What would you prefer?

My mom had a kitchen without pulls. It drove me nuts. Although she lived there for a number of years, I inevitably chose the wrong end of any given door to open. Hard on both the fingernails and the ego.

If I were doing two colors, I think I'd do uppers one color and the lowers and island the second color. Have you checked out photos of different color combos? What did you think?

For the first question, I say yes to pulls. Your hands will be greasy in the kitchen while cooking, and if you don't have pulls, every time you open a cabinet or drawer, you will get a grease mark. Especially on the modern glossier finishes, in no time it will look like your smartphone's screen full of fingerprints. Get pulls.

For your other questions, those are all personal taste. If your kitchen is small however, stick to one color. If it's larger, then I would go on Houzz and Pinterest and look at a lot of photos to see which color combinations you are drawn to, or whether you are more drawn to all one-color.

What style is the home? Ultra modern architecture? What colors already exist in the home? A kitchen should be a continuation of the home's overall style. A great modern house with tall ceilings and a lot of light can pull off modern gray cabinets if the rest of the home supports that color way. . Many other home types will be less successful. You have to look at the overall big picture.

What you need are inspiration images. We had another thread recently in which the poster opted for pulls on lower cabinets alone. You need to look at images and see what you like.

Personally, from both aesthetic and functionality points of view, I prefer sleek pulls on modern cabinets. I'm also not a huge fan of shiny cabinets though, so "no pulls" might go hand in glove with that aesthetic.

Whether or not you go two toned depends on the size of your kitchen, and the layout of your cabinet runs. Think about whether it would be consistent with whatever draws you to the shiny cabinets no pulls look.

I am doing the springs with no pulls, I love the clean look. I'm not a person to mix a bunch of different colors, going with white only. I prefer to get the color from accents instead, that way it's no trouble if I want to switch to a different color.

If you cook, pulls, otherwise you will spend too much time cleaning the cabinets. I like a light color on the kitchen uppers and darker on the kitchen lowers, but many people seem to prefer the cabinets all in color and the island a different color. Strictly personal preference-unless you have pets or small children in which case I would give serious consideration to darker lowers.

I will try to post the pics

- so greys and whites and spots of blue has been the theme- we are taking down a wall and opening another wall to make a great room feel . So the dining, kitchen and living room will be changed. The kitchen will be in a "L" shape with a 8' island. It is not a small kitchen but definitely not a big one either. You can see some of it in the background of these pics. (I am at work so I can't give dimensions, etc.)

There are no pictures. Make sure the pictures are jpgs.

It's always a matter of personal preference, but I almost always prefer kitchens with all one color cabinets. Especially with modern (we have an all white gloss kitchen), I think it can take away from the calmness by adding different colors. On the pulls, I agree that I would go mad without something to grab onto. But if you don't want something as busy as full-on pulls, you could just do finger pulls. Either little 2" ones on every cabinet, or even longer ones where appropriate. You could even do finger pulls in white, if you want to avoid the look of heavy hardware.

Can you send a pic of your kitchen?

You don't want to be touching the painted surface directly with your dirty or wet hands. It will eventually damage the finish. Metal pulls will hold up much better to washing and wiping than wood painted cabinets plus they can be replaced.

If you like two tones I'd do one in painted and the second in wood (such as rift sawn oak or walnut) especially if it is a larger kitchen. But that's a personal preference. The German cabinet maker websites such as Leicht and Siematic are good sources for inspiration photos that mix glossy paint with wood grain finishes.

We're doing the "handles" that are simply aluminum strips that attach to the TOP of the drawers or sides of the door that are nearly invisible when they are horizontal and you can get small tabs for either horizontal or vertical installation. And - since you are not drilling into the face of the cabinet, if you decide they are not right later - you can drill pulls / knobs at a later date for a different look.

(IKEA)