So...we know what you don't like. What do you like? If you pay no attention to the house, what would you want? :)

I would leave "the oak trim around the house" intact....it's basic. You can do a white shaker kitchen with it...aim for "transitional. It's expensive to remove and replace oak trim from an entire house....not that you were thinking of that, but maybe. Work with the oak trim....put Focus on kitchen.....probably not slab doors...shaker or subtle raised panel....painted or stained wood depends on budget I suppose. Good luck with planning.

Thanks lavender_lass and herbflavor! I was in the midst of typing this up as you posted. ;) I've narrowed down what I know I definitely don't like and what I seem to like.

What I don't like

I know for sure that I don't want a modern style. I want my kitchen to have a warmer, more cozy feel. Yet, I don't like the busy-ness of traditional styles. I like something that's more simple yet not sleek like modern styles.

What I like

As I fill my Ideabooks and Pinterest boards I find that the kitchens I'm most drawn to are either:

1) Modern farmhouse. I love the farmhouse look but I'd add contemporary elements to make it feel fresh. I really like the nostalgic, cozy, inviting and un-fussy nature of farmhouse kitchens. I don't have time to constantly tidy up so I want a kitchen that will still look great even with a bit of clutter and mess. This is one of my favourite kitchens:

I love, love, love that high back sink!

2) Rustic. I'm really drawn to natural materials like unpainted wood cabinets and stone accents (e.g. in the backsplash). I like elements of the ski chalet/log cabin look. But, rustic kitchens seem to be darker and less airy. I'd prefer to have a light, airy feel in the kitchen.

I couldn't find any photos of rustic kitchens that I absolutely love, but here are some with elements that I am drawn to:

I like the wood on the cabinets. Not too light, not too dark and a good brown tone that isn't orange-y or yellow.

All the wood in this kitchen has such a soothing feel to it.

I love how this one looks like a cabin in the middle of a forest.

Would reclaimed wood beams like this look silly in a 90s house? Are my 8 ft ceilings too low to accommodate beams?

3) White kitchens. I have white appliances that are only a few years old so I won't be changing them anytime soon. I love how clean, airy and fresh white kitchens look. And, as a bonus, they work really nicely with white appliances, helping to blend them in. At the same time, I don't necessarily want to pick a kitchen style just to make it work with the appliances, as there is a possibility that we will change to stainless steel ones in a few years. For instance, we are seriously looking into changing our white electric coil range over to a SS gas range. Here's a Pinterest board with some white kitchens that I like.

I would agree you have a blank slate based on what you describe and can find whatever you like that works for your family. I think designers sometimes tell their customers to match the design of the exterior to help narrow down design decisions faster and realtors give this advice so that the house will appeal to almost every buyer. If the home has architecturally interesting features then its a great idea to pick them up and complement. If there's nothing architecturally significant then there's no reason to constrain yourself to boring/ordinary. There are infinite ways to design something that's tasteful. If you think you might want to sell the house within 10 years you might want to avoid over-personalization (e.g. features that you like but others might not feel the same way about).

...maybe go through Houzz kitchen photos and post some pics/screenshots of ones that strike your fancy. You don't even need to identify why you like a particular photo: the wonderfully talented GWers here have a talent for pulling out common themes. I'm sure their comments will help you narrow your focus. Good luck!

ETA: whoooooops! Simultaneous posts!

I also live in a 90s pink stucco house :). I'm ripping out all the brass and pink(and it's EVERYWHERE!), painting all the oak trim white, and am going for more neutral colors. My new kitchen is white, and I love it! I'm okay that the insides don't match the outsides, but because I'm going pretty classic and neutral, they don't "clash" either.

I admit that I cannot pinpoint a 90s style. Perhaps time needs to pass before it's determinate. 80s' style became obvious much later.

Having lived through both decades, all I can think of rustic or natural comes to that awful, pseudo "country" with all the pink-not-mauve dotted fabric, roosters, boarders around the ceiling and fake ivy.

That said, the inspiration pictures you've posted are obviously not of that ilk! LOL! I think if you go with what YOU like vs. what some crazy person built in the 90s, you'll be quite happy. Thank goodness you're not trying to build a Tuscan palace out of it.

You'll be great.

Ms K, your tastes seem to run rather similar to mine with the love of white and warm wood:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3552819/just-wanted-to-post-an-update-on-my-ikea-kitchen?n=56

Stucco can be painted if you REALLY hate pink! We painted ours 12 years ago and it still looks great.

I don't even like pink but I love pink stucco. I dunno why but I do. Your house sounds huggable to me.

I agree that you can really go with any style you like since your interior is non-descript and fairly basic in style. I like all your inspiration pictures.

Awhile back, we had a discussion where someone posted all their inspiration pictures and asked for help analyzing them for the common threads that would help them make a decision on their own kitchen. It was an amazing read as some of the gurus here picked out the repeating elements that helped narrow down the poster's vision. I suggest you do the same. I just think you'll need more inspiration pictures than you have posted already to give people more to work with.

Since you are drawn to both brown wood and white, have you considered incorporating both in the form of wood lower cabs and white upppers? Maybe reclaimed wood with grayish cast?

I dunno about a beam on an 8 ft. ceiling - seems a bit much to me. I'd have to see some great pic's where that was done to convince me.

Problem is, I'm not a fan of the style of this house! On the exterior,
it has ugly pink stucco and bright red clay tiles. On the interior,
there is orange-y oak trim throughout the house and beige/pinkish/cream
colours on the floors.

Sounds like the basic SoCal or Texan "Southwest Ranch" style.

They do "rustic modern" very well - Simple dark wood, some reclaimed wood and even that high-back farm sink will work well.

If it's tile floors, leave it. Painting the walls a pale taupe or even a pale lavendar (Behr's Amethyst Cream) makes it look less "pinkish beige" and warmer.

Here are few examples of white cabs with reclaimed wood on the island. I agree it looks good as a focus point in a light and airy all white kitchen.

Also note the thin beams in the 2nd picture (but those look like 10' ceilings). WIth 8 foot ceilings that's what you'd be able to do although they would impact your ability to get full height cabinets in the kitchen.

I must confess that in years past, as CEFreeman noted, I did have the roosters, ivy and, while not in my kitchen, the living room was pinks/mauves/blues. It was the big trend during the 80's, along with the honey oak cabinets (had some of them too) I hope today's trends don't become as laughable as the 80's have. I agree that the oak trim should stay, oak is a tough wood, doesn't dent or scratch easily, and if you don't like it, you can always paint it. Nice, clean painted trim will brighten it up a lot. (Trying to convince my DH we should paint ours too) As for the exterior, can you paint the stucco? I agree, I don't love pink either, other than a few toss pillows here and there.

I am not a huge fan of painting natural wood, but all of my oak trim is now white. I had the banister stripped and stained espresso and the rungs painted white. I love it. We are doing a darker wood in the kitchen. Good luck!

Thanks so much for all the feedback everyone! I'm sorry I can't reply individually to each of you. I've been busy all weekend purging, making space for the reno.

I'm still not sure which style to go with but your ideas are definitely helping to get me closer. I think funkycamper's suggestion to post more inspiration pics for the "gurus" to pick out common threads is fantastic! That'll be my homework for tonight.

Hi Ms K! I agree that you indeed do have a "blank slate" to work with. It sounds to me like what you have currently can easily be updated to reflect your own personal style. I love the kitchen Stan Z posted! Could you possibly post some pics of your current kitchen? It would be nice to see what you're working with. I'm looking forward to seeing the "gurus" work their magic! :-)

BTW I'm finding it amusing how the oak trim and pink stucco are getting so much attention. ;) I love your positive spins on how to work with/embrace them. I suppose pink is a "huggable" colour? Ha ha...

Yay! You're purging. I think you'll feel better about your space just doing that. And then your remodel will just be the icing. Glad you like that idea, too. I think you'll get some great suggestions. Don't rush picking your photos. Of course, you may already have a folder filled with them, right? Enjoy the purging!

Speaking of the pink stucco... :-)...it's very interesting how here in the U.S. we shun brightly colored houses. Not sayin' Ms. K's stucco is bright; in fact, I'm sure it isn't. But we Americans seem to think bright primary and secondary colors aren't appropriate for houses. I've lived in a few communities ruled by military-style HOA's, haha, and the palette range for home color choices is small and muted. But in other countries, bright colors abound! I lived in Mexico for two years around the turn of the millennium, and at first I thought the people had no taste when it came to their house colors. But I eventually learned to embrace it. Since then, I have traveled around a great deal of the world, and I always love the bright orange, purple, yellow, and yes, pink houses that would be considered alarming and an eye sore here in the U.S. I wonder why that is?

Looking forward to your "homework," Ms. K! :-)

I've pulled together my first batch of inspiration photos. I started by going through my Pinterest boards. These are all transitional style white kitchens: http://pin.it/fGakbQx. I left comments under each photo to describe what I like about that kitchen.

I started with this style because my husband prefers to "play it safe" when it comes to kitchen style. He's most drawn to transitional, white kitchens and he's very reluctant to go too rustic or farmhouse. If this was my kitchen alone, I'd go all out rustic or farmhouse! He's happy to support whichever direction I want to go because he knows I spend more time in the kitchen than he does. But I don't want him to hate the kitchen every time he goes in there, so I need to find a middle ground.

My brother made a great suggestion to help us find a go between. He said to go with a transitional style in white for the cabinets and counters. Then, bring in the rustic/farmhouse feel in pieces that can be easily changed (e.g. tables, chairs, pendants, window and wall treatments).

I'd love to get a wood look tile floor that resembles hand honed wood planks. But flooring can't be easily changed. I worry I could tire of the look but won't be able to change it because of the cost.

Will post more inspiration photos as I gather more! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I think choices of home colors varies depending on the community. I leave near a beach where brightly colored homes are a bit more common. Not all homes are bright but it's not as unusual. On roadtrips, I've also noticed that warmer climates tend to have more brightly colored homes. It seems it should be the opposite just to brighten up dark, dreary winter days in more northern areas.

Ms K, what a great collection of inspiration photos. I think you have a clear, strong preference for white, light, windows, and airiness. But you already knew that, right? In order for your post to catch the eye of folks here, I suggest you start a new thread with a title asking for help defining your kitchen style.

Then post the photos directly into your post. I think we're only allowed four photos per post so you will have to post follow-up posts with the other photos. People tend to not click on links to look at photos and prefer to see them in the actual thread. I encourage you to go through the photos and only pick about 6-8 to put in the new thread. Just look at the photos you have and go with your gut first choices. Don't think hard about which ones to pick. Just pick the ones that jump out at you first. This is a "go with your gut" thing, not a mindful, analytical thing. Does that make sense?

I wouldn't put your personal comments in the thread next to the kitchens you choose to post. Your own thoughts and analysis might impact what people see themselves. You can post a link to your Pinterest page, of course, if folks choose to visit it.

Personally, I think you've nailed down and defined your style quite well without help from folks here but I can understand if you just need assurance that you're on the right track.

I just looked through your album, and our tastes are VERY similar. Particularly in these ways:

• all my favorite kitchens are more like windows that happen to have kitchens near them
• especially keen on windows featuring a green view outside
• preference for a more simple, not very fancy-feeling type of kitchen. A normal house, normal family kitchen.
• light colors mostly, but with wood mixed in for some warmth
• variety in the design -- not just picking one cabinet, one paint color, one counter and using them everywhere
• yellow is my favorite color

Because we are so similar, I already have a million of kitchens like this pinned. Thought you might like some more visual inspiration:

funkycamper: thanks a bunch for those great tips for putting together another post. You're right that things are getting more clear, and I am getting a much stronger sense of what I like. I'm not totally happy with it though. I really want to include more warmth, wood, and natural materials. I definitely need to put together a new post to get more feedback.

Jillius, thank you SO MUCH for sharing all of those fantastic inspiration photos! I was quite astounded how similar our tastes are. I'm sure I'd love all your other pins... if you wouldn't mind, could you share your Pinterest boards with me so I can browse them? :)

BTW Jillius, I LOVED your first remark "all my favorite kitchens are more like windows that happen to have kitchens near them". Ha ha... that pretty much sums up what I was thinking as I went through my pins! Did I even really like those kitchens or was it just the windows I was in love with?? ;)

My Pinterest board was kind of a bloated hodge-podge, so you have inspired me to clean it up!

https://www.pinterest.com/jgreen16/kitchen-pretties/

Note: almost none of the captions/comments are mine. I don't usually write or change those when I pin something.

Amazing how my tastes have changed over the years! When I first started thinking about kitchens, I gravitated to a very different kind of space from what I landed on after much more thought and experience. I just deleted a ton of old pins and can't remember why I ever liked them!

I loved your "Kitchen Pretties" Jillius!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. The fact that you no longer liked a lot of your pins says a lot about kitchen style. I guess it's like fashion - the trendy stuff tends to go out of favour more quickly but the classics always stay in style. I'm very eco-conscious (very challenging when doing a kitchen reno) so I'm trying my best to choose a style that will last more than 10 years and still look beautiful.

I don't think it was actually about trends for me. I suspect I'll like what I like now for most of the rest of my life.

I think it was more that I'd never really considered kitchens before. Or my home. I'd just bought my first home when I started pinning and had never had the choice to decide how my kitchen looked before or flipped through kitchen pictures before. For instance, I don't think I'd seen an all-white kitchen before, which is a clean, crisp, appealing look. So I pinned a bunch of those. And then later I found some multicolored kitchens I liked so much more, and now I could never go back to all white.

So it was more of a you-have-to-kiss-a-lot-of-frogs thing at work. With no perspective and nothing to go on, I had very little idea of what worked for me and what makes me happy, and I'd seen very little of what was out there. I also knew nothing about kitchen function.

But now I've seen a bunch, learned a bunch, and thought a bunch, and I think I can happily marry this general concept for the long haul: lots of windows, green view, decidedly informal low-to-mid-range finishes, overall light and bright in tone, some wood, and some actual color on the walls or cabinets (yellow, green, or a warm blue).

The real problem is that my husband hates yellow and green and prefers dramatic, dark, and fancy stuff, and I'm also married to him for the long haul.

Jillius, sorry for implyng that your choices were about trends. That comment was meant more to be a general observation and realization that I've come to. :) I have absolutely no design know-how so designing my new kitchen has taken me on a very steep learning curve. I'm seeing lots of design ideas I'd never seen or considered before so my journey sounds very similar to what you went through. Love your "you-have-to-kiss-a-lot-of-frogs" analogy - that really does sum up the process I'm going through right now! Ha ha...

I'm still astounded by how similar my tastes are to yours. The fact that another person likes the same stuff means that I must be on the right track! ;) I can't go wrong if I stick to what brings me the most joy and contentment.

I've been inspired by your pinned kitchens to explore using more natural woods in the kitchen. I've spent tonight browsing GW for photos of unpainted wood cabinets. I'll start a new post to share what I've found and to get feedback.

There used to be a lot of posts on Oak. Most want to paint it, but my husband's theory of "never paint natural wood" paid off for us. It is possible to work around it but difficult to get it right. By much trial and more errors that I care to think about, we redid our kitchen (house much older but kitchen had been redone late 80s) and kept the oak with success.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2668953/update-of-80s-country-kitchen-finally-complete?n=94

Jillius, love your list. Especially,

all my favorite kitchens are more like windows that happen to have kitchens near them

That is exactly how I am designing my kitchen.

tinker1121: you did a fantastic job working with your oak cabinets. What a lovely oak kitchen. I think your lighting helps a lot. I cannot wait to get rid of my ugly fluorescent light box!

If my oak cabinets had less ornate doors and the layout was better, I'd be trying to keep mine too. I do like how very durable and strong oak is. It is very easy to live with and even after 20 years most of the doors are still in like new condition.

Update: I am torn between whether to get white or narural wood caninets. Last night I scoured Houzz for inspiration photos and I posted this https://www.houzz.com/discussions/i-want-natural-wood-cabinets-but-dsvw-vd~3619537 I'd really love your advice!

Yes, 8 foot ceilings are too low for beams, imo. Makes things look squattier.

@MsK

Jillius, sorry for implying that your choices were about trends.

Absolutely no offense was taken at all! :) I think that was a logical conclusion -- it just happened not be what was going on with me.

I can't go wrong if I stick to what brings me the most joy and contentment.

Totally agree. I think you'll generally find that this ages well too. We're all a mix of random associations and preferences, so it's unlikely that choosing specifically what speaks to you will ever be completely on trend. Which means it doesn't really go off-trend or become particularly dated.

I am torn between whether to get white or natural wood cabinets.

No reason why you can't have a mix.

I'm still astounded by how similar my tastes are to yours. The fact that another person likes the same stuff means that I must be on the right track! ;)

We are clearly geniuses.