thank you, Pam. Exactly how I feel and it will feel less like a panelled, country kitchen. Thanks again.

Consider a semi-transparent stain on the wainscotting. Designer Sarah Richardson did this in her cottage on the walls in a grey semi-transparent, Dulux ICI - Stratosphere 40YY 73/028

If you do paint, you'll have to seal the knots with a shellac type product before you paint or they'll bleed through your white paint.

that is very nice, Bette. Thanks for the suggestion.

You can get the whitewashed effect by mixing white paint with satin varethane. It keeps the pine from yellowing over time.

I am going to say "no". I like the stained beams; I like the white wainscoting; but I don't like them with your white floor. If the floor were the in a shade of the beams, great.

I can show you a couple of pictures to show you.

Darryl Carter's The Collected Home · More Info

Avante Interiors · More Info

Also, with your dark table, all white would be a winner, IMO.

kitchen · More Info

so constructive. You are so right about the colour of the floor tiles. But, we had to tear down so many walls and rip up so many floors that tried to preserve some parts of the house. thanks so much for the help.

I agree with above, that using a semi-transparent stain would be a nice solution. Look up Cabots-they have a limited selection of colors, but all are good. And I would keep it light, hopefully they will have something that you like.

If you do use a semi-transparent stain, do some test samples on loose boards (not on your wall). In the photo I posted above, the designer had to go with a grey to neutralize the color because using a white stain made the board color look pinkish.

thanks to everyone who weighed in. In the end we painted the wainscotting and are very pleased with the results: