help with kitchen design

11 years ago

hello everyone! I just bought my first house and this is my first time on gardenweb :), also my first time renovating a kitchen so I would love some advice. My kitchen is posted below. It's 12x16. I plan to move the fridge over to the other side of the wall, bythe window so I can open up the wall to over look the dining room. There's already a window there but I dont' like it, I want it to be more open. In addition, I'm planning to add a center island for workspace and a bar above the sink. My budget is not big, in fact really low so I'm not getting new cabinets as of now, just appliances and paint. However, I'm so torn between an espresso kitchen and an antique white kitchen. There's lighting with the nice bay window so I'm not worried about the room being dark with espresso but I do love the thought off havign a bright antique white kitchen with dark gray/taupe walls. I love both but I'm having trouble picturing which one will look best in my kitchen, with the standard cabinets that I have. Below are a couple pictures of similar kitchen layouts. What are your thoughts, what should I do? Would it even look good with my standard short cabinets? I feel like if I go with white, my kitchen won't be as nice since I don't have custom cabinets. ugh, decisions, decisions! Thanks in advance!

espresso

{{!gwi}}

Antique white/whtie

Comments (7)

piggyspen
11 years ago
We just remodeled our kitchen and we went with white cabinets, taupe walls and blue pearl granite countertop. I love the white. We redid the window above the sink going to a 5 foot wide, 4 foot high window, which gives lots of light. The dark is pretty, but I love my white.
akrogirl
11 years ago
One of the posters here, Celticmoon, did an amazing job of staining her cabinets. I have included the link to a thread which details the process she used as well photos of the final result. That may help to give you a better feel of what can be achieved by a DIYer. She inspired many other posters to go the staining route with great success. You might find you prefer that finish to a painted one, if you choose to go dark - which I think would work well for your kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Staining thread
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MichaelMcC
11 years ago
Hello everyone. I'm remodeling my galley kitchen. It's a gut renovation. I'm planning on installing espresso cabinets and am having fevers about the counter tops and back splash. I am leaning toward contrasting white/light granite for the counter tops and white subway tile for the back splash. My contractor /designer is pushing New Venetian Gold granite. I'm simply not thrilled with NVG. Is it stupid of me to hang on to my desire for lighter granite? My concern is moving the colors from dark to light. I seem to be hung up on white back splash as it lightens my narrow space. The lighter granite seems to me to move in that direction. NVG granite seems to anchor the colors too much to the dark cabinets.
angie_diy
11 years ago
Michael: You should probably start your own thread asking about this. See the "New to Kitchens" thread for some guidance.

Here is a link that might be useful: New to Kitchens?
BauformatUSA
11 years ago
We do kitchen design Free of charge: Modern and traditional style kitchens.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bauformat modern kitchen cabinets Los Angeles
stealthecrumbs
11 years ago
Check out AbouttogetDusty's kitchen... she had a soffit above the sink that was tied into the overall design by some very pretty custom molding. Wonder if that might be an option for you? Her kitchen is such an inspiration for me!

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg072200047176.html

I LOVE a white kitchen!
lavender_lass
11 years ago
Are you changing your countertops or backsplash? If you're just doing paint and appliances, you want something that will look good with your current countertops and floor.

I have a similar kitchen scheme...medium wood tone cabinets, with off white counter tops. I'm concerned that if I paint the cabinets, they'll make the countertops look dirty.

As for the window/opening over the sink...are you sure you want to move the fridge? Maybe just leave it 'as is' or take out the small upper on either side of the opening and widen it a bit? Do you have a floor plan for your room, to see how these changes will affect your overall layout?

Do you need all new appliances? Would you be better served to keep a few and change the countertops instead? Just a few possibilities to consider...