Arbitrary whimsy? Not in my house.

My husband has chosen to have almost zero influence in the design of the new kitchen. When I ask him weigh-in I try saying something like: "I was looking at both this one and that one but I'm going to get that one because...blah blah blah blah blah."

He replies that either choice is fine with him since he can't tell the difference between them anyway. 

Then, of course, we indulge in a tediously familiar discussion of how a human being could even honestly be that imperceptive, and how the species could never have survived with such a limited ability to discriminate between surfaces, or colors or tones. I hate it when he is intentionally agreeable. It drives me into a seething state. And yet he simply reiterates that he wishes to be left out of all decisions, with these caveats:

No visible-filament bulbs!

No open shelving or clear glass doors!

And I will add one of my one to those: No arbitrary whimsy!

 As I mentioned in a previous post, I spent a month or so of this past long, dark winter violently in love with the idea of mixing natural, wood cabinets with painted cabinets. Then I got over it.

Usually in mixed finish kitchens, a primary cabinet finish is chosen to cover, for example, the cabinets around the perimeter of the room. A secondary finish is chosen for the cabinetry of the island (for example) or for the wall cabinets above the base cabinets.

Lovely mix of gray and white cabinet finishes.

The choices are made logically, adding a pleasing variety, avoiding any arbitrary whimsy.

(I just Google searched for images of bad arbitrary whimsy and came up with zilch. It all looked good, reminding me that arbitrary whimsy is great as a design goal except in permanent, functional interiors which reference any historical style other than "Mid-Century Hippy" and even then...if you really want it, and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices, you can probably make it work. YOU can. I still find that this decade's "whimsy" always seems to turn into next decade's "crap-I-am-sick-of-looking-at." So I'll keep my whimsy restricted to wall paint and throw pillows )

Still thinking about it: 

As hard as I tried, I honestly could not find an actual REASON to mix finishes in my cabinets. Besides, my new kitchen was always going to have a mix of finishes anyway. Our 15-year-old natural maple table and the natural birch sideboard will remain in the meta kitchen. Very light natural woods, there. Medium light wood, here.

So, in the base kitchen with all of those cabinet doors, where does the variety reside?

In the structure.

During my fevered passion for mixing finishes, I eventually realized that three divisions, or "blocks" of cabinets already exist within my wall cabinets. Those blocks are structures that can be employed to disrupt the dull, wrap-around-cabinet-cocoon feeling of the current kitchen or as I call it...

The Pale Oaken Death March

Wait, what? You don't notice any separate blocks of wall cabinets? Just the cabinet tops lined up at the same height, all the way around the room? Indeed. That is what we need to fix.

Let's define those divisions from left to right:

Block One, over the range, forms a nicely proportioned rectangle. It stay pretty much as it is, changing the least of the three blocks.

Block Two takes up the west wall (the far wall in the photo, above.) It includes the cabinets on each side of the window and the cabinets adjoining them on the south and north walls. This block will become the focal point of the base kitchen by the power of symmetry, end-wall placement, and height.


Block Three on the north wall consists of the fridge and its side panels, the cabinet above the fridge and the cabinets on the right side of the fridge. That pantry cabinet in the photo will be replaced by a base cabinet and a wall cabinet above which will be reoriented 90 degrees to face toward the east, sort of facing into the entrance of the kitchen from the hall. This will be our coffee station and also, hopefully, a landing spot for dishes going to and from the dining room. It will only be four square feet of counter space, one of which will always be occupied by the coffee maker, so I will try not to expect it to do everything.

Arriving at the Ikea/Custom Cabinet Distribution.

Using all Ikea cabinets and doors would have been easiest. All Ikea cabinets with all custom doors would have been easy, too. Except, Ikea cabinets (the boxes) are only made in a limited number of stock sizes and there was no way to stack those boxes to achieve a classic to-the-ceiling arrangement. I made the first design using Ikea boxes for the base cabinets and Scherr's ready-to-assemble custom cabinets for all of the wall cabinets. I sent that design out, and got Scherr's quote back in two days. TOO MUCH MONEY!

Allow me to emphasize again that this whole kitchen is supposed to be one of those shoe-string budget, value-engineered miracles. These cabinets are a very good value. I just don't have that much money for cabinets in this new kitchen.  We are also replacing all 400 square feet of floor, taking everything down to the the subfloor and installing new wood on top. I will explain all that when there are photos to post

So I redesigned. (I also redesigned the crown-molding, but that will be its own post.) Ultimately, I ordered custom cabinets for Block Two, my focal point  and Ikea cabinets for Blocks One and Three, and for the base cabinets, as originally planned. The differences may be visible, but I am hoping that they will look neither arbitrary nor whimsical.

Block Two