Gypsy
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
- Messages
- 40,225
I don't have a house (yet???) but I have done (you wouldn't believe how much) research on 100s of kitchen finishes in person, including cabinet types, and appliances. Plus I've been lucky enough to have apartments with higher end kitchen finishes and it's been really eye opening. I just enjoy doing research on home stuff, it makes the fact that I don't have a home of my own more bearable.
Now, I have to preface this by saying, most people who cook largely American food do not have the same issues I do. But I have learned, the hard way, that even quartz, which is supposed to be completely worry free is not with Persian cooking. Tumeric will stain ANYTHING and everything in the lighter color shades.
It honestly got so bad that I went to 4 high end kitchen reno places here and got samples of all kinds of countertop materials in different colors and I can tell you NOTHING: not quartzite (which I adore as well, and is a NATURAL stone, not an engineered), not quartz, NO countertop in white or cream is stain proof to saffron, tumeric and beet juice if you leave the stuff on there (like you would if you missed a stain while cooking) for too long.
No matter what the claims of the brand/product, they ALL stained. Quartzite also etches easily with acid and the stuff is really expensive to boot.
I've done this for both flooring and for counters. I have gotten samples (lots of them like 10-15 at a time. Like John was like... do I need to worry about you??) and I put them through hell. And it is really eye opening. So I highly recommend that with counters you get samples of materials you want and you put a bunch of stuff on them (red wine, fresh lemon and lime juice, vinegar, and for me Tumeric, beet juice, and saffron) and see how they hold up. Leave the stuff on there for a couple days, then rinse off.
I adore white counters. But I have come to the realization that they are a bad choice for heavy cooking unless you are like one of my aunts who does a deep kitchen clean every single night and wipes everything down the minute she stops cooking (before serving).
I adore white/off white shaker cabinets. They are so classic, and to me they fit a beach home. But if you look at that kitchen of your friend, they have a HEAVY grey veining which is providing contrast to all the white and keeping the kitchen from looking to sterile. I think that's key. So if you go for white, I recommend something with heavy veining on the counters or a non-white backsplash to break up the white. For being such a modern kitchen, that one is really well done, it could have been cold, but it's not at all.
I personally (if I ever get the chance to own a home) plan to do mostly grey quartz counters. Grey is MUCH more cooking friendly and doesn't show stains which makes it more durable for me.
As for flooring. I hate grout too plus tile is, as Rainwood pointed out, SUPER hard underfoot. I worry about real or engineered wood in the kitchen because I've had too many kitchen floods. So I personally really like (don't think I'm crazy) luxury vinyl tile that looks like tile, but isn't. It's less expensive, wears really well, and you can avoid grout. PLUS it is actually SOFT underfoot compared to both tile and wood. At John's work they just installed some in the elevators because it is so hard wearing and it is BEAUTIFUL and has no grout and it is NOTICEABLY softer than the "real" wood and tile floors in the hallways and lobby. I was really impressed. (The current building he manages has all seriously high end finishes: real walnut and marble floors in the lobby, huge slabs of white marble everywhere, the kitchens are all high quality quartz in white--- that I've managed to stain already 5 months in). http://www.mannington.com/Residential/LuxuryVinylSheet/Search?FilterCollections=1 This is the stuff his complex used (well, they used the commercial version).
Personally, if tomorrow I got to pick my dream kitchen I would probably do a really nice artisan Fireclay Tile backsplash in Morning Fog (they will mail you 5 tiles free. I ordered three of them in this color to see the variation and the tile is just breathtaking): https://d3siv8xtlksu0x.cloudfront.net/assets/content/cache/made/assets/content/cache/remote/https_s3.amazonaws.com/fireclaytile/blog/Fireplace__Foggy_Morning_with_Black_Patine__Installation__Malcolm_Fearon-Bliss_Images_-_All_Rights_Reserved__Photographer-Credit__Residential_1049_700_600_400_84_int.jpg
I would do shaker cabinets like you are doing. I would pick a warm white color instead of one that is too cold.
And I would do a nice grey quartz on anything that is near the stove or sink. And if I had an island that had nothing on it (no sink, no stove, just a flat surface), I'd might do a white quartzite with veining similar to your friend's kitchen and clean it like it was a surgical surface. More likely, if I went with white I'd do quartz because while it isn't perfect it is still much more forgiving than white natural stone of any kind.
I would do black cabinet hardware. And black lanterns over the island. Because I think black is classic, it is low maintenance (though it does need dusting) and you can get very nice quality 'budget' hardware and lanterns in black that still have a high end look. The other metals I like (brass or copper) cost the earth and are much higher maintenance.
The key for me with kitchens is that I don't want something that will age in ten years. I want something very classic that will stand the test of time. But I don't want a 'cold' kitchen. I don't want it to look like a chemists lab. I want it to be the center of the home, and warm and inviting. I would personally do luxury vinyl wood plank flooring. The stuff from Mannigton (look into it) is BEAUTIFUL in person. http://www.mannington.com/Residential/LuxuryVinylSheet/Wood/Newport/130192 And it would survive kitchen flooding and is relatively soft underfoot. Which is my key criteria.
Oh and regarding stainless appliances. There are many 'smudge proof' versions of stainless out now. They are MUCH better options than the regular stainless. Finger prints drive me batty.
But we do heavy cooking most night of the week. Most people don't.
One other fact about white counters. Paw prints. OMG. I can't tell you how many times a day I wipe down all the white quartz counters in this apartment (all the counters including the bathroom are white quartz). I have HUGE Costco packs of Clorox wipes everywhere and I go through at least 5 a day to keep the paw prints off the counters.
Yes, it would be lovely to keep the cats off the counters. But Duncan is my only cat who doesn't go on the counters. All the other b*stards stomp all over them.
Of course, now, no matter what color my counters are I'm going to be wiping them down obsessively because I will KNOW that the paw prints are there even if I can't see them.
Now, I have to preface this by saying, most people who cook largely American food do not have the same issues I do. But I have learned, the hard way, that even quartz, which is supposed to be completely worry free is not with Persian cooking. Tumeric will stain ANYTHING and everything in the lighter color shades.
It honestly got so bad that I went to 4 high end kitchen reno places here and got samples of all kinds of countertop materials in different colors and I can tell you NOTHING: not quartzite (which I adore as well, and is a NATURAL stone, not an engineered), not quartz, NO countertop in white or cream is stain proof to saffron, tumeric and beet juice if you leave the stuff on there (like you would if you missed a stain while cooking) for too long.
No matter what the claims of the brand/product, they ALL stained. Quartzite also etches easily with acid and the stuff is really expensive to boot.
I've done this for both flooring and for counters. I have gotten samples (lots of them like 10-15 at a time. Like John was like... do I need to worry about you??) and I put them through hell. And it is really eye opening. So I highly recommend that with counters you get samples of materials you want and you put a bunch of stuff on them (red wine, fresh lemon and lime juice, vinegar, and for me Tumeric, beet juice, and saffron) and see how they hold up. Leave the stuff on there for a couple days, then rinse off.
I adore white counters. But I have come to the realization that they are a bad choice for heavy cooking unless you are like one of my aunts who does a deep kitchen clean every single night and wipes everything down the minute she stops cooking (before serving).
I adore white/off white shaker cabinets. They are so classic, and to me they fit a beach home. But if you look at that kitchen of your friend, they have a HEAVY grey veining which is providing contrast to all the white and keeping the kitchen from looking to sterile. I think that's key. So if you go for white, I recommend something with heavy veining on the counters or a non-white backsplash to break up the white. For being such a modern kitchen, that one is really well done, it could have been cold, but it's not at all.
I personally (if I ever get the chance to own a home) plan to do mostly grey quartz counters. Grey is MUCH more cooking friendly and doesn't show stains which makes it more durable for me.
As for flooring. I hate grout too plus tile is, as Rainwood pointed out, SUPER hard underfoot. I worry about real or engineered wood in the kitchen because I've had too many kitchen floods. So I personally really like (don't think I'm crazy) luxury vinyl tile that looks like tile, but isn't. It's less expensive, wears really well, and you can avoid grout. PLUS it is actually SOFT underfoot compared to both tile and wood. At John's work they just installed some in the elevators because it is so hard wearing and it is BEAUTIFUL and has no grout and it is NOTICEABLY softer than the "real" wood and tile floors in the hallways and lobby. I was really impressed. (The current building he manages has all seriously high end finishes: real walnut and marble floors in the lobby, huge slabs of white marble everywhere, the kitchens are all high quality quartz in white--- that I've managed to stain already 5 months in). http://www.mannington.com/Residential/LuxuryVinylSheet/Search?FilterCollections=1 This is the stuff his complex used (well, they used the commercial version).
Personally, if tomorrow I got to pick my dream kitchen I would probably do a really nice artisan Fireclay Tile backsplash in Morning Fog (they will mail you 5 tiles free. I ordered three of them in this color to see the variation and the tile is just breathtaking): https://d3siv8xtlksu0x.cloudfront.net/assets/content/cache/made/assets/content/cache/remote/https_s3.amazonaws.com/fireclaytile/blog/Fireplace__Foggy_Morning_with_Black_Patine__Installation__Malcolm_Fearon-Bliss_Images_-_All_Rights_Reserved__Photographer-Credit__Residential_1049_700_600_400_84_int.jpg
I would do shaker cabinets like you are doing. I would pick a warm white color instead of one that is too cold.
And I would do a nice grey quartz on anything that is near the stove or sink. And if I had an island that had nothing on it (no sink, no stove, just a flat surface), I'd might do a white quartzite with veining similar to your friend's kitchen and clean it like it was a surgical surface. More likely, if I went with white I'd do quartz because while it isn't perfect it is still much more forgiving than white natural stone of any kind.
I would do black cabinet hardware. And black lanterns over the island. Because I think black is classic, it is low maintenance (though it does need dusting) and you can get very nice quality 'budget' hardware and lanterns in black that still have a high end look. The other metals I like (brass or copper) cost the earth and are much higher maintenance.
The key for me with kitchens is that I don't want something that will age in ten years. I want something very classic that will stand the test of time. But I don't want a 'cold' kitchen. I don't want it to look like a chemists lab. I want it to be the center of the home, and warm and inviting. I would personally do luxury vinyl wood plank flooring. The stuff from Mannigton (look into it) is BEAUTIFUL in person. http://www.mannington.com/Residential/LuxuryVinylSheet/Wood/Newport/130192 And it would survive kitchen flooding and is relatively soft underfoot. Which is my key criteria.
Oh and regarding stainless appliances. There are many 'smudge proof' versions of stainless out now. They are MUCH better options than the regular stainless. Finger prints drive me batty.
But we do heavy cooking most night of the week. Most people don't.
One other fact about white counters. Paw prints. OMG. I can't tell you how many times a day I wipe down all the white quartz counters in this apartment (all the counters including the bathroom are white quartz). I have HUGE Costco packs of Clorox wipes everywhere and I go through at least 5 a day to keep the paw prints off the counters.
Yes, it would be lovely to keep the cats off the counters. But Duncan is my only cat who doesn't go on the counters. All the other b*stards stomp all over them.
Of course, now, no matter what color my counters are I'm going to be wiping them down obsessively because I will KNOW that the paw prints are there even if I can't see them.
I am responding to what you wrote below my reply to Gypsy.
Sending out lots and lots of good luck vibes and good thoughts your way. (((HUGS))).
And I too have huge Costco lysol wipes that I have in every room and whip it out and clean up after the kitties. Thank you for the smudge proof stainless idea. I am not sure they are offered in the appliances we are thinking of getting but I now have it on my radar so thank you for that and if possible that will be the way to go.
We are going with a single sink not at the island as that suits our needs best but I was deciding b/w regular large deep sink like we have now in Brooklyn or white farm sink. Still not sure and we need to visit some showrooms to see more of them to decide which would work best for us. I am embarrassed to admit this but Greg does all the big pots/pans/sheets etc clean up (as well as the cooking which you already know) so that is why I am not sure which would be best. 
I don't care about trends but it does (only a little bit) annoy me that now white kitchens are so popular and back in 2003 white kitchens were not all the rage. So the fact that dark hardwood is out doesn't bother me but I would prefer the lighter wide plank floors. I am going to see how expensive it would be to redo the whole house with wide plank but I am fairly certain it would cost too much and I cannot have it eat too much into my kitchen budget. Greg and I differ on how much we think the kitchen redo will cost and my estimate is much higher and I think I am more correct. We don't have a large space but it is still going to cost more than Greg thinks! But if it is in the budget I would LOVE replacing all our hardwood. It shows dust and litter all the time and I have to vacuum obsessively with our 4 kitties shedding and carrying litter all around. The plus side is I see all (most) of the dirt and I like that so it is easier to clean.
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