Feb
16
2012
what would you do?
It’s not anything life altering or even deep…but I need your opinion.
The painter (not THE painter…he’s long gone…we have a new one) is coming Monday to start on our kitchen cabinets. So I’ve got to make some decisions…I’m down to the wire. The cabinets are going WHITE. Surprise, surprise. Creamy white by Sherwin Williams to be exact. The island is going “tan-ish”. I contemplated aqua. My heart said “YES!” but my brain told me I would tire of that sooner than I’d be ready to paint all 16 drawers and doors of our mammoth island. So I’m leaning towards “Outerbanks” by Sherwin Williams as a nice contrast against all that white…but still keeping with a neutral tone.
I just realized I’ve never really done a panoramic view of our kitchen. I’ll have to work on that. It’s just been so much ugly to deal with that it’s better shown in small doses 
There’s a spot across from our eating area that has a set of cabinets built-in somewhat hutch-like. I guess I didn’t take a proper before picture. But it has base cabinets with doors on the lower half and upper cabinets above. The two middle cabinets have glass front doors and the outer cabinets have solid wood doors.
I began playing around with the idea of removing the doors on the upper half of those cabinets to give the kitchen some “breathing room” and break up the sea of cabinetry. Of course this will all be painted out white with bead board installed in the back of the upper cabinets.
As you can tell I tidied up the inside of those cabinets for you And broke out my phone for some phonography. I’ve never had an issue with TOO MANY cabinets but in all honesty….most of this entire unit isn’t necessary for storage. I mean…I’m storing random light bulbs and batteries in there, folks. If I go this route I will continue the bead board down under the upper cabinets in the back splash area. That will hide the unsightly 1990 INTERCOM. You KNOW you are jealous. You can’t find this model anywhere. And the owners spared no expense. Not only is it wired to also accomodate our doorbell…but it has extra storage for my CASSETTE TAPES! Wahooty .
So here’s PLAN A:
Remove the upper doors
Paint all cabinets white
Install bead board backing on interior of upper cabinets (likely the island color)
Install bead board “back splash”
Here are a few images from Pinterest that show the look I am after (although none include the bead board):
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OR………
PLAN B:
Lose the entire upper unit and just go for open shelving.
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Plan B would require a bit more work by us as we would have to remove the existing upper cabinets, repair the wall, patch the intercom, and build the shelving. But we’d save some money as could deduct the fee of painting that unit on top! This room is open to our family room which has built-ins next to the fireplace that mimic this unit. Base cabinets for storage below and bookcase shelving above (they’ll get the same white paint and bead board backing!)
SO WHAT’S YOUR VOTE????
Oh my….tough, tough decision…. I love both ideas….originally I thought I liked Plan A…..looks neat and organized….but then I love the look of the second picture under plan B. My aunt’s kitchen has open shelving and it is one of my most favorite kitchens EVER. I know I have a pic of it somewhere.. I will have to send it to you when I find it!!! Either way… it will look amazing!
I have to say I would go for Plan A. I love the top photo and think in the long run you’ll be happier having the cabinets (or maybe I would). I would relate it to something like the thought process on the color of the island. And if someday you want to add back doors or glass doors, you can easily do that for a new look. Good luck!
Well, I LOVE all the pictures you posted, so I can see why you are not sure what to do. If it was me, and I didn’t have to really worry about money. I would go with plan A for now, then in a few years when I got tired of that look I would take the upper cabinets off and THEN go with plan B!! =) good luck with your decision. Can’t wait to see the final outcome!
LOL about the cassette tape storage!!!
I think I’d do plan A. I think it would look great! Good luck deciding!
both plans are awesome. i’m a tiny bit partial to the look of plan b, but the pragmatic side of me wants to go with the less-work option.
helpful, aren’t i?
I love plan A, keep the cabinets, just remove the doors. Oh, and we have the matching intercom to your set which is why I bought my hutch to cover it. I do however think you should choose a color for the back of your cabinets to add some punch. I can understand not wanting aqua on the island (though I would do that too), but aqua in the back of that cabinet with all the white around it and your great accessories would be stunning. And just beadboard wouldn’t be too hard to re-paint later if you tire of it. Just sayin…
Plan A
Oh, and thought you’d get a kick out of this. My Sam is still singing Jingle Bells. This morning it’s just “blah, blah, blah” to the tune of JB but I think that still counts.
I like plan A . . . I think it all the changes will give the appearance of a built-in hutch. And maybe attach some corbels underneath the upper cabinets?
PLAN B!! love that idea! sometime i wish we had an older home that we could customize. our house is so cookie cutter!
I would say plan A. Instead of the breadboard tan color you could do your aqua or another color on the inside breadboard to add a splash of color. It would be less to repaint unlike the island.
Both will look great though!
I am incredibly lazy, so I would probably just paint the existing cabinets on top…but I LOVE the open shelving and think you should go that route
I agree with Makila and Angel…Plan A and paint the beadboard a fun aqua color or something else you LOVE….maybe even the blue in the room that comes off of it?? But I do think Plan B would look good too, I just think plan A is less stressful right now.
i like “a”. i think you should keep the original cupboards to keep the symmetry of the kitchen, and you may not really like the kitchiness of the shelving. we will need to go shopping for stuff, regardless of what you choose, since decorating with batteries is not really cute. shall we head off to some antique stores? i am thinking railroad town…i miss that place!
I’d go with Plan A and incorporate some of your aqua there, like on the edge of the shelving or the bead board
I went back and forth between the two plans but I think that plan A is my favorite in the end. It was the first inspiration picture you posted that swayed me. Although I think the shelving option would open up the area nicely the shelves themselves might get too cluttered and have the likelihood of becoming too kitschy looking fairly easily. I liked the shelves for the option of adding personal photos and kids’ artwork to the area but I think you can do some of that in the cupboard space almost as well. Plus, if you leave the cupboards up it will be so much easier to add the doors back on if you end up not liking the look down the road. And there is always the option of taking the cupboard unit down later if you still like the open shelving option. Long story short…plan A now with the option for plan B later.
Plan A – it seems very “Jenn” – add some aqua & enjoy! Love the first pinterest pic – could definitely see that in your kitchen.
Plan A…I like a “built-in” look. I also love the suggestion to paint the back. I’d also recommend painting the island aqua…how could you not love it? So you paint it when you get sick of it — by then you may have run out of projects and feel will bereft without one.
It would also break up the white a bit. BTW, we used creamy white on our exterior trim and it’s really pretty! Can’t wait to see the finished project!
Plan A! I like the more finished look it provides. All of the pics are good, but the first source picture is fabulous.
Plan A definitely! LOVE IT!!!! YEAH!!!!!
David and I vote for Plan A. It will look great! I am so excited to see.
Definitely A, like Paige said, it would tie in better with the other cabinets. Love that first shot!
A. All the way.
I just did option B in my kitchen (6months ago). I love it but there are days when it just looks messy and I have to walk away….