Kitchen Remodel

[blueberryhill]

Weird. I could have sworn I already posted the first of these pics. General color scheme for the kitchen. I'm leaning towards maple cabinets and dark (or somewhat dark) hardwood floors. The cabinetry around the fireplace would be different...darker. But I'm thinking about something like this (neither of these photos is near exactly what I have in mind...just a feel).

Thoughts?

For starters, I think the counter top on this one should be darker (picking up more of the dark in the multi-shaded wood)....



This one is pretty but I find the cabinets to be kind of boring.



The second floor looks a lot more "rich" to me than the first. I don't think I like the plank size or color mix in the first floor.

My brain is going to explode.

Decorating is my passion. Here is my opinion....I don't like the floors...they look like oak and I don't personally like oak (makes it look dated)....look on websites before you go to stores just to try to narrow choices....I picked a handscraped engineered wood, but it gives a rustic, different tones of dark wood (mine was teak), but their are beautiful woods out there. I just wouldn't use oak.

Cabinets....I have cherry cabinets here in Phoenix and white cabinets in house in Colorado....In my future house, I would choose alder or hickory cabinets......or go white, white, not antique white. Again, these cabinets look dated. If you choose white, look at those with vertical panels in the doors and a couple of cabinets with glass doors.

"They" say granite is on the way out and new countertops are quartz, wood, concrete, stainless, etc.....I would explore that and even consider tile countertops which were popular in 90's, but today can look even richer with glass tiles, and newer, more durable materials....I wouldn't want stainless or wood for my countertops....Concrete can be beautiful, but they are expensive.....you can even use granite tiles.....I mean, if money is no object, then I might consider concrete countertops. Amazing how they can blend colors into concrete for beautiful designs (on floors also)....popular here in warmer climates. If you have dark floors, and white cabinets, I would use dark countertops for contrast against cabinets, but blending with floor.....