Kitchen Flooring II - Still Light Colored
I've been meaning to show you this picture of another light floor. I simply love the feel of the light floor and the light cabinetry.
I like the horizontal dark element of the counters and I like the "important" or strong, feeling of the island in wood.
The island, to my eye, does not overpower the other light colored elements. The reason it looks balanced to me is that there is so much MORE light colored elements in the room, balanced with just a few areas of the dark color. In other words, it makes sense proportionately in regard to color and tone balance.
I also think this image goes a long way toward being serene, don't you? It has great interest, yet it is easy on the eyes and looks very spacious. The light floor, walls, and cabinetry, and understated backsplash, go a long way to achieve this quiet elegance.
The floor...I think this type of floor, being quite textured, is fine in terms of being "busy enough" so you don't see every crumb immediately (unless you bake a lot of brownies.) The recent popularity of super dark wood floors is no better for spots, dings, dust, and so on. The best floor is a medium tone. But, to me, something REALLY speaks to me about a light floor. And, yes, for me, it would have to be textured. I'll have one, one day, in some form. This floor is limestone by Walker Zanger. Yes, limestone needs sealing and nervous care. I'm usually a conservative type, so I do not recommend it.
As seen in the June issue of Veranda.
What do you think of this combination of tones?
Monday, June 30, 2008 at 03:07PM
Reader Comments (17)
I also like it. Not the style - it's too "old world-y" - but I'm a huge fan of a very light cream, balanced with some darker wood. Light cream needs dark wood.
Walker Zanger has an amazing website that says EXPENSIVE *sigh*. Love it, of course.
I always choose things for their aesthetics, not for the ease of maintenance. Rather clean a beautiful floor once a day than having one that doesn't show stains or pet hair but is less desirable to me. *another sigh*
BTW - interesting article in the LA Times on how the economy effects kitchen design:
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-modest19-2008jun19,0,2628387.story where a "prominent New York designer" is being quoted. :)
I love it, but every time you post a picture of a gorgeous kitchen, I think "oh, I wish I'd done that" in my kitchen! Although I would never have a light floor like that in our kitchen. Most people enter our house through the back door, directly into the kitchen, and tramp dirt all over the place (our backyard gets quite muddy unfortunately, a project for another year). I have little little kids, and it was mostly the kids and their friends making the huge mess, running from the back door to the bathroom. It simply is not practical to make everyone take their shoes off every time they come into the house to pee! Without little ones or dogs, it would be beautiful.
We did off white cabinets and a natural cherry island and butler's pantry. Seeing this makes me wish we'd gone darker on the island. The grain of the cherry is so gorgeous I didn't want to cover it with stain, but the dark wood looks really nice. I know our cherry will darken some over time, but that contrasts is beautiful. Gives me thoughts for paint colors, which we haven't picked yet.
Connie, you really get around reading all that has to do with the home. Yes, I was interviewed at length by the LA Times, all to be encapsulated in a sentence, lol, but, a thrill nonetheless!
Me too, my personal style is definitely cleaner lines, but this is done really well, with a great use of restraint, which I admire. I think it's more difficult to hold back than to add in.
I think you put the nail on the head for me, which needs emphasis. To me, aesthetics are as, or nearly as, important as function in the kitchen. In my own kitchen, I have traded function for aesthetics and never regretted those decisions. I think American homeowners need to give aesthetics more weight in kitchen design, I strongly believe that.
Jeannie, I'm still waiting to see your pictures! How's it going, especially with your big changes? I have the same situation you do. We never use the front door, only the door from the garage, which enters right into the kitchen. I definitely understand the kid issues. At one time, my kids were all a little over 2 years apart. Well, um, I guess they still are, even now that they are older! Tell me again, what kind of floor do you have?
OK, paint colors. Well, color/color or neutrals? For a color, I'm thinking of a semi-pastely cornflower or sky blue, something with some depth but not too much. I see that as a sort of cool/warm, yet cheerful, look.
I can't find my Benjamin Moore chips at the moment, but, definitely something like a mushroomy/greigy color to make the off white and/or cherry pop. You could do that in a light/medium shade. I've seen a sage color, but I don't know, that doesn't make me get excited, really.
You could go in between with a smoky turquoise, very smokey, almost this sage color, but a bit more blue in it than green.
You COULD get this look in the images above, and do a slightly deeper off white color on everything else. That would make the cherry appear darker and make everything really flow. I do like that idea.
What do you think?
Oh, those photos are so yummy I can't stand it. Love the dark, dark with the cream. The chandelier is handsome. Makes every accessory have more importance and graphic strength. It would force me to pare down my countertop crapola. I love how the marble counter is identical in tone to floors...makes the light bounce around and glow in the room. I bet it's beautiful at night too. Thanks for the treat.
I know you're going to ask me about my kitchen! We have low plank-and-beam ceilings of antique wood, and my latest crisis has been choosing cab color. I ended up with ivory since my favorite mushroom tones were looking a little dead in there. The wood sucks up color! I will using bowls of tangerines or red zinnias to infuse some life in there.
Maybe I will figure out how to send you some photos...
Wendy, when do I get to see your kitchen!? You're RIGHT about the accessories having more importance. I understand the concept, but with all my bottles of oils, and utensils grouped together in one sort of group, does that count as a single element...or not? I didn't think so!
I'm dying to see your ceilings. What about some sort of khaki color in a light shade? Maybe a slightly cooler color could pop a bit against the warmth of the wood? That's what you need....a cool/warm combo! Just email me: susanckd (at) gmail.com
That kitchen is so relaxing. It would either motivate me to cook or discourage me from doing anything that would mess it up.
What a luxury to have that many drawers in which to hide things.
-Melisa
Yes, I think relaxing is definitely the word, and it's a good word to word toward in decorating.
I just got light tile floors a few months ago. I got a 12 x 24 rectified porcelain tile by Artistic tile w/ a beautiful striated pattern on it. The background is whitish and the lines are different shades of caramel and a little bit of gray. The look similar to some that Walker Zanger makes. It's hard to believe, but I picked it because it looks good with the knotty pine panelling in my 1957 kitchen.
As some mentioned above, we also use a side and back door and never use our front door. IOW, all of our (3 kids under the age of 4) traffic enters through the kitchen. Naturally, the floor is always dirty, Fortunately, it's very easy to clean. I have the same love/hate relationship with the floor that I have with my white Silestone countertop - It has to be super, super clean to look good. In all seriousness, the worst part of a very light floor is that every drop of water that gets on the floor will eventually get a dirty foot or shoe smeared on it, thus smearing your just-cleaned floor.
I hope this information helps someone who might be considering a very light floor.
Elizabeth
Can you put a runner of some sort in the area? Good points, thank you for your comment.
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The floornig looks so nice!
Can you show some pictures of the kitchen flooring?
The flooring tile looks so nice!
I like the kitchens
I've fitted a great number of maple solid wood floors which would also look great.
I honestly do like this kitchen flooring here and I just hoped that other people too would still like it.