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phillyfeet_gw

stuck with a vision or open to new ideas?

phillyfeet
10 years ago

We met with a custom cabinet maker a couple of weeks ago and picked cabinet colors, door style, counter tops, pulls, sinks. Several of the choices surprised my husband and myself because they are nothing like what i tend to gravitate towards. I left thinking "what did i just pick???!" Since then I have been scouring houzz, trying to find other kitchens with similar choices. I also reviewed the many kitchen photos in my idea book and found a definite pattern that is different than what i picked. Is it just that once you see things in real life, you realize that you like other things, or am i going to be disappointed?

Basically, my idea book on Houzz is filled with transitional kitchens with white recessed paneled cabinets (both inset and full overlay - no predominant preference) with white/ light counter tops (marble,granite,quartzite) and an island either white with wood top or stained wood with same counter as perimeter.

What did i pick out seems so much more traditional to me - raised panel door, white on perimeter, mahogany stained island. Cambria Bellingham perimeter and Torquay island and anthracite silgranit main and prep sinks! The island is totally me, but the sinks, raised panel and perimeter counter top has me worried. Part of it was some compromises i was trying to make with my husband.

I guess my question is - did anyone's kitchen end up not being like what they initially thought they wanted, but they ended up loving it even more? Nothing is set yet - i can change my mind, but maybe my gut choices at the cabinet maker is what i should stick with.

Comments (10)

  • raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
    10 years ago

    Were they "gut choices" or were they attempts to please?
    To me, a "gut choice" would be an instant affinity, and that I would stick with.
    Otherwise, if it was compromise (nothing wrong with that unless you think you really would be unhappy with the results) or, more importantly, responding to a little voice in your head (your mother's, or the neighbor's, or someone else's) telling you to play it safe, or go with the standard, or otherwise doubting what you love -- that I would re-think.

  • fishymom
    10 years ago

    Great post, I totally agree with Raee! I have had reservations about some of my choices also, but when I really think about it with a clear head, it is usually some "should" that is making me question my choices. My new kitchen is just in the beginning stage of remodel, day 1 demo was Saturday, but some of the choices we have already made are quite different from what I thought I would choose. I have learned that when I trust my gut feeling, I am always happy with the end result!

  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    10 years ago

    I've sold countertops for over twenty years and can't recall an instance where a husband has vetoed a wife's choice.

    Ladies if you've got a fussy one, pick the top three you can live with and make him pick one. Yes, it's probably sexist, but it's better this way.

    Dang, I could lose my man card over this.

  • phillyfeet
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the replies. Trebruchet you have me laughing - but that is a really good piece of advice!

  • romy718
    10 years ago

    "Since then, I've been scouring houzz, trying to find other kitchens with similar choices." Been there. Since nothing is set yet, I'd recommend you go back and look at the choices you are doubting. Also, look at what you might consider as an alternative to those choices. You'll get the "gut reaction" about what is right or wrong. Just explain to your husband that you are TKO & need to know everything is just right.

  • cevamal
    10 years ago

    Can you find pictures (Houzz or elsewhere) of a similar combo to what you're now looking at?

    I have zero imagination so every time we switched things around I needed to find example kitchens to get an idea of what it was going to look like.

    Also, can your KD do renderings of your current plan? Seeing a "cartoon version" in our space helped a ton.

    I was stuck on a vision but ended up being open to new ideas. Mine was about appliances and layout instead of the final "look". I'd always wanted a cooktop in the island and the kind folks here beat that notion out of me. ;)

  • phillyfeet
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I can find pictures with the "runner up" counter choice and i do like that - it was in my idea book already, but i didn't realize it was quartz. At the cabinet maker's, I thought it was too boring. Funny, cause most of my favorite kitchen photos do have very neutral (boring?) counter tops and i love it when it all comes together.

    But here's the other thing, months ago, i stopped in the local fabricator show room and he showed me a piece of pentalquartz that my husband and i loved. I think Bellingham is very similar in terms of colors and pattern. I found pictures of it on Houzz and it really is just as "busy" which is my biggest concern with the Cambria Bellingham quartz. If i go with the Cambria, maybe i wasn't that far off from my original idea.

    As for the flat vs raised panel, my husband said i could do either and he would be fine with that. I am considering doing raised on doors and the matching flat panel on the drawers - i've seen some kitchens with that and i liked it.

    Thanks to all of you for letting me get this all of my mind and onto "paper"

  • lascatx
    10 years ago

    "At the cabinet maker's, I thought it was too boring."

    When you look at elements in isolation, you can start thinkint this way. If you pick the most fabulous or most striking elements, together, you can wind up with the "too many clowns" problem. Keep in mind that it is how they come together that will mater most in the end and you typically need some quieter elements to pull it together.

    Our process was some keeping the visoin and some changes, but we also started with a bit of a conflict because I've always like white kitchens and have bought 3 of my 4 houses with them. The 4th had natural maple cabinets. DH and I both loved cherry and talked about using cherry cabinets -- until we started pulling it together and I was afraid of it being too dark and too much brown with out adjoining breakfast and family rooms. And I wanted something different -- never liked the "Tuscan" kitchen that was everywhere and was really sick of the builder same olds. We would up with white perimeter, knotty cherry island and breakfast room hitch and a backdrop wall of tall blue storage cabinets surrounding the fridge.

    Take your time planning, looking at online and magazine photos and even taking colored pencils to your elevation drawings to look at options if you need to. It is time well spent.

  • Mgoblue85
    10 years ago

    Philly - I have raised panel doors and slab drawers - I like the variation as I though all raised would be too much.

  • lavender_lass
    10 years ago

    My mom did the same thing...she had talked about a white or light yellow kitchen with light counter tops and a darker (maybe wood) floor. She ended up choosing maple cabinets, a dark counter top and a light floor. She really likes it! But I couldn't believe how different it was from the pictures she had saved. The only thing she (sometimes) regrets is the light colored floor...but only when she's just finished cleaning it :)