I just bought a house (3rd home for us) and renovated the first floor, with the exception of the master wing. I loved the bones of the house, but hated the kitchen: Oak cabinets, 12x12 white tile (lots of dirty grout), and horrible white formica countertops. We gutted the kitchen, added a pass through arch into the living room, and renovated it.
I modeled it after this kitchen, right down to the dark cherry cabinets, white granite with a bunch of different colored specks in it (black, brown, khaki, and silver), and 5" wood floors, though I went with natural cumaru hardwood because American walnut is too soft. (Cumaru is ~3x harder than red oak.)
I love it. I’m thinking the OPer REALLY doesn’t understand me.
I personally would have stuck with the oak, but the rest looks fine. I have to side with the “don’t like dark cabinets” contingent, since it IMO tends to make the room look darker and a bit on the gloomy side.
About 15 years ago I replaced the tile countertops in my kitchen with granite and loved it. That was before granite was A Thing, though.
But now in the course of my work-days (painting contractor) I am in and out of high-end homes all the time and honestly, the granite counter/dark cabinets/glass tile backsplash/wood or tile floors brushed whatever appliances all look the same to me. Nice, but…meh, boring. Everyone (who can afford it) has them now. It’s like a bunch of lemmings; no individual thought. People go on Pinterest or watch home shows, and suddenly must have what everyone else is having.
I now dislike that whole look, not because I dislike all the separate parts (love all of them in the right context), but because it’s so freaking trendy and unoriginal. And guaranteed, in 10-15 years time, all the people who spend $50-100K on a kitchen are going to face having a dated-looking house that will need updating or be sold at a discount because it’s not the Latest Thing.
Granite and tile suppliers and installers are happy everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon, though. I’ve refinished so many cabinets from light to dark wood in the last two years for people unwilling to cough up for all-new custom cabinets I can do it in my sleep (next such job coming up in two weeks.)
My own kitchen has light painted and glazed (by me) kitchen cabinets, faux-butcher block formica counter tops, vinyl tile floor and white appliances. And celery-green walls. I’d love a bamboo floor though. I know it’s trendy but I’ve seen a few and love how they look and wear.
This is why I don’t like granite counters. I would expect glass and ceramic dishes to chip and/or break on occasion. I’ll be re-doing my kitchen soon (water damage from above) and plan on installing copper-covered counters.
That’s not so much a rectangular floor tile trend as a one brand trend. They started making their tiles a non-standard size so they’d be instantly recognizable and impossible to mix with other brands, and they sponsor several HDTV programs. I saw their tiles, thought “let me guess, is one of the sponsors”, and yep, there they were.
Meh, poor design is poor design, the materials are irrelevant. I live in a cold climate and look at plenty of white stuff for most of the year, no way do I want white in my kitchen.
Granite doesn’t have to be dark and stainless doesn’t have to be cold. Warm yellow Brazilian granite with dark chocolate cabinets and floor work wonderfully together in my house, especially with large south facing windows. All that light would be blinding in a white kitchen.
When I say “tile” that doesn’t include “stone”, which is extracted rather than cooked and should be cut to size (granite and marble are not “tile”). Spanish and Italian brands come in very specific sizes, except for that brand.
Does these people know that stone must be re-sealed every 10-20 years?
Do they know that, unless re-coated, hardwood (the real stuff, not the “picture-on-MDF” laminate will warp and twist.
Tile can be grouted and sealed to last over 100 years - if you big city still has its “Union Station”, it is over 100 years old - and the tile is fine.
The folks who bought my house (streetcar line) were determined to pull up the heave carpet an 5/8" pad and restore the “hardwood” floor.
There was a reason I put that down before moving in - it cut the noise by 1/3.
Good luck kids - you may have screwed me on price, but you’re going to spend your “savings” re-doing your mistakes.
We just got done doing our kitchen remodel/refresh. The main reason was really to get a full sized dishwasher. Buying the house 3 years ago, it came with an 18" wide dishwasher which is frankly a pain in the ass. To do that, we had to downsize the kitchen sink which meant a new countertop and it snowballed from there.
Now here it is with the Cambria countertop and a new backsplash (The faucet wasn’t installed yet when I took the pic) . We had cabinets made to match the old ones (we love the wood fronts.) And bought stainless steel appliances that don’t get all streaky/dusty.
We also kept the wood floor that’s been in the house since it was built 100+ years ago. I’m not sure I understand the hate towards it. I’ve found it’s much better than tile to keep clean. I can understand disliking laminate/Pergo floors though. My parents had that installed then their dishwasher leaked and they had to replace the quickly warped area.
I’m in the beginning stages of thinking about a kitchen remodel. I have a small “condo” kitchen. Ceramic tile floor which is staying. I will be replacing the cabinets with maple because I had maple cabinets in my married house and they were beautiful. I dislike granite countertops but may go with Corian because it’s sturdy but I would be fine with Formica. New appliances will be white. It’s MY house and that’s how I want it.
I can see the trend toward stainless appliances because it’s such a neutral “color” and looks OK with almost anything. But a stainless fridge = no magnets (yep, stainless used for appliances is NON-MAGNETIC). And in fact when we had to replace our oven a couple years ago we went with stainless because when we can afford to, we want to redo the cabinetry - and wanted something that would look acceptable regardless.
We did a major kitchen remodel at our last place in 2001 and got everything in “bisque” which looked way better to my eyes than pure white.
Granite has lots of good qualities - but I actually avoided it during the remodel because it can stain (and I believe it must be resealed ). We actually wound up with a solid surface (Corian), which had the advantage of the backsplash being made as one piece with the countertip (no caulking / grout to redo or catch crumbs).
Dark cabinetry is a matter of taste: with a suitably bright room and light walls, it would look OK (I went for a lighter maple color).
Hardwood in the kitchen is the rule of the devil. We have it here and I hate it. I’d much rather have a good quality vinyl.
Ever set a hot pan down on formica? Ever tear the linoleum moving the fridge? I have in my 1960s house full of “put the cheapest junk in” stuff. There’s a reason besides vanity people go for durable finishes.
Um, nope. I grew up keeping a trivet by the stove and when moving an appliance used intelligence and set things up to use a hand truck to move anything reasonably heavy. Not to mention the fairly large wooden cutting board that also permanently lives on my counter which can be used as an impromptu trivet.
I believe in mise en place cooking - since I realize I am cooking and will need certain ingredients and tools, I get them ready when I start, and I wash things up as I go along. Simple planning.
I have no idea what you’re talking about as I do not live in Spain or Italy (more like Jersey City, NJ). The local Home Despot has a bunch of brands with the large rectangular tiles…but in any case, I was talking about marble and travertine tiles. I don’t know if Emser Strands (I’m assuming that’s who you’re referencing) started the trend or not. I think those tiles are all okay.
In a “hallelujah” home renovation moment, my husband has finally chosen and ordered the ridiculously expensive professional range hood after circling around it like a cat for about a month and a half. I am so ready for this year’s renovations to be done but we still have at least 4 weekends worth of painting ahead of us. I’m doing a black wall in one of the bedrooms! (Behr Black Sable)
Not necessarily. It depends on the type of stainless steel - the front of my stainless steel Electrolux fridge is not magnetic, but the sides most certainly are. It’s possible that the steel on the sides is just a thin cover over a more ferrous core or are of a different grade, but I’ve got magnets all along the side of my fridge.
I don’t dislike wood floors, I dislike the snobbish way house hunters will walk into a home and want to rip out the perfectly good brand new flooring to replace it with hardwood and then cover it up with rugs. What a waste of money! I actually love old wood floors, or wood floors in brand new construction. I don’t like the clickety clack of laminate though. Sounds hollow and cheap. We can’t do wood because we have 2 aging chihuahuas with tiny bladders.
Me too.
Wow, black is brave! I’m debating on whether to do one wall in the kitchen in Cobalt blue. I might chicken out though.
We’ve lived in a condo with granite counters for 4.5 years and never chipped or broken anything. The granite was here when we got here, and I looooove not having to worry about staining anything or burning the counter with a hot pot.
The wood floors, OTOH, have the finish coming off in spots after a bit over 10 years since the building was gut-rehabbed. Someday I’ll get around to dealing with that, but if I had my druthers, we’d have a stone kitchen floor. (Not anytime soon, though - too expensive and disruptive.)
