As a lurker, I think one nice outcome of all your work is that we can/should use this as a reference thread. It'll be like that old joke where the jokes told in the small town are simply numbered, not repeated. Here is a future GW thread:

OP: "Help, what can I do with my Golden Oak, cathedral arch cabinets?"
plllog: I think you should use Pal #2.
Buehl: I think cawaps #2 would go better with your floor.
Marcolo: Balderdash! You would be a fool not to use Mudhouse in an exurban neighborhood.
Pal: I would think the tones in Circuspeanut would best complement the adjacent DR.
Dianalo: you could get rid of a few uppers and either use Jterrilynn or go topless and use Roarah's Bailey.

etc. What a timesaver! (I really do mean it when I say that the thread would/will be useful in that way.)

"I don't think it encourages creativity, so if you want to put your own personal stamp on your kitchen, and think outside the box, it can be a drawback." (Mudhouse)

I kind of agree, kind of don't agree with this statement. I would rephrase: To put your own personal stamp and think outside the box on a golden oak kitchen, you need to be VERY creative. Less creative people (or people who are not comfortable taking risks) are likely to be thwarted by the limitations of the material.

Roarah, having seen your two alternative color schemes, I agree that I like the golden oak better. There may still be a better choice-- a more golden (less orange) golden oak? Natural oak? And perhaps I stated my case too strongly to begin with--I do like the kitchen, just not as well as your first. I've painted my kitchen chartreuse, so I must like it.

Roarah, I really like the green combination. I've seen those colors in my kitchen supply searches, but passed right over them. The way you've put those features together is appealing.

In fact, right now I'm telling myself, "you wouldn't. No, really? No." And I suspect I might. At least hunt up the samples of the countertop and the backsplash.

I also enjoy these design challenges, and how creative everyone is in putting together their mood boards. So thanks!

Late to the dance, but here's another alternative: work with the ugly and make it pretty by comparison.

I was inspired by a classic C. Jere owl sculpture of mixed metals. Hmmmm.... an industrial vibe, concrete and metal---but not sleek and shiny---or "pretty". Brutalist.

I envisioned a concrete loft. Floors, walls, ceiling. Instead of trying to obscure it, work with it and highlight it. Grind any high spots and put a sealer on it. Concrete counters. A vintage concrete laundry sink with well used brass faucet.

Take the doors off of the uppers and create zig zag display shelves with more oak. Use hammered brass pulls for the lowers.

I wanted an industrial looking range, but not one of the prettier ones. It needed to scream function first, but not be too high of BTUs. Premier fit the bill. Then a home created copper patchwork vent hood for a recirculating insert. (No real ventilation in this loft.) A couple of crown ceiling fixtures will provide general lighting.

For the eating area, a giant piece of MDF was laminated with copper, similar to Circuspeanut's counter, but vertical. It was then flamed and acid treated.

The Phillipe Malouin concrete and brass wire table, while a designer find, could be replicated by casting a slab and creating a base for it. It rests on a plain tanned whole orangey cowhide rug for the only softness in the design.

A classic Brutalist brass chandelier hangs over the table and a pair of Lulu orange chairs that echo the orangeness of the oak in both wood and upholstery.

It's an urban hipster vibe and would be difficult for most people to live with, but it does make the oak look nice. :)

Major colors are red-brown and mushroom. Make curtains of this "Brick" Kelora fabric from Hancock Fabric and pull the colors into the decor items. Use this small print faux fossil countertop from Formica, then add ET2 Lighting, a mod hood from Futuro Futuro, lotsa stainless steel appliances and a Kohler Stages sink and Karbon faucet, Zuo stool, Forbo "cement"[I'd prefer "greige" but it won't copy properly] with trim near perimeter of room in "henna" , CKP "Zen Brown" glass knobs
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Been busy with the holidays, so I'm late to the party. But I wanted to post before marcolo has the thread yanked out of massive affront to his sensibilities.

No time for a backstory, but the green lamp-like thing that hangs over the brick-colored Aga Legacy is a recirculating hood from Ikea. It's a bit of a cheat because they're only available in Europe, but I was so intrigued with it I decided to include it. Patchwork tile is from Tre Sorelle, pale blue armoire to pick up the blue in the tile; oak table on the side, fabric with oak leaves in the same colors as the tile; green ceramic knobs from sweetheartgallery.com; countertop is Silestone Santa Fe Brown; floor is dark cork, color called "Burnt," I think.

Being firmly of the opinion that most oak kitchens would be improved by losing the oppressively heavy upper cabinets, I turned them into oak shelves and stacked them with Fiestaware. It'd be better in colors that tied in more with the tile, but I had to take the images I could find online.

lwo, very clever idea. I'd sit in that apartment and cry in existential despair, then notice the cabinets and kiss them, remembering the '80s when I didn't have to look at that apartment. As you can see, I'm not a fan of brutalism. A very famous brutalist building took a small chunk out of my arm years ago. True story.

Florantha, you've gotta use the cabs in your board. It's a cheap trick to show very nice items and then just "assume a can-opener" like an economist so you don't have to show them in their full orange glory.

anna, what's that on your lip, snotty? ;-ppp

rorah, what sink did Zoe pick? I think I like it!

Sorry, Marcolo. I missed the memo about how to build a proper mood board; this one is laboriously handbuilt from code.

I could use a how-to including how to include the photo of the cabs.

There's something on my lip? Heavens. Let me wipe it with my gen-yoo-whine damsel-in-distress lace hanky.

There was a how-to in one of the previous threads. I just use PowerPoint. Some get a lot fancier. Sochi uses..is it called olioboard? Or is that the name of a butter spreader? Anyway, you can just right-click on the cab and get the image.

I knew there was life in this thread.

LWO, that Brutalist chandelier scares me. It would totally take a chunk out of someone's arm. I had never heard of Brutalism until this board; not entirely sure whether I like it, but I like your board.

Anna, nice job of photoshopping with the Fiestaware! For all that I was complaining about square tile and grout lines earlier, your backspash reminds me of a quilt and gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Florantha, I agree that it's a cheat not to show your choices with the golden oak. It's hard for me to put it together in my head.

cawaps: Thanks...isn't that lovely tile? When I ran across it, I had one of those "oooooooh" moments. Now I'm wondering where I can sneak into my own house.

I use olioboard to create moodboards. You can save photos off sites like this to olio board. I also use Flickr, right click on pic, save as jpeg, upload to Flickr. I'm sure photo bucket is similar. Anna, what did you use for your last board?

Clearly loosing the upper golden oak cabs is key. Good effort everyone. I wimped out on this one.

Florantha - a Karbon in a golden oak kitchen? Surely if you can afford a Karbon you can paint the cabs?

LWO - and I thought I liked brutalist design. I like the owls and the funky open cabs, but the light fixtures terrify me.

Anna, that is a great tile. I didn't really appreciate it fully in your board.

Sochi: I use Photoshop.

This is the only one of these I have attempted, as I always think about what can happen with specific rooms rather than around specific themes. Also, it turns out that the mechanics of a mood board are beyond me.

But I do have a story: Marcie was in her mid-thirties and making good money as a mortgage banker. She sprang for a late 1940s Cape Cod in a newly desirable close=in leafy suburb -- the kind where small older houses are known as "scrapers," because they are immediately demolished for something grander.

Anyway, with the mortgage upheaval, Marcie lost her job and saw little chance of getting something remunerative in the near future. So she put the glob of money she was going to use to renovate the house in the bank to meet her monthly expenses for a year. With a tiny budget, she tackled redemption of a medium-sized kitchen with GO cabinets and white appliances in reasonably good shape, mauve laminate counters and matching sink, too shiny oak floors, and lots of teal and mauve accents. With the $1500 she had designated and untested skills, she decided on the following approach to a homey but not Donna Reed kitchen.

She would:
-- rough up the floor and paint it red and off white checks, running diagonally.
-- following the Rotometal video carefully, cover the laminte counters in zinc sheets, rough them up with a hammer, and add bolt heads along the edges
-- install a beadboard backsplash, painted off white
-- trawl craigslist for a narrow table, two chairs, and a used cast iron sink
--trawl ebay for cheap black matte pendants for over the sink and the table, and black cabinets pulls
--buy ticking from ebay for roman shades
--buy a clock from cafepress
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The only bit that didn't work was the zinc countertop. She ended up ruining a whole sheet of zinc and had to hire a grown-up person who was not ADHD to complete the work, which was another $500.

She can live with the result for awhile. She is trying to find a Toulouse Lautrec print she had in college. She would like to replace the clock with a black and white one that has a tiny the silhouette of Harold Lloyd hanging from a fake pendulum, but she cannot find one of those anywhere.

She dreams of white shaker cabinets stacked to the ceiling,

I nominate Live wire oak for having the #1 Best overall vision on looking at golden oak differently...and pulling it off. I think this is the best example!!! Ok, I may not love the light with the set up but who knows maybe it could be pulled off if the ceilings were very high.
I do like honorbilts as well because it would be a very doable update. And, it looks happy.

Mudhouse wins first prize in my book. I absolutely love that kitchen, hideous oak* and all.

* I do not think that all oak is hideous; some I love, such as QS oak or even golden oak when the grains are put together well. Love my white oak floors. Love my old QS oak table. And I can't imagine anyone hating what the Yurpeens do with oak on the Belgian Pearls blog, for example.

Oh yikes forgot to mention Pals last design. I could really live in that kitchen. I like it because if you are going to have oak... let it shine. I think the soft surroundings mixed with the organic-ness of the grain would make me feel very comforable. Of course I personally would take advantage of the less fussy style of this kitchen to display art work. I'm actually mentally picking art as I write.

CP, lol! THe tile is really a bear standing on grass, which is easier to see here in the larger version but hm, yes, might be too suggestive for a normal non-manly kitchen??

marcolo, THANK YOU for the tip on Powerpoint! So much easier than what I'd been doing.

cawaps, sorry, but lots of tile in this one. I would do bigger tile if I could find it as cost effective as the 4x4.

pal *especially* but all those who posted multiple designs, THANK YOU !!

ok, while there's a breath of life in this thread and before Marcolo completely subsumes it in his design #9 (non #10--trying to wipe out this thread?) tudor revival, here's another try without blue, with brown and motawi, and green that is adjacent rather than opposite orange on the color wheel. 'Mudslide' quartz counter. There is no wall color on the cooktop side (other than the tile). I tried to make these more realistic but not sure if it worked.
Cooktop side of the galley:

Thank you all so much for your designs and feedback!

cheers

I'm using Olioboard, never heard of it until you folks mentioned it. Some sites don't allow the Olioboard "picture grabber" to work, and if that happens, I use the "Snipping Tool" that comes with Windows to snag photos and save them to my computer, then upload them to Olioboard to play with. I really like how you can easily move elements around in Olioboard, as well as resize, crop, flop, etc. (And I love that it's free.)

Thank you Anna.

I really like the gray-green, red, and black color combo in honorbiltkit's room above. I even tried to find a Toulouse Lautrec poster for Marcie, but failed to find the right one.

The brutalist kitchen should get an award for Most Creative Thinking. I actually like raw-looking materials, but both of those light fixtures creep me out.

Here is a bird and butterfly themed kitchen. I'm using a fabric that I used in a previous thread (but I found it doing golden oak research). I really wanted copper appliaces for this one and found it freakishly difficult to find any. I was nostalgically wishing for the coppertone appliances of the 60s and 70s and even tried to find photos of vintage ones. No luck. Found the contemporary Bluestar range and paneled a fridge to look the way I wanted.

Here are the details:
Counter is a Granite called Jacaranda Wood
Backsplash is Chemetal laminate, Plume pattern, in chartreuse
Floor is Marmoleum Green Melody
Lighting: George Kovacs Apple Green Glass Pendant and Soleil Olive Green Bronze Tech mini-pendant, both from LampsPlus.
Panel-ready refrigerator panelled with Chemetal laminate "Striations"
Harware are Hickory Rain Forest knobs (found on Knobs4Less) and Liberty KitchenWatercolors Pinwheel (found on MyKnobs).
Bird and butterfly drapery fabric from buyfabrics.com.
DiningTable "Vanessa" by Bartoli and Ercol Butterfly chairs.
Best copper rangehood from A.J. Madison. Bluestar copper range.
Elkay gourmet collection copper sink, Danze Opulence faucet.

Cawaps: Cool! I did not know about Chemetal laminate, so I went and looked it up. I am planning to do a patinaed, copper-wrapped, panel-ready fridge IRL. I was just planning to use copper flashing, and patina it myself. Maybe your solution is better. I like the rest of your palette a lot, too.

Here is the 4x8 view of your "Striations" panel for the fridge, which is a more "fridge-like" scale:

Sochi, if you think that a Karbon faucet is a mismatch with the golden oak cabs you're making a judgment that I don't think was in the original definition of the challenge. The goal was not to make a runner-up kitchen, but to use items that make the kitchen's golden oak look good. So why assume that they would need to be painted in order to deserve the Karbon faucet? Your biases are showing. So are mine.

You are right of course Florantha. It is hard (impossible?) to put bias aside entirely. I still have a hard time getting my head around these cabs and a Karbon though. They seem incongruent, but I totally accept that my non-objective views of the cabs interferes with my judgement here.

Thanks, Angie, I knew my scale was off but didn't find the large scale pic. Pal used Chemetal stuff in at least two of his kitchens in this thread (the lavender one with the Meteor backsplash was one); that was how I found them.

Forgive me, for this is my first time attempting this, although I enjoy seeing everyone's designs.

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OK, so no real story here.
Cut out existing panels on base cabinets and removed doors from some of the uppers. Replaced base panels with punched tin.
Removed sink base and replaced with dry sink with custom soapstone sink liner and matching soapstone countertops.
Took hand hewed beams from fallen barn on property.
Restored oak icebox converted to electric.
Icebox hardware scaled for cabinets.
Old wood cookstove for warmth on cold nights as well as cooking.
Hand scraped pine flooring, heavily distressed.
Corrugated tin backsplash also from fallen barn.
Cast iron cookware hung from wall beside range and of course a cast iron kettle.
Off white on walls.
And an awesome gas converted to electric fixture over the sink (although I couldn't find one that matched this one in color, but homeowner had better luck than I did.
Rustic dining room table, but I forgot chairs.

Although it isn't matching, or even that attractive, it does have a bit of an 1880's farmhouse appeal to it.

Schmelz, glad you posted. I almost didn't see the golden oak in your, and had to look for it after reading your description. While it pushes the boundaries of the rules for the thread, I think it is a great idea for someone really remodeling around golden oak. The overall look is very rustic, but I like it.

I have loved this thread! I have attached a link to a previous post over in Home Decorating about my "awful" kitchen. My dh loves the cabinets and they are in such good shape it would be crazy to replace them and as stated in that thread, it wouldn't be beneficial in relation to home value.

I still haven't made any updates from this pic accept to go with the darker bronze handles. I am still on the fence about going with the copper mountain color or a muted beige. I have tried about 10 samples of a cream and nothing seems right with the cabinets. I appreciate any advice!

Here is a link that might be useful: Remember this awful kitchen

O.T. camarod, your kitchen has a lot going for it. Learning to accept its "locked in time" aspects is tough when you see all kinds of mod things, but you CAN love a somewhat dated kitchen for being itself. Your kitchen may seem "awful" but there are many worse ones. In the thread you connected, you will note how nicely the suggested warm brown paint worked.

I don't know anything about your finances, etc., but in my world, functionality and lack of debt trumps needless change. In ten years a new kitchen will be dated, so you can't win that game.

Have you ever built a design on the green color with more green prints? Made it an asset? Currently countertop is the most domineering personality in the kitchen, now that the drapery is gone. Can you find something to dominate over the green, to put it in its place?

Look hard at the Golden Oak ideas above--which ones are doable on a budget? You will note that a distinctive print did a lot for the designs. (I had seen a strong drapery print at Hancock last week with a turquoise dominating and wanted to use that but couldn't find an image on the internet so I used a different colorway in my entry above. Try to imagine my design colors above in your kitchen.)

Get a bid on the countertops so you can think straight. Then you can decide what direction to go in.

Wishing you well--oak is not a curse and oak kitchens have produced a lot of good food and happy families.

Springroz, this is incredibly late, but we have the hardware that roarah linked to -- we got them at HD. They do look fab w/the golden oak cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fabulous hardware

I know there are rules about bumping an old thread, but I got here only because a recent thread about oak cabinets had a link back to this thread. Anyway, now that I've looked at it again, does roarah or anyone have any idea where I can find fabric like or similar to that in Zoe's green kitchen that roarah designed? I've called myself looking everywhere and can't find what I'm looking for, and that is close.

Hi gardenpea, the fabric is hip floral in the brown colorway and it is an outdoor fabric. I must admit the pattern is a bit smaller in real live, it is blownup to show the colors in my board.
I attatched a link showing the fabric more to scale.
Hope this helps:)

Here is a link that might be useful: brown with orange and green fabric

Thanks, roarah, for your quick answer. I'm looking for Roman shade fabric for the kitchen. I am assuming this will work for that, right? I shouldn't be surprised it is outdoor fabric because that usually catches my eye since a lot of them are colorful, and I need some pep. Thanks again. I will check out the link.

I can't see your kitchen pricklypear?

I always said these threads are open for new designs forever, but I think this is the first time I've seen someone actually do it. Pricklypear, the whites and greens are really clean and really brighten up the golden oak. I'm not sure of the floor color; I think I want it to be green, but that would probably make coordinating all the greens more difficult. The other colors I think would work well are all grays [the poster who inspired this board said she didn't like gray; hence the white appliances instead of stainless]. Maybe Marmoleum Water Color?

Thanks, cawaps. I like your floor suggestion much better than the one I used. Gray would be my natural inclination, but as you mentioned, I was trying to shy away from it for the poster who inspired it.

Sochi, is it showing up for you yet?

Pricklypear: too funny, I just read through this thread yesterday! Imagine my surprise to see it on the front page today. haha... oh, what you did looks great, too!

livewireoak,

That Brutalist brass chandelier is going to give me nightmares! :-)

So, this is my first attempt at a "design around" post.

Jack and Jill just finished their graduate degrees and finally have "real" jobs. With the help of their parents, they have been able to buy a small 2 bedroom condo, which has the dreaded golden oak kitchen cabinets with black appliances that are still in pretty good working condition. Money is tight, but fortunately, Jill's mom is quite handy. Following instructions in the Family Handyman, she has removed the wood panels from the upper cabinets and replaced them with glass panels.

At the local IKEA, they purchased:
Numerar counter tops in gray
stainless sink and faucet ( a better faucet will have to wait)
SS undercounter lighting
Thermosfar wire light fixture

Jack and Jill paint the walls BM Swiss Coffee and lay the
gray vinyl floor tiles that they purchased at Overstock.

Their favorite feature is the backsplash, which they made using a photo wallpaper that they put behind glass panels.

They still need SS knobs or handles but haven't agree yet on which ones to pick, which is ok for now since both options are currently on backorder at their local IKEA store.

They'll figure it out over a bottle of champagne.

Nosoccermom, congratulations on your first DAT design. Putting glass in the uppres really lightens up the look. I like the pairing of the oak with whites/light grays. (So often in real life you see it paired with beiges that don't quite work.) The backsplash is a creative and striking solution to a limited budget. I cracked up over "both options are currently on backorder at their local IKEA store" because isn't that always how it is?

I am happy to see that, a year and a half later, people are still getting something out of this thread. And still contributing new ideas!

I'm sorry I haven't figured out how to do these design boards, but was happy to see this thread revived and thought I would contribute an image of golden oak put to sublime use, in Louis Kahn's Yale Center for British Art. But the grain of the paneling is not like any oak I've seen recently: much finer. The restraint of the other materials tames all that wood panelling, and the wonderful light. I could happily live here.

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nosoccermom - I love your first design! Very modern and cool.

farmgirlinky - Very pretty! I love the contrast of the cement and modern architecture with the oak and the fine art and formal rug.

That's rift sawn white oak, and it's still available today in many cabinet lines. :)

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"Golden oak" is usually red oak, stained with a yellow based stain, and an oil based top coat. The combo creates that orangey-ness that so many people are trying to get away from.

Before/after videos online so I wouldn't have to post so many pictures. (First two of grandson, skip to videos 3 & 4) Https://vimeo.com/user12732009/videos
1. Experimented (Mar. 2013) inside one door; days later it passed scratchtest. Eight months later cabinets like new. I had all materials from previous project so cabinet project cost nothing.
2. Removed doors, drawers, knobs, very light sanding outsides only, very little ebony stain, one coat semi gloss poly clear coat. Took 4 days,
3. Bought and stained oak molding for soffet, light oak, then ebony; perfect match. Cut scallops off the over-sink trim, and tossed the railing on hood vent and soffet. Spent money on labor and material to finish project.
4. Blue storm laminate FX180; large pieces were costly but I had no expensive corner cuts (so no seams), saved $$ using plain edges, more realistic anyway. PS got moving packet from postoffice and used the included Lowes 10% off coupon (on countertop).
5. A friend removed and repurposed old countertop (no removal or dump fees).
6. Designed my backsplash and had it put over old laminate back splash. Large tile over stove was $300 display, I paid $50. Plus I saved on glass tile that would have been used instead.
My kitchen isn't as dark as it appears in videos. Hubby was very repentant for yelling that I would surely ruin the cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: none

Great thread!!

I am laughing at seeing this on page 1 again. These were fun to do.

These threads were the best. Seems we can’t re-create them so I’m pleased they pop up every now and again.