2-Toning

I've got kitchens on the brain, have you noticed? Our propane tank is getting delivered TODAY and we'll be able to use our gas stove!

Even though we won't be doing anything about the cabinets for a while, a girl can dream, right?  And I am.  The issues I have with the current cabinets are:

  • Poor quality-  falling apart drawers and cabinet boxes
  • Useless soffit wasting 8" of usable space above the cabinets (covered with beautiful laminate)
  • Dated door style on uppers (at least more traditional than my taste)
  • Not a wood tone I would ever pick
  • Inconsistent finishes- wood doors, veneer sides, & laminate boxes.  Makes perfect sense, no?

New appliances

Hubby and I actually are partial to dark wood cabinets like this kitchen.  LOVE everything about this kitchen.

dark kitchen

But our kitchen isn't spacious enough to pull it off sadly, and we aren't white kitchen people.  I love looking at pretty white kitchens, but it doesn't really fit us.  I've been drawn to beautiful 2 tone kitchens lately- dark on the bottom, but white on the top to brighten up the space.  I love this one so much, I pinned it twice apparently.

two tone kitchen

So I decided to have a bit of fun with photoshop and test out the theory on our kitchen.  I also tested a lone vent hood vs. cabinet with vent.

Kitchen 1 range hood

kitchen 2 vent

The lone vent hood doesn't float my boat as much as I thought it would.  Being that the stove is tucked in the corner, the room feels a little off balance without the cabinets.  It definitely makes a difference to have the cabinets reach all the way to the ceiling, though.  Any added storage in a small house is a definite plus.  I do like the 2-tone a lot, but again, Hubby's not convinced.  Silly boy, when will he decide to actually trust his designer wife?  Oh well, its a non-issue until we decide to do the cabinets.  I'm pulling for them this year, we'll see how good my convincing skills are.

What's your vote on the kitchen?

images: 1/2