butcherblock to dark?

14 years ago

We tore apart our kitchen a year and a half ago. We were slowly working on putting it back together when my husband's layoff and subsequent return to school happened. As a result, we had to put the reno on hold for financial reasons. Since then, we have managed to stay out of debt while he became a teacher (and and slowly trying to work his way into the profession... teaching positions are very few and far between here). As an added bonus, recent projects at my work have had me working lots of overtime, which has allowed me to save for getting the kitchen back together! Now that i am back to normal hours, we have some $, and hubby and getting back to work as well, we are ready to get the kitchen back on track! Woooohoooo!

Here is where I need your recommondations:

We have an old house (100 years) with a small kitchen (as per typical old house design). I'm not interested in tearing down walls or anything, and I have my layout all planned out. The difficult part is keeping the kitchen from feeling so dark! We plan on doubling the size the current window, so thats a start. But I think color choices will go a long way here too.

Our walls are yellow, like a goldenrod kind of yellow, and I really like it. We are doing to do painted shaker style cabinets. I would go with white in a heart beat, but hubby is fighting it. He is open to grey, so I am thinking of finding a nice light grey color.

Countertop is where I feel might make or break how dark it feels. I want carrara, he wants a walnut butcherblock. I must admit I LOVE the butcherblock, but I am worried it will feel dark. Does anybody have any pictures of a dark countertop in a relatively small/dark kitchen? Will undercabinet lighting be enogh to lighten it up?

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Comments (9)

juliekcmo
14 years ago
why not use maple butcher block instead?
lisa_wi
14 years ago
Here's my finished kitchen which sounds similar in style in an 80 year old house. I went with black granite and the under cab lighting makes all the difference!

Here is a link that might be useful: My reveal post
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audreyamelia
14 years ago
Here's my old 11 x 9 kitchen with Cherry Countertops
eam44
14 years ago
Why do you have to use marble OR butcher block - can't you use both? Here's an example of a butcher block overlay on a marble counter. You could make the overlay bigger, or use marble on the periphery with a butcher block island.
htracey
Original Author
14 years ago
Great pictures! Thanks for the help! If I were going to go with the butcher block countertop, it would have to be walnut. Walnut is the only wood color that I absolutely love. I do think that the undercabinet lighting will make a huge difference... that may lead me to another tread as I am not going to have upper cabinets, just open shelves (which will still cast the same shadow, but don't have the false bottoms or molding to hide the lighting).

I was actually considering doing marble on the main countertops and doing butcherblock at the "seating area". We don't have room for an island (old house = small kitchen) but opposite the "L" of the kitchen we are putting in a cabinet with a run of countertop that ends with a small breakfast nook...
huango
14 years ago
Hola,
that's what I did:
- Danby marble on perimeter/hood backsplash, and 2 1/4" thick antique bb on peninsula/seating area
- I quadripled my windows
- the walls are 75% of BMoore sweatshirt gray w/ BM Decorators White (just a hint of blue/gray)
The floors are rift-sawn medium walnut stain (over radiant heating).

I haven't confirmed on the exact finish of the bb yet.
I would LOVE a walnut peninsula countertop, but I'm thinking of keeping it natural so that scratches (from my crazy kids) are not as noticeable.

got any ideas for my 2 stools?

good luck,
Amanda
CEFreeman
14 years ago
juliekcmo, thank you so much for posting that pic!
I've made my own maple counter tops, but haven't finished them yet. I don't like lighter woods and now I can see what maple looks like just finished, without a stain.

htracey, do both. Plus, how is a counter top going to make an entire room look dark when you're already putting in lighter cabinets AND new windows? Sometimes the picture of one element we carry in our heads is not as predominant as our vision.

I think it sounds beautiful and I, too, would do both. My plans (not holding my breath) is to have my beautiful, 14' butcher block on one side of the kitchen, and someday replace the plywood on the other side with soap stone. Yeah!!!

Show pics, OK?
breezygirl
14 years ago
My kitchen isn't tiny, nor is it in an enclosed room. I used both black walnut and Carrara. Just make sure as part of the reno that you plan for new lighting and the right types of lights. That will make all the difference. I love both my counter types!
breezygirl
14 years ago
My kitchen isn't tiny, nor is it in an enclosed room. I used both black walnut and Carrara. Just make sure as part of the reno that you plan for new lighting and the right types of lights. That will make all the difference. I love both my counter types!