Mixing cabinets

15 years ago

Need some aesthetic advice from you decorator types out there!

I am in what seems to be a never-ending process of refacing my kitchen cabinets. The new veneers and doors are a golden oak, with shaker-type doors (instead of those dated-looking arch inset doors). I like the clean shaker lines, I'm going for an Arts & Crafts look, and at the time I bought my refacing supplies, there weren't as many options as there are now.

The house is a cape cod. The kitchen is 9 x 17, and the L-shape cooking area is on one end. At the other end is the opening to the living room and dining area, and on the other 9' wall is -- NOTHING. It's just a blank wall.

I want to add storage to this kitchen by making essentially a wall of cabinets here; sort of like a pantry, or a "mega-hutch". I have to use wall cabinets because the opening only has 16" of wall space available. I am not going to match the veneer and doors of my existing cabinets unless I order doors from the same place (which I could do), but I am trying to avoid the "overwhelmed by wood" look. So I am thinking either white (there's a white shaker cabinet, but I think that might be too "stark"), or more likely, a cream color. There are cabinets available that are antique white cream with a chocolate glaze that are nice (, but these all have more elaborate doors and I'm not sure how well this would look with the simple shaker look of the other cabinets. I know it's acceptable to mix cabinets now, but would this look awful? I'm planning a cream subway tile backsplash with accent tiles like these; stone countertops of some sort, and not sure of flooring (suggestions welcome!).

So...is this something I could do and not have it look like a hodgepodge?

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Comments (5)

battin4th
15 years ago
I'm certainly no designer but I like to think I know nice when I see it! It's sort of diffcult to get an idea of the proximity of the cabinets you are describing to one another with a picture or layout. There is a thread in here (it's probably about 10 pages back by now) where there was long discussion on mixing cabinet colors. There were many sample pictures posted. Quite frankly most of the examples were absolutely beatiful. 1 particularly caught my eye was oak-style lower cabinets with white uppers in a shaker-style. Really looked nice. Especially if you like the farmhouse, shaker and craftsman style. The thread may be worth searching for.
joyjoyjoy
15 years ago
you can totally mix.. in this case it would probably look better to make it distinctly different instead of trying to match it up and not quite get there. I love the look of cabinets put together to make a hutch.
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stuktu
15 years ago
I would go for more of a furniture look, the hutch idea is perfect. If you make it look like more kitchen cabinets then it will look like mismatched kitchen cabinets but going for the furniture feel gives it a reason to be different.
hackwriter
Original Author
15 years ago
Battin4th: Picture a long room; 9 x 17. Along one 9' wall is an L-shaped kitchen configuration. The contrasting cabinets would be on the opposite wall, completely separate from the rest of the kitchen.

The setup I have in mind is not quite a hutch (because I don't have enough wall space by the doorway to the living room for base cabinets). It's actually more like an entertainment center, with tall cabinets on the side, 36" cabinets in the middle, 15" wall cabinets to bridge. I'm figuring on stacking like two 36" cabinets on one side, one 36" cabinet, a microwave cabinet, and something shorter on the other side, two 24" wide, 36" high cabinets in the middle with a stone countertop...glass doors on most if not all. I'll try to sketch it out and post a link.
mountainme
15 years ago
I am a designer, and mixing colors is very popular. Especially in an Arts and Crafts style. I'd go with the cream given the color of the oak and tiles. (loved the tiles!) White I think would be a bit stark. The glazing is pointless on a square shaker door as there is very little embellishment on the door for the stain to hang up on. (Hang up is the residue of the glazing that gets left behind in the creases and crevises after the majority of the glaze is wiped off)
Finish the furniture look by getting the furniture feet attached pieces to the front of the toekick area. Glass doors would also add to the furniture look.