Those photos do look awful pretty. :-)

The black and wood are beautiful together. I had a beautiful kitchen in AZ with similar coloring to the first picture you posted.

That said, it does make the kitchen darker. I would really consider the natural lighting you get in your kitchen and how important it is to you to have a light and bright kitchen before you make the plunge.

There's always artificial light! What about a solar tube (I don't know offhand if it's possible in your kitchen.)
A well-lit kitchen can overcome "dark"...at night any kitchen is dark, so you need good lighting anyway.
I'm partial to black, so I agree with your sample!

I love black and wood.

Cabinets are cherry and we have black beadboard, black shelving, and black appliances. We do notice some dust on the beadboard and the shelves but the appliances are not an issue.

Ooh, that faux copper is gorgeous!! Prosource, would you know what paint was used? LM: You think Ms Sample will get along with that? The wood sure will.

I think black and wood are gorgeous together. My other house is a tiny 50's Cape with T&G ceilings on the main level. The kitchen cabinets are pine slab and the walls behind them are wide plank T&G. Add double hung wooden windows and that's a ton of wood in a tiny area! Initially I hated it, but I started adding black touches (hardware, appliances, hood, pot rack, and lamp shades) and now I love it :)

LOL! I can just 'see' your cabinet sample running around and twirling in front of the black!

Yes, it would look very nice....and yes, you should write these little stories, to pay for the kitchen :)

If you have the proper lighting, I think you and your dad could do the black and wood combo. I'm not sure about a cooler-toned blue with your countertops.

I just read this to my mom, over the phone....and we're both still giggling! "Daddy said we could"....almost had my mom dropping the phone, she was laughing so much. Apparently, that reminds her of someone, who shall remain nameless.

Anyway we love the black and the toile, but we both think you should use some dark pink accents, like the flowers on that island....we think Little Miss Cabinet Sample would like a little dark 'girlie' pink :)

Images hereWow, you have run away with all of your comments. Thank you all! I want to take the time to respond to each of you individually, but I've only got a couple of minutes right now.

I do want to give you an update though. We ditched the Bella Noche once I saw some larger remnants of it in our kitchen this morning. I didn't like it at all. Details why : In this thread.

We ordered Soapstone Sequoia instead.Pictures here

The Soapstone Sequoia is beautiful.

And you know.....it would look really good with the black :)

Love the Soapstone Sequoia and the black & white toile fabric. My neighbor has black & white toile window treatments in her kitchen. I've always loved them.

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought my eyes were deceiving me--I was sure it must have been started by CEFreeman. :)

I'm chuckling. You are a clever lady, laughable!

I gotta admit that I don't think I've ever really looked at wood and black together before but I sure do like it. Very rich, more unique than black and white, and I think the right lighting and accents like that lovely toile will creative a lovely room.

Thanks, Carrie. They do look pretty, don't they. I started a pinboard yesterday of black and wood cabinets, and it was amazing to see how many different style directions the combo could go. And some look quite nice.

That's neat to hear you had and liked a similar kitchen wifeoferp. Good point about the lighting. There is one window, 5' wide, facing north in this kitchen, but it is open to a nook that faces south, and has diagonal views through a bay window to the south in the dining room. So there is a little bit of light sharing going on.

Prodesigns (are you Live Wire Oak from GW by chance? I know there were some difficulties with the pros names not crossing over nicely.) thanks so much for chiming in about the visual weight of the range hood. I definitely don't want it to feel heavy and oppressive, especially when it's going to be looming over my head! The faux copper hood is a neat idea (especially since it sounded helpful to Gemcaps, too!) but it might be a little too "crusty" for my tastes. Sometimes when I see pieces like that I'll think, "Gee, that could be so nice if I took the time to refinish it!" : ) It would play well with the country french idea...I wonder if there's a way to have it not so crusty.

In regards to lighting Beuhl and pro, we got that one covered. There's no way to do a solar tube in here, but after living in the dark ages for 6 months in this kitchen (lit only by 3 little 40w bulbs with table lamps against bare stud walls), I had DH put in 12 LED can lights, 2 wall sconces over the sink, and a chandelier over the island. There will also be UCL's on the perimeter. I expect a surgical gurney to be rolling into the kitchen any minute now...

Debrak, I forgot that you did a black island with your wood cabinets! It looks very nice. (And I'd love sitting at your heated island. : ))

Errant, wow, that's great that those little touches of black made you love your kitchen. Knotty pine can be really pretty. I'm glad to hear you decided to work with it rather than tearing it all out. I bet it's very cozy and warm feeling.

LOL, Lavender Lass. Wouldn't that be fun to get paid for writing about kitchens?! Sounds like a dream job. : ) That's so neat that this little vignette could get you and your mom giggling together. She must have had a little girl who tried her whiles just like mine will try to do if given the chance. ; )

Pink flowers would be wonderful, anything flowering right now that we could clip and bring in would seem divine! We're still buried in snow, but expect a temporary warm-up this week. Woo!

The cooler blue tones aren't working for you, my four sons? Hmmmm...

What if the blue green was more intense, if it had more blackish coloring in it? I was looking at a kitchen that was featured in Southern Living that uses SW Pewter Green. It looks a lot deeper on the color swatch than in their photos, but I tried copying and pasting from their picture into my kitchen to see how it looked. Is this any better, or is it fighting with the rest of the cabinetry?

Here's the original kitchen:

A video tour can be seen here: Southern Living Nashville Idea House Kitchen

Thanks for the positive votes on the toile fabric Romy and LL. The pictures in the print are so cute. I'm looking forward to making the curtain.

Ha! That's funny you thought this was a CEFreeman post, Mamagoose. Her posts are a treat. : )

Thanks, Funkycamper!

I'm going to add a few more photos, but I'll do it in another post. I lost the first draft of the original post the other day, and I don't want to go through rewriting again.

I love the black! What is funny is that my walls are painted that exact pewter green on the kitchen laughable posted. I am in love with the color!

Aha, that's right, it was you that clued me on to the Pewter Green over in the Home Dec forum, aktillery! I did a google search of the color and found the Southern Living kitchen. Glad to hear you like it.

Do you have pictures of it in your space, by any chance? Whenever I see pro shots, I wonder how much their lights are throwing the colors off.

Another black lover, sigh. I think my cabinets and GW friends are conspiring together against me. ; )

These were my inspiration shots for the lighter greenish-blue paint colors. I see that the wood tones are lighter than my cabinets, though. Since my cabinets are a darker color, does that mean I ought to go with a darker paint tone?

Laughable I think either the pewter green or black would look really sharp, I think it depends what look you are going for. The green is a much lighter feeling for sure, and the black/wood combo seems a lot more traditional to me. I'm excited to find out which way you go.

I like the blue-green....but you don't take me shopping! LOL I think your sample is more partial to the black, but the toile would look good with both :)

The blue green looks great with the lighter wood and cream walls! And it would bounce more light around. What do YOU like?

I definately like the green over the black. Especially now that you are back to the soapstone sequoia. To me it is more towards the country french look.

I think the black can work too, but would have to be a softer black and then distressed or something to look more country french. The solid black in the pictures above to me looks very nice, however is leaning towards a different style.

I like your idea of a little more (not a lot) intensity to the blue-green (more green) then your original inspiration pics. Definately try darker then the last two photos. I think you have the reason correct In saying those kitchens have a lighter pine color wood and your cabs are darker.

I am really liking color the Nashville home pewter green color. I have a feeling that they put some sort of glazing over that green. Did it say anything about that?

Can you post a close up picture of one of your wood cabinet doors showing the black highlighting because I cannot see it at all from your kitchen shot. Then I can understand what you mean when you say it keeps pulling you toward the black more.

I think it depends what look you are going for. Yes, I think I need to define this, for myself as much as anyone. I feel like I was headed to England but my cabinets are steering the plane toward France. I'm ok with that.

My Sweeby test adjectives would be: Homey, comfortable, welcoming, pretty, fitting for a farmhouse that leans toward victorian (there's an original stained glass window in the stairwell, a large bumped out bay window on the south side of the house, 9' ceilings, and the original orangey wood floors in all of the front rooms but the kitchen and bath.) Not stuffy, not hands-off, not prim and proper, but a gracious, kind and loving "lady" that's able to chuckle at the quirkiness that life throws at "her." Not dreary, or dusty, or old and musty.

I like the blue-green....but you don't take me shopping! If you lived closer, I might! : ) I don't know which color I like better (crossing eyes!)

Sure, rebunky, I'd be happy to post more pictures : ) (Note: I'm not sure if I'm sticking with this hardware or not. It's simply what these came with when we bought them.) The cabinets are reading a bit yellow in some of these shots. They lean toward orangey, but not in an offensive to me way. Oh. Yes. That is our fridge. In the middle. of. the. kitchen. LOL Hopefully it will be sent to it's own corner soon! DH hasn't wired up the wall outlets yet, so it's hooked up to an extension cord in the playroom nook right now.

And here is a sketch of what I'm thinking for the hood and wall oven cabinet. The doorway to the family room is directly left of the oven cabinet. There is a beam over the oven cabinet that comes down to 7' 6" off the floor. Originally, I was planning to put the oven cabinet all the way up to the full height of the ceiling so it would echo the range hood cover. But, the pesky beam is there, so maybe it would be better to just stop the oven cabinet short, as if it was an old cabinet that was retrofitted to hold the ovens.

I am really liking color the Nashville home pewter green color. I have a
feeling that they put some sort of glazing over that green. Did it say
anything about that?

They didn't say anything about glazing those cabinets at all. In the video the designer called it a "deep sagey green" or something like that. That's not to say we couldn't glaze our oven cabinet, though!

It also looks so much darker in the swatch that I have, so maybe AKtillery will have a picture to share (pretty please? : ))

Okay, with those cabinets...and the bit of orange that you say they bring...I would definitely go with the blue-green. The blue will compliment the orange and look amazing!

As for Little Miss Sample, let her down easy. And if all else fails...tell her the black would work if SHE were going to clean it, but since she won't be...it's blue/green :)

I think the black can work too, but would have to be a softer black and
then distressed or something to look more country french.

I forgot to address this comment yesterday. I don't mind a little distressing, so I think this would be an ok solution, too. A little bared wood is acceptable to me. Total grunge is what I'd have a harder time handling.

As for Little Miss Sample, let her down easy. And if all else
fails...tell her the black would work if SHE were going to clean it, but
since she won't be...it's blue/green :)

Ha! This made me chuckle. : ) I haven't told her anything yet. I don't want to break it to her and then possibly change my mind since I'm still undecided. It's time to do some samples next to her and we'll see how it goes.

Here's a more distressed black with maple.

One more question...what color are the double ovens? Black or stainless steel? (Sorry if you already answered this, but it's early here...)

Also, I do like that distressed black more than any other black finishes you've shown. It's kind of the reverse of the black lines on the wood cabinets.

I think Little Miss Sample is getting to me! I still like the blue/green, but I can see the distressed black would look good, too :)

The Miele ovens are a combo of SS and black, like this:

The distressed black cabinets in the picture above are very similar to the black cupboards at the co-op that Little Miss liked so much.

Thanks for posting the close up of the door and more of the kitchen. Your kitchen seems to have plenty of light. That's good!

I see now what you were talking about with the black highlight. I really think I had those cabinets in a previous house. They were maple with a stain called "spice".

That distressed black in the last photo is definately more what I was thinking. Oh no....I think I'm wavering slightly from the green. Come on Lavender, we have to stay strong and not let Little Miss Thang, play with poor Laughable's emotions until she ways all the facts! :)

I really think the key to pulling off the more French Victorian farmhouse look you love is making sure the paint is a soft charcoal black shade verses a rich, solid black. It should be a matte finish, not glossy. Even semi-gloss might be to shiny. Then add some distressing. Just a little wood peaking thru, not grunge, like you said. I agree with you on that. I try to like that "shabby chic" look, but somehow it just looks shabby and not chic. Haha!

Man, this is a tough one! I was really on the green bandwagon. I keep going back and forth contemplating the adjectives you used to describe what you like. Welcoming, home on the farm, Victorian touches, not dusty or dreary, and for sure not musty! :) Ok let me think about this some more and get back to you.

In the meantime, whenever you could go back to the co-op with "little missy" and get some pictures of her next to the black cupboards she is so enamored by, then we can have a better visual.

Honestly, the black is probably the safer choice, and it does tie in the black appliances. But you gotta admit, the green was your original love right? That is until this dark mysterious stranger showed up.

If you could find that perfect shade of greenish-blue, it would scream, "Oooo Lala, I'm a french country farmhouse" Then tie in the black with new knobs, the decorative plates, your cute black wire chicken basket which is tres adorbs! It could really be amazing with pops of red, or dark pink as LL suggested.

I did a quick search and found one with the beadboard backspash and hot pink tulips. Hello! This green is nice and soft, but I envision maybe just a hint darker. More like the one you found earlier.

Here another country french look with your toile fabric in red. Ok now I am having way too much fun...I better go to work now.

One more question...Do you plan to stay in this house for a long time? I think that would make a difference as well. Keep us posted for sure k? :)

Rebunky- LOL! The black does look good with the appliances....but I REALLY love that first picture you posted :)

Part of my problem is my mom wants to paint the kitchen cabinets green and I don't like dark green cabinets....so I've been sending her pictures of these blue/green ones. They're beautiful and so much better with pink and lavender (my favorite colors.)

Those tulips are gorgeous! I like the pink better than the red. I think the green can be overwhelming, too...on every cabinet. I prefer it on the lowers only (and plate rack) so as accents in a kitchen it would be perfect.

Laughable- Can you buy a couple of rolls of wrapping paper and 'wrap' (or hang up) paper in the areas, where you want the color? Maybe that way we could see it with the floor, the counters, the light, the appliances...it's easier than painting everything twice!

And I like the black hardware idea :)

Second pic - a green that looks w/ black (appliances) & cabinets that are similar in color to yours? Sherwin Williams 6188, Shade Green.

The first pic - i thought the backsplash is a nice green.

I forgot to post this one I saw earlier. It's a little darker green which I think goes better with your color wood cabs.

I like that photo romy posted. That SW color maybe similar? Anyways just giving ya lots of options. You could really go either-or at this point! Neither would be a wrong decision. :)

The blue green works. But not on the range hood. How do you feel about a third color? A cream? Otherwise, leave the hood wood. It would need more negative space around it to work as the dark heavy color. As in remove those wall cabinets adjacent. Since you probably can't afford to lose that storage, think lighter for the color change, not darker. Or, that faux copper verdigris could bring in some of the green tones with the browns of the wooD. Still might be heavy feeling though. So, cream might be best.

These cupboards, they are bossier than I envisioned them being, LOL. They're pulling you all to black, too? I'll see if I can get some pictures with Little Miss at the shop today, although I do dread all of her begging and pleading. ; )

Thank you so much for the pictures, Rebunky and Romy! I have a few of those pinned in my kitchen files, too. : ) Those open shelves with the yellow dishes are very nice. It's good to see the wood and grays working together in there! The darker green perimeter with the wood island is a new one to me and shows me that the dark green works better with the deeper wood tones. The real dark range hood was a picture I'd found too, and so I was playing with a pine green paint we have here at the house.

While I really like the lighter green cabinets posted (!), I think it's too light to go with these maple cabinets. The darker greens work better, but I'm not feeling the. "love, love, love them." It's more of a "use these colors to make this work". Sigh.

I'm not sure where to find black wrapping paper, LL, but wrapping up my kitchen presents is a good idea. : )

The blue green works. But not on the range hood. How do you feel about
a third color? A cream? Otherwise, leave the hood wood. That's good to know ahead of time, Sophie! We can't leave the hood wood since we are building it out of a variety of wood species and it would look terrible. But, we could paint it cream. I've mocked up a cream hood to see how it looks. Taking down the uppers on either side of the hood won't work because, like you said, I could use the storage.

Here is the mock-up:

Now. If we did the hood cream, then what color(s) should the wall oven, island, and hutch be?

Just for fun, here's a sneak peak of part of the hood in its rough state. We have this Eastlake remnant that's been trailing along with us so long we don't remember where it came from. We are taking this opportunity to use it. : )

Very nice detail :)

What about cream and blue/green...with the black appliances? Maybe something like this...very rough cut and paste.
The blue/green is a little dark, but all I could find on my break!

Well, actually in your original two inspiration photos shown with the lighter green, do you see what I see? Yes, I do believe that indeed is a cream colored hood.

Then look in the last photo I posted with the darker green and your color wood island. Uh oh, is that a cream hood too? So are we adding cream to mix? I think so. :)

I love this thread and Little Miss Sample's moxie! She sounds like a hoot.

The Eastlake remnant is fantastic. What a lovely hood that will be. So glad you're finding a use for it. When Sophie first mentioned cream, I recoiled but the example Lavender has created is very charming. I like it better than a cream backsplash as the greenish/blue backsplash allows the cream hood to make a real statement. With that Eastlake trim on it, I think this could be quite stunning.

What's is your plan on the eastlake panel? Where did you find it? It's sure purdy! It's a perfect match with your cabinets. Were you going to paint it along with what ever color you pick for the hood? Or is it staying the original wood color?

If you are still leaning toward the distressed black for the hood, then I thought it may look nice to leave that one section of the hood in the wood color. Then accent the carvings on it with the black highlight like your cabinets. Maybe do the shelf above it in the wood and possibly the crown also? It may break up the "heaviness" as Sophie suggested. I am not a designer so I am not exactly sure what that even means, but I think I understand. Haha. I'm so pathetic, I don't know diddly-squat about kitchen design (learning) but I definately know what I like or do not like when I see it!

Anyways, all I'm saying is, before you touch that beautiful piece of art with paint, just play around with it as-is. ;)

Wow, you were working o n my kitchen during your break? Thanks Lavender! Doing the blue green on the bs is an interesting idea. It's very jazzy with the bright blue. If we could get the color quiet enough, that might work.

Yes, rebunky, we might be adding cream. It feels so much lighter than the dark colored hood pictures. The greens, though, I feel like I'm having to try too hard to make them work. Maybe those greens can come into play in dishes and such, rather than on the cabinets.

I did take the Little Miss in for her photo session. She thought that was loads of fun and was more well behaved than I expected her to be. She still absolutely loved hanging out with the primitive style black cupboards, peeking prettily between the tendrils of vines that were draped on them, though. My laptop isn't cooperating with me today so I'm sorry I can't show you pictures right now.

Thank you all for the thumbs up on the Eastlake piece. We've loved it for a long time, and are excited to use it here. It's going below the plate rail on the range hood cover. We'll see whether or not it gets painted. We plan to try leaving it stained first and see how it looks with the painted trim around it before we ruin, I mean, paint it.

Since I do like the cream hood, would it look goofy to paint the oven cab cream??

To me, painting the oven cabinet cream makes sense. I like your idea of introducing another color with accessories or the backsplash.

Thank Romy. I feel ok about doing the hood cream. If the wall oven cab goes to cream, then what about the island and hutch, I wonder?

This post is kind of mixed up. The pictures are not posted in any sensible order. I looked for pictures of stained maple or oak cabinets & painted wood came up with a few more. The one dark green I reposted because while possibly heavy looking, it might go with your black appliances. Whether it would work with the Soapstone Sequoia & your floors, I'm not sure.

I like your mockup of the cream hood with your maple cabinets but I'm unsure about the other pieces. Is DH building the other pieces or have you already purchased them?

I agree that the black might look too heavy butbfound a couple more photos with black.

This last picture is your countertop, Soapstone Sequoia. I'm not good at mixing color tones. Hopefully some others will give input.

Would you consider having all the pieces in place, countertops installed & then experimenting with color?

You found a good variety of examples, Romy. Thank you! As I look at them, some appeal to me more than others. For example, I kind of like the unfitted one with the cream island. The ones with the black hoods do have a heavier look. I'm struck by how many of these colored mixes look a bit forced, like the colored cabinets are just "stuck" there. : ( It's most apparent to me in the ones with the black hoods.

Yes, it's very possible to have the pieces in place before painting them. It's highly likely, actually, that we will paint them right in the kitchen. We don't have the facilities for a special painting environment.

You just proved that I like my counter top choice. I got to the last picture and went "OoOoh". I think I looked at the pictures before I read all of your text, and laughed at myself when I saw that you wrote that it was "our" countertop. : )

I had a few minutes this morning to work with the pictures I took the other day (and my laptop is behaving today-yay!). I've loosely arranged them into color categories to try to make it orderly. Some of the colors were washing out, and the photographer had her hands full trying to hold Little Miss still and operating the camera at the same time!

Blacks:

Cream and Tan:

Blues:

Greens:

I hate to say this....but SHE really does look good against that charcoal black. I can see why she's giving you so much trouble (LOL) but it is a good match :)

Here are a few pictures...wood with black island and lighter range hood...

And yellow kitchen with wood (darker) hood and island. Not what you're doing, but lighter/darker contrast...and I just really like this picture :)

Both of those kitchens are very homey, Lavender. Thank you for sharing them! I could move right into either house, LOL.

Yes, the black is a good match. I may have to give in. It's too hard to fight with HER. ; )

How about this?

Hood: Cream (I've thought about doing an antiqued black frame around the Eastlake portion, with glazed cream above, too.)

Oven cabinet: Charcoal black, also lightly antiqued.

Island: Black? I love the look of black islands...but I'm planning on baking on the island, which means flour droppings everywhere. Maybe if we do inset drawers with flat fronts, black, lightly distressed, they would be ok???)

Hutch: Hmph. You, dear hutch, remain a mystery to me. I'm resistant to you being black, sweet one. Do you want to be cream? Tan? You'll be in your own little nook, so maybe you can have your own style.

For the record, I came across a black hood and island with wood cabinets that appealed to me today. Is this hood still too heavy? Does it only work because it is so large? Does it not work and I'm missing it, LOL?

More pictures of this kitchen here.

p.s. Lavender, I just found these transferware bunny dishes on a blog, and they made me think of you. There are other pictures of the rest of the dish set at the blog here.

So pretty! Thanks for posting :)

Did you see my bunny plates on the other thread?

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2925262/bunny-platesbut-not-bunny-tiles

Oh the bunnies plates...can we get any more adorable!

I don't know if you saw this picture in your searches, but I saw this one and it made me think of an idea for you to use the Eastlake with a border to fit on the top part of your cooktop cabinet instead of on the hood. Don't you need a front to cover the missing drawers on that?

This kitchen has a black hood, black island with butchblock, and other black hutch type cabinetry in same area (which yours would be the oven cab).

Notice cream pillers? Maybe do your hutch a cream color? I also like the glass with a black iron on the cabinets. Maybe you could do some cool glass pattern on your corner cab? A bunny perhaps? Haha!

For some reason I cannot stop thinking about your kitchen when I need to focus on my stupid backsplash. Focus!!!

What is it about bunnies?! They're just too cute. : )

Rebunky, I've been doing image searches galore, and I did not see that image. Thank you for posting it! I do like the black hood in that image. And the island. : )

We have the drawers for the cabinet under the cooktop, but DH had them removed when I took the photo. He's got the Eastlake piece framed already. He would have probably hung the hood and cover yesterday, but our countertops came in Tuesday afternoon, so he spent the whole day yesterday on getting those ready to install instead! I should have a working sink and cooktop today-hooray!!!!

I don't know what type of glass door is coming in for our corner cabinet. Isn't that crazy? The guy that ordered them for us hasn't had any come in in our line of cabinets yet, and they weren't pictured in the catalog. So, we all get to be surprised. : P

I picked up some (more) paint cards at the home stores a few nights ago. I was going to get sample pots of paint at Lowes or Home Depot, but Ace Hardware has got theirs on sale for $.99 this week, so I'll get them there instead. I've got a few blacks I'm looking at, as well as a dark bluish green, and a golden cream that I'm considering for the hutch.

I wish you the best with your backsplash! I don't think that's an easy decision. We looked through wall tiles on our shopping trip, and very few "spoke" to us. I would definitely need to take lots of breaks and think about other people's kitchens in the decision making process, too. LOL