen is 17 x 17.

Though my mother's kitchen is about 30 years old, she did a black and white kitchen in an apt: white melamine frameless cabinets, black ceramic tile floor with black grout, and black handles on the cabinets/drawers, black formica countertop, white walls. The fridge and stove are white. All of this has lasted all these years and it STILL looks fabulous, which I just can't understand.
The whole apt is painted with white walls and black glossy paint for the doors and door trim. It's an awesome color scheme, especially with colorful paintings and furniture.

I like your kitchen rendition and I think it would look lovely.

Do you have any inspiration kitchen photos? If so, without analyzing them post your 3 favs. Do it quick.

I love the gray bs you posted. To me it would be a must have in that kitchen but that's me as I love grays.

I love that look. If you love it you should go with it. If you want a change down the road you can always paint the black cabinets another color. I think the style is timeless.

I think it would look gorgeous! Your desired scheme reminds me of a stunning kitchen designed by Tommy Smythe, a well-known Canadian interior designer.

[Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-ideas-phbr0-bp~t_709)

Check out more photos of this kitchen photos at the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooms Bloom blog: Tommy Smythe

What does the rest of your house look like? How is this in the big picture??

@suburbanrancher thanks for your help. My biggest fear is that in 30 years I will be sick of it but it helps to know that your mothers after 30 years still look fabulous :)
@lavender_lass thanks for your help :)

@ debrak_2008 my problem is that I have tooooooo many inspiration photos. I love everything!!! Lol I also love the gray but I will probably end up with a lighter mosaic tile so it wonâÂÂt look so dark -- thank you :)

@JoyzKitchen Thanks so much I appreciate it :)

@ lisa_a wowowow I love that and I love those floors!!! Thanks for your help. I will deff be saving that picture! And thanks for posting the link its helpful :)

@palimpsest I would say my house is a mix or modern and traditional :/ if that makes sense. Right now my living room is beige with a burgundy accent with black couches so it will all tie in together but down the line we plan to change it.

This post was edited by jennifer11203 on Thu, May 16, 13 at 17:14

The reason I asked about the inspiration photos was to find the common threads. Sometimes "you can't see the forest for the trees". As in you can see the big picture because you are too close.The talented people here would help cut to the chase.

Edited for spelling and clarity.

This post was edited by debrak_2008 on Fri, May 17, 13 at 12:05

What do the "bones" of your house look like? What do the bathrooms look like? The trim? The exterior? I think that makes a big difference in the longevity of a kitchen remodel.

Personally, I adore black and white. I wear it all the time. I decorate with it all the time. But, like lavendar_lass I personally have concerns about the longevity of the two-toned cabinet style/trend. Having a kitchen of black and white sounds beautiful and something I personally would like for a long time. And your mockups look really lovely. The only part that worries me about going out of style is the two-toned cabinet aspect.

Jennifer, I like black and white kitchens and feel, as others have mentioned, that you can change the accent colors as you wish. Would you mind telling me the name of the program you used to do your kitchen mock-up?
Thanks, Helene

I don't think I would tire of it, but I think with a palette this strong it would have to be consistent with adjacent rooms, kind of like suburbanrancher's mom's.

I think the two tone kitchen is more trendy right now, but it isn't a trend. There are two apartment buildings in my area, one from the early 1960s and one from the mid 70s -early 80s (several towers) and they Both have two tone kitchens with dark lowers and white uppers in the original kitchens. So it may become less popular, but it shouldn't disappear altogether.

@ debrak_2008 lol Ok I understand, thank you. I will go look for some inspiration pics I saved and post them in a few.

@ pricklypearcactus I think my house is pretty modern.. including the bathrooms so I donâÂÂt think I would have a problem with it fitting in with the rest of the house plus we are doing a lot of renovations to in that case we will make it fit in lol - Thanks for your help :)

@ mykitchensdone thanks for your help I agree with you on the accent colors thatâÂÂs what I like best with the black and white combo. The app I used believe it or not was IKEA 3D kitchen planner. Those are actually all IKEA cabinets.

@ palimpsest Thanks for your help thatâÂÂs good to know that its been around that long. I guess it came back in style lol :)

I'm glad you understood my post because I just re-read it and I didn't understand it! I edited for clarity.

@ debrak_2008 --- lolol i understood what you meant. The link below is some of my inspiration pics (i dont know how to add more than one pic at a time). Im realizing looking through pictures that i had a lot of white and not to many espresso - i guess thats a sign lol

http://s1335.photobucket.com/user/jennskee/slideshow/Kitchen Insp

This post was edited by jennifer11203 on Fri, May 17, 13 at 12:36

I am a sucker for black and white kitchens... but not ones that look "heavy".

Here's some more inspiration pics I've saved from my time on GW.

I think just having the black on the lowers and going with a lighter BS (glad you are not going with gray) will help it from becoming heavy, dark or dated.

@Steph2000 yea i love the two toned look and i love the pictures you posted i will be sure to save them. And for my blacksplash Im trying to look for something that will tie the two together. i saw something in home depot i will post a pic next time im there (which will be tomorrow lol) to show you the one i had in mind. thanks for your help :)

It seems to me that any kitchen we build today is going to look dated in 20 years, and we might tire of any color scheme in that time period. I also know that we get used to what we have. It's not the blue laminate countertop that I hate about my old kitchen (well, I hate it, but I no longer see it after 25 years); it's the inefficient use of space that has pushed me into a remodel.

A kitchen that is functional and fun to work in will continue to be so for decades.

@annkh i couldnt agree more. thats how i kind of feel.. but i feel like with the white and black cabinets if i did get sick of them there are more options latter on then just having all espresso cabinets - thanks for the advice :) and my plan is since i have such a big space i will have it as functional as possible so later on i dont say "why didnt i do this, why didnt i do that" blah blah blah lol -- ill prob say that anyway lol

I think it's pretty certain everything will look dated or somewhat beat up in 30 years so get what you want. Sounds like you have your heart set on that floor and the 2 tone scheme will always be more unique than espresso which IMO is on the back end of a trend that started at least 10 years ago, at least in my area.
Please keep us posted; love seeing what everyone is working on!

@island thanks for your help i feel the same way. yes i love the floor for the longest time i wanted wood tiles i have white tiles now and hate them. and as for the espresso cabinets i kind of feel the same way but theres still a part of me that likes them lol i dunno - i will deff keep you guys posted. :)

I love the inspiration pic that lisa a posted! It's black and white, yet still warm and classic! Go for it! Any kitchen will potentially look somewhat dated, so go with what you like. I think wood cabs date themselves faster than painted in many cases.

Jennifer I still like them too and if was looking to do wood stained I would consider the espresso or the new kid on the block, walnut because I don't like a lot of shades of brown but I want white this time around.

Kind of know how you feel to be torn between what you want and playing it safe. When I did my kitchen 12 years ago I wanted white but was afraid of how it would wear and husband couldn't fathom not having wood stained cabs. The choice was still mine, but I chickened out and compromised with a light maple and pretty much regretted it from the start. This time I'm going with my heart's desire and wear and trends be damned!

I love black and white or even all black but my space is probably too small for B& W and not bright enough for all black.

If you get a change, could you please post some of your B&W inspiration photos. Would love to see them! Thanks.

@ Lake_Girl ��" Thanks for your help. I thinking IâÂÂm leaning more towards the black and the white then the espresso I kind of feeling like the espresso is a little boring. Lol and I love that picture Lisa A posted, especially the floors!!

@ island IâÂÂm the same way. IâÂÂm not really into the wood look unless there dark. I donâÂÂt know what it is. I love cherry though. My floors are cherry wood throughout the house but I wanted something different in the kitchen. My finance was all for the espresso and completely against the white but I think he finally realized that if we go with the espresso there is a lot of things that will not work that we originally wanted. I love all black also but IâÂÂm afraid its too dark. Also, ill post a link in a few just have to gather some pictures.
Heres some:
http://s1335.photobucket.com/user/jennskee/slideshow/Kitchen Insp

And, you know, another option is to go with a black island and white perimeter. One of the inspiration pics has that and it looks great, IMHO. If I had an island, I'd probably go that way. Much easier to change it up later...

@ Steph2000 Thanks. I thought about that but my fiancé isnâÂÂt for it. He is against all white cabinets for some reason of which I donâÂÂt know but in the end I think I like the two-toned look better. But I do like the look of the all white and the black island. :)

@island - here is a link to some of the ones i have saved ---http://s1335.photobucket.com/user/jennskee/library/Black%20and%20White

Sorry didn't notice that you already posted a link. Appreciate that you posted it again for this non observant skimmer! You have a lot of variety in your inspiration pics, so I imagine yours are probably not all about the cabs.

Recognize GW Phylhl's beautiful two tone kitchen in there. That RedRock backsplash in Twig is awesome! I could easily see designing a kitchen around that. Love it.

@island its ok i dont mindâ¦.. Yup I have a lot of ideas and variety lol thatâÂÂs my biggest problem lol --- I love GW Phylhl's kitchen and I absolutely love that backsplash. I also love that look on the floor (picture above posted by Lisa A) - made me rethink my wood floors lol :)

Yes agree love that floor; it really makes the space. Love lanterns. I also love too many things!

island, if it makes you feel any better about the possibility of black and white in a small kitchen: my mother's kitchen is a galley about 6 feet wide. I think the white walls and cabinets help keep it bright.

Jennifer not sure if you meant you want wood tiles or tiles that look like wood, but check out this beautiful floor. Kind of has that herringbone thing going on. In a small pic on Houzz I thought the island was black, but here in a large pic it's navy blue.

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Other Metro Cabinets Farmers

I love your ideas - if you are sick of it in 10 - 15 years - paint again!

@island I love that look. The ones I chose look just like wood floors except there tiles.

@lisase thank you :)

The ceramic that looks like wood is amazing. We plan to put in hardwood floors everywhere, at least on first floor and if I wasn't doing that I'd want the wood look ceramic in my kitchen too, but I don't think it would look good butting up next to the real thing. Maybe in a couple of bathrooms upstairs though. Love it.

@Island we have Brazilian cherry wood through the whole house and decides that in the kitchen we would use the ceramic wood tile in another color. Hopefully it wouldn't clash since they two it would be so close to the cherry wood floor.