Another oak kitchen question

[SusanBAnthony]

These are the seller's listing photos, so none of the stuff is mine.  Ilike the kitchen in general, including the cabinet colors.  I am meh on the countertops, but we aren't replacing them anytime before we do a total gut in many, many years.   Appliances are new and not changing, but if I ever have to repalce down the road, I would consider switching them to black.  

Projects I have in mind:

1.  I do want to put knobs or handles of some sort on the drawers and cabinets ASAP.  I would love some opinions on what type to use.  

2.  paint.  I like cooler colors, blue, green, purple, grey.  I am thinking sage green, but worried it won't look good with the countertops.  I am open to suggestions.

3.  We will likely try to order trim from the cabinet manufacturer to add to the top of the cabinets.  That is a 6-12 month timeframe probably.  

4.  Backsplash?  I am not a huge backsplash fan (or at least not tile ones, i do like the solid surface ones, but they are $$$ and would clash with the granite, I feel like).  But feel free to try to convince me if you think it would look awesome.  If I am going to do a backsplash I am drawn to simple, clean lines, not small tile.  More like subway tile.  

5.  What else would you do?

[SusanBAnthony]

The kitchen light is probably up for replacement sometime, too, but low on the list. I would bet it is 5 years at least before we get around to replacing that beast.

It goes under the category of "things DH technically knows how to do, therefore will insist on doing himself, even though he won't get around to it for a decade, and we ought to just hire someone to do it, but he will refuse".

[simpsongal]

I think sage would look nice with the earthy countertops. Is there room for a skinny island?

[wawa]

For knobs/pulls I'd be inclined to just go with something really simple in a brushed nickle. I'm boring when it comes to hardware though.

I could see a sagey green looking great with those counters - though my monitor is bad with color, so who knows. This is what paint samples and chips are for.

If you don't like tile, then skip a backsplash. They aren't the be-all, end-all of the kitchen world. Just make sure you use high quality scrubbable paint.

this is totally nitpicky - but i'd change out the outlet covers and switch plates to actually be white. I hate almond.

[ssmjlm]

Feb 13, 2013 15:47:04 GMT -5 wawa said:

this is totally nitpicky - but i'd change out the outlet covers and switch plates to actually be white. I hate almond.

This was my first thought!

I agree with wawa too, I would probably go with a simple brushed nickel hardware.

[SusanBAnthony]

I was thinking brushed nickel, too, since the appliances are SS as well as the sink and faucet. Knobs or pulls? Knobs are cheaper and easier but we had them at our old house and I am kind of sick of them. But if I did pulls, I would probably get sick of them too.

I hadn't even noticed the switch plates, but I will change them out as I paint and decorate each room. Starting with the half bath and its very special angel switch plates! Who knew 3D cherubs on switch plates could look so good!

[wawa]

Feb 13, 2013 15:55:54 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

I was thinking brushed nickel, too, since the appliances are SS as well as the sink and faucet. Knobs or pulls? Knobs are cheaper and easier but we had them at our old house and I am kind of sick of them. But if I did pulls, I would probably get sick of them too.

I hadn't even noticed the switch plates, but I will change them out as I paint and decorate each room. Starting with the half bath and its very special angel switch plates! Who knew 3D cherubs on switch plates could look so good!

Knobs on cabinets, pulls on drawers.  

[ssmjlm]

I would probably do knobs on the doors and pulls on the drawers since a couple drawers are pretty wide.

[TBM]

Feb 13, 2013 15:55:54 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Starting with the half bath and its very special angel switch plates! Who knew 3D cherubs on switch plates could look so good!

Please tell me that you plan on sharing photos of them.

[munkii]

1. I'm with Merida and would skip hardware, but if you really want it, go with something simple in brushed nickel.

2. Sage would work. 

4. Skip the backsplash. If you want something behind the stove, what about a SS panel? Here's an example (sorry it's ugly, but it's what Dr. Google gave me):

[emjacobs]

I agree completely with your 1 2, 3. I would probably lean towards a blue / gray color because I feel that a green would bring out the green in the granite and you are going to feel like you are in a forest.

For a backsplash you could get cut vinyl sheets from etsy in a pattern and put them up after you paint, it would give you a little something different but still be cheap and not terribly permanent.

[tarheels]

I wouldn't replace the outlet covers. You'd have to do the whole house! What a pain! It's not like they're the yellowy beige from the '80s, this is a mellow almond shade.

Brushed nickel, no backsplash, sage green.

[kitty]

Our kitchen has similar colors, except our cabs are maple. We added crown to the top of the cabinets (made a HUGE difference). I got round knobs and bin pulls in brushed stainless. We did not have the small granite backsplash so we are putting in some 2x2 marble on the diagonal. If you do decide to tile, I would remove the small piece of granite. We are going with BM Revere Pewter for paint but I am keeping it more neutral because it flows directly into a hallway with no stopping point. A sage green would probably look great too.

[tripleshot]

The kitchen at our old house was sage and I loved it. I think it was called Sagey from SW. Could you put some crown molding at the top edge of the cabinets to make them look more finished? We did that to ours and the difference is amazing.

ETA- apparently I skimmed your OP and missed you have the trim on your list. Sorry! That's what I get for slacking at work.

[boiler717]

I agree with trim, sage, brushed nickel knobs and pulls, replace the light or paint sides. I also like the idea of a stainless backsplash. You could potentially work with the outlet covers and do a cream subway tile.

I would also update the door somehow. Either paint an accent color or something else (trendy chalk board?).

[boiler717]

Also, I think not having the phone on the walk will help

[TBM]

I wouldn't change the outlets until after you paint. If you paint sage, the white will stand out more than the almond...even moreso since you don't have any white trim or anything like that for it to match.

[SusanBAnthony]

Thank you for all the comments. So glad I posted this.

Switch plates are cheap, and have to come off for painting anyway, so I can try it both ways and see how it looks. I am leaning slightly towards a blue with grey tones, but DH is more in favor of sage. I think I might buy two sample cans of paint, and slap some of both up and see how it looks.

Boiler, putting something on the pantry door is a good idea. Maybe I can get a cork board or dry erase board to mount on the door that would cover most of it, and let the kids have something to mess with. I don't actually know if the fridge is magnetic or not since the sellers don't have aching on it, so I may need somewhere to hang kids artwork, and that would be perfect.

I noticed the phone right away when we saw the house. It cracked me up big time. I hope they take it down and patch and don't decide to gift it to us with the house!