Recessed DR cabinet - white or stained? xpost

9 years ago

We're going to take advantage of dead space under the stairs to install a much needed china cabinet in our DR. It will be approx 24" wide and 50"-55" tall (haven't opened up the wall yet to know exactly how much room we'll have). I hope to also be able to do a shallow plate rack above the recessed cab, either between the studs like this:

traditional kitchen design by san francisco interior designer K & M Designs

or as a shallow cabinet above the recessed cab (will pull the recessed cab out so that the fronts line up).

What I can't decide on is whether to go with a white painted cab or a stained QS oak cab.

Here's the argument for painting it white.

All our molding and doors are painted white with the exception of the stairway railing and posts. That is oak (golden oak at present but that will likely be changed to match our new stain color for our floors, keep reading).

This cab will be in one corner of the 14'3" long wall with a pair of swing doors (painted white) leading to the kitchen about 24" in from the other corner. Not sure yet if these swing doors will be paneled or French doors with true divided lights.

I've also toyed with the idea of adding white painted wainscoting to the DR as well, inspired by this photo:

traditional dining room design by boston architect GMT Home Designs Inc.

And here's the argument for making it a stained QS oak cab.

First of all, QS oak is hands down our favorite wood. Our kitchen cabs will be QS, our antique DR table is QS and we have several other antiques that are QS. We're also remodeling every bathroom and we'll likely go with QS oak cabs in these rooms as well (a toilet flood in the bathroom above the DR has forced our hand a bit. The carpet in one room and part of the hallway was destroyed and I don't want to install new carpet until the remodeling projects, including installing wood floors in our kitchen and refinishing existing hardwood, are completed). All cabs will be a medium finished stain. Our wood floors are flat sawn oak and will likely be a little bit darker than our cabs. Lastly, we don't have any white painted cabs in the house. I've been toying with the idea of white painted uppers/stained lowers in the kitchen but I haven't pulled the plug on that idea yet.

The walls will be painted a warm blue (BM Woodlawn Blue, HC-147). The drapes are PB Alessandra Floral in gold.

Thank you!

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Comments (14)

cjc123
9 years ago
I like the look of a furniture built in. Therefor vote Quartersawn all the way! It is my favorite wood and will be wonderful. If I can make a suggestion to have the walls wrap around to meet the built in I think it will look more finished than trimmed out like above photo. All of the built in's that I remember from older homes didn't have trim around the opening. (that's why I designed my cupboard in stolen coat closet space the way I did) Keep the upper cabinet going right to the ceiling.
I think painted wainscoting will look fabulous. Your ideas sound wonderful! Can't wait to see it all.
From Kitchen before and after
remodelfla
9 years ago
I was going to say definitely paint till I scrolled down and saw cjc's pic...that looks gorgeous.
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lisa_a
Original Author
9 years ago
cjc, that is gorgeous! Thanks to you and remodelfla for chiming in.

Would you say the same, though, if it was the only cabinet in the room? That's what keeps stumping me. I keep picturing this lonely looking stained cabinet. White painted cabinetry would blend in more - or so I think.

I've done a search for "built-in china cabinet" at houzz.com and almost everything that turns up is painted white or is part of a kitchen so it doesn't apply to my space. This isn't rocket science so it shouldn't be so hard to make this decision but it's driving me crazy (admittedly a short trip).

More comments welcomed! If you've got photos, too, great! I'm a visual person and I'm having a heckuva time visualizing a QS oak built-in. Thanks!

PS. cjc, hubby and I stopped at our local granite yard and I drooled over their super white quartzite (that's what you have, isn't it?). I'd always pictured that stone with white painted cabinets until I saw your kitchen with QS oak and warm walls.
beaglesdoitbetter1
9 years ago
Our built-in corner china cabinets are the same color as our trim (off white) and we ran the crown molding right along the top of them to really tie everything into the room. Not sure if this will help since you've already seen lots of pictures of white, but just in case.
susanlynn2012
9 years ago
I am in love with cjc123's cherry kitchen! I am going to try to find where she posted her kitchen with details of the cabinet manufacturer and stain. I looked over all the pictures in her link and she did a great job!
lisa_a
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks, beagles! I like your corner cabinet. I wish I had room to do something similar. Pictures definitely help me visualize this. I bought the Home Architect software so I can draw this up in 3D but I'm still learning and I'm impatient. ;-)

lynn, cjc's cabs are QS oak, not cherry. Cherry is also a beautiful wood but for those of us who love QS oak, it's just not as beautiful as QS oak.
susanlynn2012
9 years ago
Lia_1, Thank you! I know cjc did the inset on the top cabinets and the full overlay on the bottom cabinets. Do you know what stain she used for her gorgeous QS oak cabinets? I love them! I wish my kitchen was bigger to go with both cherry and white. One day I want cherry and the next day white and then I see cherry stained cabinets and I am in love all over again. So warm and rich cjc's cabinets are.
cjc123
9 years ago
oh dear - lots of miss-information....

I WANTED QS but couldn't swing it. If I had stuck to my dream of QS it would have had to be custom and that was out of our reach- there for our kitchen is Cabico, Cherry with Richland stain with 10% sheen. (Much less shine).We chose to stain richly so they have a more mahogany look. I too have antiques all over and didn't want too many different woods colors. Also had a warm brown applied to oak floors so they don't go orange as they age.

Thank you so much for the love ;)
If my house (1990's colonial) had period details QS would have been installed FOR SURE. hmmm Maybe someday.....

Lisa a - Didn't you mention that your table, chairs and floor will all be oak? That is one of the reasons I think that a stained hutch will look warm and "vintage". I have a thing about built-in's looking like they have always been there. Especially if they are built into the walls not floating. My sister lived in a period home in MN BEAUTIFUL oak built-ins, grandparent and aunts ditto. ;) So as you can see that is where I am coming from.
However, this is your home and I just wanted to throw out what pleases my eye.

Ps. for the life of me I can't get my original post to bump pack to the front page, so many have asked but it won't go, maybe because it is me trying to do it or the fact it was originally posted in January.

Here is a link that might be useful: CJC123 original post
lisa_a
Original Author
9 years ago
Oops, my mistake, cjc, I thought yours was one of the QS oak kitchens I'd fallen in love with. Maybe it was just your quartzite that I swooned over. ;-)

My home was also built in the 1990s but it's a transitional style, not colonial. Our preference is for traditional design so we tend to downplay the transitional feel and add classic touches as we go. We had a decent start since the builder installed 6 panel, raised panel doors throughout the house and other similar traditional details. But I still feel like I have to walk a careful line to have what I do seem appropriate for the youth of our home.

We aren't doing shaker - IMO, QS Shaker doors would definitely push the envelope too far. We're doing a recessed panel with a small bead trim, a more traditional look that I think goes with the 6 panel doors and other traditional details in our home.

As for swinging the cost of QS oak, DeWils cabinetry (built locally but available elsewhere, too) does not upcharge for their woods. QS oak is the same price as flat sawn oak. And it's available in any door style, not just Shaker. It's semi-custom, not custom but it's adjustable to the 1/4" (or was it 1/8"? have to check). We may go custom for the bathrooms and laundry room (found a good contractor with very reasonable prices for quality work) but I'm pretty sure we'll go with DeWils for the kitchen and the DR because we want to do frameless cabs and our GC's cab maker only does face frame cabs.

Thanks for your additional input and linking your kitchen's thread again!
bmorepanic
9 years ago
I would paint it. If it was larger, I might do stained, but at only two wide-ish in a 14 foot space, I'd rather have it "belong" to the moldings and concentrate the view on the lines and contents.
lisa_a
Original Author
9 years ago
You expressed exactly why I hesitate about staining it, bmore. I'm afraid it will look orphaned because it won't be a very big piece. If only I had room for a larger unit - but that would mean giving up part of my pantry and I won't do that.

Besides the white painted swing doors, there is a lot of white mill work around the window & French door set that leads to the deck and around the double windows on the opposite wall, plus mill work around the LR/DR opening. And we're going to add box beams - painted white - to the ceiling. A stained cabinet would fit in with the QS table and chairs (existing, non-QS, hope to stain to match or else we'll paint them). Then again, perhaps I should let the table shine and let the built-in cab blend into the background.

I'm spending way too much time trying to decide which way to go. Made me feel so accomplished that we chose the counter, floor tile, and backsplash tile for the boys' bathroom and the counter, backsplash tile, and glass cloth wallpaper for the powder room in no time. But this decision ... argh!
annac54
9 years ago
Narrow your search at Houzz to: "dining room" "china cabinet"

That should get you more pictures of something similar to your issue.
lisa_a
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks, Anna, I tried that but didn't really have any better luck, at least not yet.

I did find this one pic that may illustrate better what I'm aiming for - a tallish base case with plate display above, flush with the surrounding wall:

[traditional dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2107) by grand rapids architect Visbeen Associates, Inc.

It's not exactly what I'll do but it's close. I'll have all drawers, not drawer and doors and the plate display area will be much shallower. But it does not show a counter as other pics have.

cjc, how wide is your cabinet? IIRC, it houses your MW so it's likely wider than what I'll end up with.
lisa_a
Original Author
9 years ago
Just found this image:

[traditional dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2107) by san francisco architect Studio S Squared Architecture, Inc.

Mine would be narrower, about 1/3 the size, but it would be in the corner just as this cab is, flush with the wall and right next to the wide, molding trimmed entry to the LR.

And this image:

[traditional dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2107) by atlanta general contractor Dresser Homes

Again, mine would be narrower and I'd only have one of them.

These pictures are making me lean towards painting it. I'm finding very few examples of built-in cabs flush with the wall that aren't painted white. One of the wood units was in a room of wood paneling, all very Craftsman in flavor. And the other one was a cab in a room of mossy green painted to-the-ceiling wainscoting.