SFGate

olldroo designideas4me - why do you feel the need to have top end appliances. You should be choosing what you can afford and are comfortable with. Pretty much any colour will go with black the most important thing is what is going to go best with your room. How large is your room? How much light does your room get? What colour can you live with and enjoy? That will affect your colour choice. The first photo you have chosen as an example, appears to have a few different colour and finishes, but this would only work in a large area such as the one shown.

designideas4me Well when I bought the house it had all black appliances and we just needed a refrigerator and when I went to find one the only one I really liked was the jenn air black glass. It looks like a piece of art. So I bought it but of course the other appliances are not high end. I did also need a microwave a year ago and so I purchased the blk jennair glass again since it matched. I also hated the hood that was over the stove and so was able to use it in place of that. I guess I am torn as to weather I have to spend another 6k or so to do a wall oven and a cook top when I remodel. Its not something I need but it would look nice and increase the value of the house. Will I regret not doing that now and yet putting in an expensive counter top? My main goal here is to choose the colors since as much as I like the stainless I cant see selling these appliances that I already have. I have 5 can lights in the kitchen and one over the small dinette area. I have under cabinet lighting..I have one large window that is about 20 feet from the frig and 15 to 10 feet from the island. The kitchen is 8 by 20 and a long L shape. I plan to hang 3 pendents over the island as well. I am not thrilled with any of the options when it comes to painting the existing cabinets but to be honest I cant figure out what I would do if I got all new cabinets. I thought light gray would work but I am not sure it works in the rest of the house. I have a lot that is cream/brown so than I thought the light bronze might work that is shown in my picture. I just cant figure it out. Everything looks good with stainless and thats what most of the kitchens I like seem to have. Here is a view of the open floor plan. You see the frig when your at the sink as you also see the den and the livingroom with the cream couch. Its like one big room with no floor. What do you think of black maple floors and light bronze cabinets? Medium brown floor and ...... cabinets? gray floor and silver cabinets? I need to decide and do this already.

designideas4me This room is opposite the kitchen

designideas4me Yes everything is neutral right now. I can live with some color on accent walls and art but not for the cabinet color. Here is a pic of my ugly kitchen.

olldroo I don't see anything ugly about your kitchen other than the lack of doors - not my taste. Your other appliances are black anyway, I don't think it matters if they are not glass. You talk resale value but do you envisage selling in the near future. If you plan on staying put then forget resale. Even 10 years can make a difference to styles and trends so you do your home to suit your needs and your budget. Appliances can be changed out as they wear out. You would have to keep your floors matching the rest of your rooms if you keep to timber, it looks too open to change them, or have a totally different surface. If you like timber cabinetry then I would choose a timber to compliment your floor or a rich cream - cream and black do look stunning together. I would even have a cream bench top, I know a lot of people would choose black but it isn't to my personal taste, but it isn't my kitchen, and I would then add a striking backsplash.

Sorry it is getting very late and I must get to bed, we are actually 10 mins into Christmas Day. Merry Christmas.

designideas4me Merry Christmas. thank you for your help.

Lory Farrior Take a look at olldroo photo collection and tell me what you think. Great style and so organized. I'm inspired!

designideas4me Not for me. lol. I am not a photo collection kind of person. I can maybe see a straight line( I will take a pic of something I made) but all over the place...TOO MUCH for me. I need peace... I can see modern same size with small artwork inside a white frame. I have one one in my ideabook that I like alot . Its a black wall with colorful art. Ok here are a few things I can create in different colors.

Metal Grey e Ribbon.jpg
Window Coverings
Modern Living Room this I would like to make but may have to buy not sure yet.
Chelsea Duplex Penthouse
Interior Design - Residential Photography

White vs Concrete
these are the type of tiles I like
The Bahía Loft


The funny thing is that when I looked thru 100s of my pics in my ideabook very few have art and the art is sparse and abstract. this is what I tend to like. I think thats the essence of a modern home.

designideas4me But looking at these pics makes me feel like I have to put a stupid throw pillow and blanket or rug on the floor to match the artwork. And I dont want to do that. Its too foo foo standard way to tie in a couch or chair kind of thing. I prefer a more subtle approach. I like texture and depth and design. Something out of the ordinary. I can make these rooms but they look like the art and pillows came from the same store(ashley or living spaces or mor). The art is ok but how its tied into the room bothers me.

Lory Farrior You just said it sweetheart:) Subtle,texture,depth,design, something out of the ordinary. Only you can create that. You're not going to find it in a photograph. You want something that doesn't exist, yet. By taking bits and pieces from your photographs you will create something unique, I just went through my ideabooks and organized the photos. Take a look. You can see my comfort zone.. My place isn't going to look anything like those photographs. It will be all "me" when I'm done. I'll be up for a while...

designideas4me Ok so I brought in some of my plants..the ones in small pots. I need plants in here. I think I have been so overwhelmed by all the gardening that I forgot I love to have plants inside too. My hands and arms look like I have been mauled by a mountain lion. I have this one amazing bogenvilia thats almost up to the roof and to save money I tied it to the trellises myself...lots of thorns. Funny how all my beautiful plants have thorns. Anyway I also put a deep purple curtain on the dining room table and I really like the color. A table cloth isn't a modern look. I wonder if I can attach it somehow with adhesive and than put like a polyethylene over the top.. see I get these crazy ideas. I guess I an kinda thinking of how to wallpaper a table. Is that possible? Is there any other way to re-cover a table besides paint? Or should I just buy a new glass table for that spot in the kitchen near the window. Only fits a 60x 36 table.How similar or different should 2 tables be if in the same open visual space? Anyway and then I put some other art into that area to bring in some color. Your right. I do need color. and I need art. When I look for art I only like original expensive art in galleries. I always tell myself I am not going to buy that. I just need to learn how to make it. But getting myself to follow thru and do it is another story.Maybe I have add. I know I drive my handi-men crazy with always going from project to project and all they want to do is complete one thing at a time ( men can't multitask). They told me this...lol

I dont know why I have a fear of picking a color. Maybe I like too many of them. I recently met a painter and we discussed painting the house but when he said "what color" its like someone asking me to jump off a bridge. I get scared. What happened was that I fell in love with these metallic paints and bought many colors to use as accent walls for each room. Than I hired 3 different men to try to apply them and none could without streaks. I ended up leaving it on 2 walls but if you look close you see lots of variation and streaks. When I tried to find a shimmering silver in a semigloss nothing compared. Its the metallic flakes that I like..the shimmer and reflection found only in metallic. So yeah thats why the walls are white...lol.... wait tell me again... I dont need to choose a floor and cabinet color before I decorate with art or paint? LOL... Oh whatever I might as well continue to work backwards. really I should have done the interior design than just built the house around the rooms..I think at this point the floor will be the last thing I get. I can't do anything in a conventional manner can I? So when do you get back to working on your place?

Lory Farrior I'm glad to hear you are experimenting. I cut bouganvilla and bring it indoors. Mine blooms all year and I love it. Its comforting having nature around you. Stone and wood is very calming to me. Tomorrow I'm going to cut some greenery off the trees and bring them indoors, The kids and I have two orchids as our Christmas tree.. We placed in on a chair to elevate them. On the back of the chair are 3 stockings. We wrapped the chair with fabric and dressed the whole thing with crystal garland. and home made decorations. Below we added photographs and lovely little things: a red rosary I bought in Paris, a little Ganesha statue, some dolls. It's very sweet. Tomorrow I'll add the greenery to fill in the spaces. Merry Christmas!

designideas4me I just now saw this message. That sounds really pretty. I hope you had a great day . My son doesn't seem to care if I decorate anymore so I usually dont but I did for many years ( even know technically I am Jewish) . I always enjoyed celebrating Christmas more. My problem is that I have no patients. So every year it seems I always end up giving him his presents before Christmas. I offer to re-wrap them again but he always says no...lol