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Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet Color

by | Aug 17, 2016 | Decorating Inspiration, My Kitchen, My Seattle House

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Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet Color
House & Home

F INALLY I can actually say we will be starting construction on our kitchen in just a few weeks. No more dreaming, it’s finally happening. What a long process to get to this point (lack of money and time always slows me down), but I’m thrilled to say that by the holidays this year (KNOCK ON WOOD!) we’ll be enjoying our new kitchen.

Today you’ll find inspiration photos that helped reinforce and influence our own kitchen choices to help you start to visualize the vibe we’ll be going for. None of them will have every element we are choosing, of course, but they all have a similar feel to them. I’ve shown several of these images in past posts since they were in our kitchen inspiration files, so they probably will look familiar.

Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet ColorZoldan Interiors – High Gloss Magazine

I spent months wrestling (agonizing, ha) over each decision (and there are still many final decisions to be made). Ya’ll know me, I love ALL THE KITCHENS. It’s really hard to commit to just one when there are so many colors and styles and combinations I’d be happy with. But since I can only have one kitchen here, I had to narrow down my options, including what elements seemed to fit best with our style, our kitchen layout, and our budget.

Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet ColorAtlanta Homes Magazine

The first real decision we made for this kitchen was made months ago, when we first moved in. Remember my dream of a Dutch door in the kitchen? It’s finally happening. Because a Dutch door feels like a friendly, homey cottage type vibe, we knew the rest of the kitchen needed to flow from that mood. So I guess you’d say the Dutch door was the key element we designed this kitchen around! And in fact, when I got my heart set on a specific color for the door, every other decision was easier to make.

Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet Color

In my last kitchen, we basically started our design with the floors. Since they were a very distinct grain and pattern (natural Hickory), every other decision flowed from what would make sense with the floors. The dark color of our previous cabinets brought contrast and strength against the wood grain and texture. Dark gray cabinets weren’t popular like they are now (I was actually really nervous no one would like my dark cabinets!), so even though it was not an expected choice at the time, it just felt like the right decision for that kitchen. In contrast to the dark cabinets, we had white walls, white counters, white upper cabinets and a white island If you’re new around here, you can find my previous kitchen reveal post and sources here!

Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet Color
Patti Wagner

Interestingly in my new kitchen, we are going to have white cabinets (unless I change my mind before I order them, ha) mixed with some other darker elements. We chose white this time, not because I want to rebel against the trend of dark cabinets now, or because we’ve “been there done that.” We chose white cabinets for our new kitchen because they will be a clean contrast to other elements (the floors we want, the hardware, the Dutch door). As much as I still love dark or colored cabinets, my Dutch door will be a feature with a strong color so it just feels right to have white cabinets.

Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet ColorSouthern Living

Over the past months, we found a few kitchen inspiration photos we all loved and discovered that while they were all unique, they all had a similar “mood” in common. Each kitchen in our inspiration file had different colored cabinets or mix of materials, but the mood was always simple, relaxed and inviting.

our kitchen mood: simple, homey, relaxed, inviting, classic, timeless.

To make each design decision easier, I thought about the mood we wanted and considered other goals. I wanted a kitchen that would be easy to update with the seasons. A clean backdrop was important to me because I wanted to be able to make simple changes to the room on a whim, like adding a different pattern or color of rug or accessories.  I wanted a kitchen we would love for years to come, but something future owners could live with, too, if we ever move. I began to picture our kitchen as having a classic “lake house” vibe and that seemed to help me narrow down many of my choices. I wanted it to have style and personality, but nothing too pristine, not too glamorous, not too fussy or fancy.

Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet ColorBungalow Magazine / Photo by Jared Tseng

Our Kitchen Mood & Our Cabinet Color
House Beautiful

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be making final design decisions so I’ll be able to share more details with you as things happen! Fall nesting will be in full swing throughout my house and in the kitchen this year so I CAN’T WAIT for FALL!

Catch up on some of our home progress so far: Dining Room Shiplap Wall / Fireplace Makeover / Living Room Botanicals & Dresser / Living Room DaybedMaster Bedroom / Guest Room / Basement White Brick FireplaceMy Son’s Room /// or scroll through all my Seattle house posts here to see inspiration and ideas!

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26 Comments

  1. Jann Newton

    Melissa, I love all of your inspirations pictures. Can’t wait to see the progress on your kitchen and the final reveal. I know it will be fabulous!

  2. Cathy

    What beautiful kitchen inspiration shots! How exciting that you’re able to get started with yours! It sounds like you have a real knack for knowing what suits the room rather than just following the trends. That will surely serve you best in the long run. I’m looking forward to following along with your progress!

  3. Kay

    We, too, put white kitchen cabs in our current re-do. Our back splash tile is the prettiest, watery gray with crackled glaze. LOVE! Speaking of gray cabinets, though — in 1985 I painted mine a Benjamin Moore Historical Collection gray! 1985! Anyway, I love your inspiration photos. Thinking of a white range hood like that. Or making one out of an old door. ;-)

  4. Linda P.

    “Simple, homey, relaxed, inviting, classic, timeless”
    What a wonderful, clear statement of your mood goal! I love it, too, and I think I will adopt it. Love your inspiration pics, too. Thanks! Your kitchen is sure to be a place where you can share your life goals with family and friends.

  5. Debbie

    I love all your inspiration photos!!! I’m not ready for my kitchen reno yet….but someday. I’ve been pinning ideas for the future, and can’t wait to see what your finished kitchen will be like – no doubt it will be AWESOME!!

  6. sandyc

    Wonderful inspiration pix, Melissa. Someone not knowing you and just scanning the pix before reading the post would think you forgot to source the 4th photo – ha ha! Absolutely love the way you go about making your decisions which starts with identifying your basic look/vibe – classic “lake house” – and then choosing your key element(s) – the Dutch door. The most important first lesson I learned from you was taking your “finding your style” challenge several years ago and being so delighted with the results and so comfortable and sure about my choices since then for my forever home. That’s a pretty big WOW. I like all the inspiration pic because they all have a warmth to them that makes them look as though they come from real homes. The white cabinets, of course, are my favorite and those are what I want for my classic “California bungalow” kitchen. So eager to see more!!!

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      Thank you, Sandy. I’m so thrilled that you’ve been inspired through the blog! :) A California bungalow sounds adorable!

  7. Teresa

    Can’t wait to see what you do! We are still finishing up a kitchen redo we began last year. Time and money are the never ending nemesis.

  8. Julie

    So excited for you – can’t wait to see the final product!

  9. Leah

    Melissa…..those herringbone floors……….
    These inspiration pics are all so cozy – now I’m really excited for Fall!!!

  10. teresa

    Melissa love all your ideas…it is funny just the other day my friends were visiting our new home and one asked what I hoped for my kitchen….and I used just about the same words you are. simple, relaxed, homey!
    Can’t wait to see what you do….I know it will be fabulous X 10!
    Happy Day

  11. Stephanie

    I love your inspiration photos! The first two are my favorites and I love that rug in the last one.

  12. Deanna Rabe

    I LOVE your inspiration photos! Your kitchen is going to be awesome!

  13. Janet

    Melissa,
    I get a vicarious thrill following your progress on your “whole house” design.
    My hubby and I recently built a new home and I also chose white cabinets, white subway tile, etc. and I would recommend (but you probably already know) that you need to have your white cabinets painted in oil based paint. Our builder used latex and my doors and drawer fronts are even as I type this at the painters getting stripped, primed, sanded and resprayed in oil based paint. Paint started to flake off and didn’t even last 5 years! Lesson learned for me…
    Can’t wait to see what’s coming up ahead in your long list of projects completed. Thank you, Melissa, for all your efforts to bring us along on the journey!

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      Ack, that’s awful! I’m glad you’re getting them fixed up for you. Thanks for the tip!

  14. Carol Sawyer

    But you didn’t tell us WHAT COLOR IS YOUR DUTCH DOOR GOING TO BE! Yes, it’s rather pathetic to be this eager but I’m really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. It will be gorgeous!

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      Hahahaha! Alright, I’ll have to do an update post on my Dutch door choices. It’s ok, I know the feeling. I’m the same way! :-D

  15. Diane | An Extraordinary Day

    I can’t WAIT to see the results of all your decision making, Melissa! Your last kitchen was extraordinary and your previous kitchen was beautiful. I’m excited for you.

    Melissa, the line-up of kitchen inspiration in this post is fabulous… the first kitchen I literally stopped me in my ‘tracks.’ It’s the perfect combination of elements. I’m not a gray gal… but again… it felt perfect there. The rest are beautiful… but again when I scrolled back up…. I felt my body say “Ah!” and relaxing. Pinning to remember for inspiration. (On the outside chance that some day I’ll need a little kitchen inspiration.)

    Have a blessed end to your week, my friend! xo

  16. Christi

    I am excited to see all the things you do to this home, but I am wondering if I’ve missed the side yard fix to your home outside the kitchen door. I know you started that like the first of the year (?) and it’s August. Did I miss the day it was revealed?

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      You didn’t miss it. There was an issue with it that caused a very long delay. I’ll do a post to explain what the problem was, but sadly it’s still not done! Ughhhh! I’m hoping it will be finished very soon. :-/

  17. Lisa

    Melissa, can’t wait to see the final result. Just a word of warning…we went with shaker inset cabinet doors with standard size cabinets and much to our dismay a dinner plate would not fit in the upper cabinets. Our cabinets were custom too! Thankfully, we have large drawers in our island to accommodate our dinnerware. You probably are already aware of this. Good luck and what fun!

  18. Linda P.

    It’s hard to wait to see the NEXT THING that you do! In the meantime I am entertaining myself by choosing which item in each picture, (besides the mood) you might be actually incorporating into your kitchen/home. Thanks for my new fun game!

  19. Judy

    Hi Melissa, love the inspiration photos and am looking forward to see what you do in the kitchen. I especially like the flooring choices in your photos.

  20. Gail

    Melissa,
    Can I ask how or where you go about finding your inspiration photos ??? Not that I’m trying to skip your blog (!) but I want to search for things like kitchens and dining rooms with a blue ceiling and don’t seem to have much success on things like Houzz. Any suggestions ? Thanks ! And I can’t wait to see the color choice for your dutch door. :)

  21. Danielle

    I am having SUCH a problem tracking down a dutch door – that is semi custom (standard size but not a standard grid pattern)! Can you please share the MFG you are using – and are you doing wood or fiberglass or something else? THANK YOU!!!!!!!

 

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