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lisaa007

Mixing cabinet finishes

lisa_a
14 years ago

Instead of taking over jacy's thread (see link), I thought I'd best start my own. Jacy's post along with others' feedback and encouragement sparked a new direction for our kitchen.

So here's the back story. We had intended to keep all our existing GO cabs, painting them to update them, and adapting them as needed with wish list items - new oven, new convection/microwave, warming drawer, new fridge, and a bigger island. Turns out the cost to add on to existing island to make it bigger is about the same as it would cost to build it new. That's one new cabinet.

Then I had this great idea to turn our nook cabs into a hutch, with a charging station (behind doors) between the upper display cabs and the lower cabs. Finally bills and paperwork would be behind doors and not spread over my counters! That's another new cabinet.

New cabinets gives us the chance to build with our favorite wood, quartersawn oak. Our fireplace mantel, built by hubby and dad, is made of quartersawn oak. We have many family heirloom pieces that are quartersawn or rift sawn oak, as well as flat sawn oak.

Sounds good, right? I thought so, too, until I realized that it gets a bit complicated because we're trying to use as many existing cabs and make it look cohesive with the few new pieces we're adding.

I met with our designer this morning and here's where we left it: cream painted uppers (BM Hush) with quartersawn oak lowers, island and hutch. We'd paint the 20 year old flat sawn oak kitchen table blue (BM Luxe). I *love* this idea and thought we had it settled. And then I realized shortly after she left the hiccup. The island and hutch are new pieces but the lowers are flat sawn - there's my "doh!" moment. I did check into refacing the lowers with quartersawn oak but my concern is that this will be a different contractor than the cabinet maker. Has anyone dealt with this before? Is this an issue? Are we better off replacing the existing lowers with new cabs? Then we're almost getting into all new cabinets - not where we thought we'd go with this when we started.

Another possibility is to do cream painted uppers, blue painted lowers for the perimeter, and quartersawn island and hutch. This allows us to work with more of our existing cabs instead of replacing them. I like the idea of 3 quartersawn pieces - the existing fireplace mantle, and the new island and hutch - one in each section of that big space but beyond that, I'm not sure. And do we paint the table blue or leave it stained oak?

One other option is to do cream painted perimeter cabs, uppers and lowers, with quartersawn oak island & hutch. I like the look but my concern comes back to my family's wear and tear on the painted cabinets, even with the protective finishes, because they are a light color. It's all boys in the family (I'm including hubby ;-) plus the myriad teen boys that wander through on a regular basis.

The kitchen and nook is 18 x 15'3" (kitchen is 10' x 14'6") and the family room is 15"6" x 15'3". Floors will be flat sawn red oak in a medium walnut stain.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mixing white uppers with wood lowers

Comments (13)

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thought I'd add the link to a previous post about my kitchen with layout and pics. We've gone with slightly warmer paint and tiles that actually look closer to the photo of the original choices than the original choices looked IRL.

    The layout is staying the same. It works for us (yes, even with the cooktop in the island) and it's cost effective to leave everything where it is.

    Here's a funny odd thing. I stopped at a big box store to look at laminate for a future laundry room remodel. Turns out Wilsonart's Jeweled Sapphire is almost an exact match to butterfly blue granite. So now I have a portable sample of our granite. How cool is that?

    Here is a link that might be useful: help with layout, please (pic heavy)

  • rhome410
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I like the idea of painting the old base cabs...but if you want the table to be blue, I might consider a dark or chocolaty brown for the lowers...Something that will be a bit darker than your oak (maybe the oclor of the darkest part of the stained grain), but not a whole new additional color. This would also make the kitchen more neutral for changes in the future if the blue got old, you got a new table, or whatever.

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Good idea, rhome, but I might take it a step further. Stain the table the same color as the lowers instead of painting it blue. I like mixing it up (love your kitchen!) but I have to be careful not to go overboard. I think there would be enough going on if we had medium walnut toned oak floors, light stained quartersawn red oak island & hutch, dark stained flat sawn oak and cream painted uppers. I have enough blue in the room already (it's the whole family's favorite color with red and green close behind) so I can give this up easily. Or I could put it in the area rugs I want in the work areas and under the kitchen table.

    I am going to get a quote to replace the lower cabs in the perimeter. I found a very good, reasonably priced cabinet maker through krissd (her kitchen is gorgeous!) so it might not be as scary as I fear. Besides, it doesn't cost anything to ask for a quote.

    I wish I knew how to doctor a photo to see how these ideas would look. I can sort of see it in my mind's eye but I'd like a better visual.

    Decisions, decisions, no wonder my head hurts!

  • michellemarie
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    There is an episode of Kitchen Renovations with host Paul Ryan that comes to mind and may be useful for you. I believe it is the DIY network, but if you good the above info it will pop up. Just go to index for the show or google hearth room with the above info. That was the name of the episode. The homeowner took various base and upper cabinets to construct a huge island. I think she also refaced and painted her existing perimeter cabinetry. It was fantastic. It is one of my favorite episodes. I almost didn't order new cabinets after watching this episode. I hope this is helpful to you.

  • rhome410
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lisa_a, I sent you an email yesterday (Tues.) and wanted to be sure you received it...Sometimes they don't show up, or they get lost in a Junk mail folder.

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I did, rhome, and emailed you back. Thank you!

    Thanks, michellemarie, I'll go hunt down that episode. I had already come up with the idea of adding some trim at the bottom of the upper cabinets to cover some of the face frame. We have a rather large undercabinet light box and the original cabinet maker didn't cover it up with the cabinet doors. But I think adding trim at the bottom, complimenting the molding we want to add to the top to build the cabs to the ceiling, will be a nice finishing touch. I saw this type of detail on cabs in several magazines, including new cabs so I think it will work just fine.

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    michellemarie, I couldn't find much with a google search or with a search at DIY (only snippets of info with 3 tiny pictures) but I did find out that the episodes on the Hearth Room's island and vent hood will be repeated May 29th at 6am & 6:30am PDT. I'll set the Tivo up. Thanks for the heads up!

  • rhome410
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lisa, I hope you haven't been waiting for me to let you know I got your email before you send another one with the drawings and specifics for yours. I've been watching for it.

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No, rhome, I've just been too busy today to get to it. I'm event co-chair for a big fundraiser that is just around the corner so I'm being pulled away from kitchen play time to attend to event duties.

    Thanks, again, for your offer. I'm delighted to have your help!

  • rhome410
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You mean you have a life outside the forum and your kitchen plans?! Isn't that against the forum rules? ;-D

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    shhhh, don't let my secret get out! LOL

  • lisa_a
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    rhome, I sent you an email with attachments. I downsized them so hopefully it won't tax your email program. Thank you!

  • rhome410
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Got it! Will take a day or two, maybe, to get the plan worked out and try some things to send you.