kitchen inspiration

There are many things to love about our kitchen. The layout, storage, openness to the family room. The cabinet stain and counter tops? Not so much. Along with the textured, dingy white wallpaper.

Upper peninsula cabinets - GONE! So much better. But now we have the awkward faux header.

The kitchen is coming along, and we've mentioned some of our plans for it, but I thought it'd be fun to share some of my kitchen inspiration and some of the plans we have, aside from removing the upper cabinets. When we were house hunting and purposely looking at outdated houses (so many of the new ones just didn't click), we figured painting the cabinets would be a relatively easy and inexpensive (I did say relatively) fix for outdated kitchens.

For awhile we were gungho on painting the cabinets, then started to back off. Now we're back on the paintin' train. Some of this has to do with the soapstone and butcher block combo Mike's been dreaming about (and I also like, we agree for once!), which does not work with stained wood. It's also a great way to brighten up the space. And we just keep getting drawn to kitchens with painted cabinets, even though we love a good wood grain.

So first, a round of soapstone and butcher block ...

ohsolovely

decorpad

We've seen the block as an island top, but some people do their whole counters in butcher. However, Mike and I "discovered" soapstone while visiting a local bakery and fell in love. It was of the dark, veined gray variety, and unlike black granite, it had a warmth to the touch and eye. We immediately started thinking about putting it into our "first house" (Mike's first house was on the market at that point). Soapstone ranges from light to dark gray (almost black), but you can also find green varieties. I think we lean more to the darker end (but not black), but we haven't really gone shopping yet (you won't find it at Lowe's or Home Depot). The one we saw was a mid to dark gray with lots of white veins and flecks. It was a much-used counter and wore the patina well.

People either love or hate these two counter top choices. Yes, butcher block can scratch and stain, but you can sand that down or just use a cutting board like you do on every other counter top. Most block lovers think of scratches as part of its patina and charm. Some people just do mineral oil treatments, others use sealants like Waterlox (especially if they install it around a sink). Soapstone also lends itself well to periodic mineral oil treatments. They're both also friendlier for DIY installation, as opposed to granite.

On a granite note, I've found maybe two granite slabs that made me go "WANT!" I understand it's been a longstanding thing for people, and that's totally fine. But I found the high polish/easy smudging of granite fussy and most patterns haven't interested me. 

As for the cabinets, we could do classic white, but we are also considering a subtle gray. I even looked at some soft green-gray options. We won't be re-doing the kitchen backsplash anytime soon, but I do love the green tile in this bottom picture and the broad planks of the island. The gray-and-white beamed ceiling also keeps this kitchen from being too cold.

There's also the option of restaining the cabinets, including using gel stain (to darken), and we considered that route, but we were concerned about darkening the kitchen. Of course, now that the peninsula cabinets are gone, the area is so much brighter and happy that we could probably get away with darkly stained cabinets. I've just never gravitated to them, and Mike said the kitchen he keeps seeing in his head has painted cabinets. Plus, you don't want dark soapstone with dark cabinets. Or maybe you do, Batman, that's cool.

There's oodles more inspiration kitchens on my Pinterest board. 



Green might be too bold for us here, but I do love this combo. Maybe a softer green?

Aside from counter tops, we have to think about color. Originally, I was leaning more toward a subtle green on the walls, but since we have the blue couch in the living room and our slightly green hay colored carpet, we went blue on the kitchen curtains and a subtle, neutral silver/blue/beige on table rug. It does help the couch not look like a random choice. We don't want a super blue house, so we might be leaning gray. Of course, the curtains cost us all of $13, so we could always switch down the road. 

Flattening the new rug. Pay no attention to the counter mess.

When we do choose our color, then I can re-paint those beige tiles on our back splash. I bought some cheapo tiles at ReStore to practice on, so if it looks awful, I haven't hurt anything.

And since we do not intend to paint the trim on the main level (Mike even dreams of replacing all of it), we'll have to choose wisely.

Speaking of trim, dusting and cleaning all of the main floor trim is big on our to-do list today. We party hard on the weekends!