Don't love the top heavy inspo pic. Basically, I'd pick ONE ( white ) finish for perimeter and if you want wood, use it on the island if there is one.

I agree with JAN MOYER . Wood on the top and white on the bottom looks top heavy.

I prefer dark on the bottom to ground the room BUT I think it can work in a modern setting if you have lots of daylight, open kitchen and light flooring. If you are drawn to this design and are building for yourself with long term goals, choose what pleases your eye. It's nice to have kitchens that don't follow "the same rules" but in stead express the personality of the home owner. Good luck!

Agree with the others. Dark on the top makes the room feel top heavy, like they're going to tip over. You also need to remember that those inspiration pictures are heavily lighted and styled to look great.

From the two options you have, the second one works because of the wood cabinets to the left (both upper and lower cabinets). Usually, the light cabinets are at the top. I do like the modern style and I like the mix of wood and white.

I love walnut with white high gloss cabinets and I agree the wood on the bottom looks better

Thank you so much everyone! You have given me some great advice and I really appreciate it. May be I will stick with primarily glossy white cabinets with some wood highlights here and there, including the base of the island. That may work the best then...

Thank you again!

Lots of European kitchens are reverse, especially when the floor is light.

What color is your floor?

wood backsplash and counter

Thank you, nosoccermom and Debbi!

My flooring is a honey/blond color wood floor, and so it has the warmth and color. The ceilings are tall and it does have the overall modern, minimal look to it. So it may work! I just have to make sure that it does not get too busy.... so I may just go with all white cabinets with some wood accents here and there.

Thank you again!

This is a texture melamine and gloss white we did with a mix of uppers.

If your decor is genuinely minimal and you keep clean counters then I don't think a beautiful wood grained slab door cabinet would look busy at all. If anything, floating shelves with lots of stuff on them will look much busier than closed cabinets.

The picture above is awesome and those cabinets don't look busy at all

Please don’t follow the all white trend (playing it safe). Your pictures show you are willing to be different so stick to what you like. The pictures are more interesting and inviting. I wish you all the best and I hope your next post is not about what counter for my all white kitchen.

jdesign_gw, thank you for the photo! I really like that mix of gloss white and melamine. I must say that I would never in a million years before find myself doing a melamine kitchen, but I have been very impressed by what's available now as melamine, to the point that I am using it instead of wood!!!

The only thing is, sometimes the melamine companies try way too hard to make it look like wood, so that it looks a bit too much and fake, esp when there are multiple panels and doors. However, your design used a melamine with a very subdued look, and it really works.

BTW, how thick is that waterfall edge for the island please? 3cm? Or?

Debbi and bikertoni, thank you! I will certainly try to make it interesting and "me" :-)

There are a whole lot of Melamine boards out there now. The only ones I would consider using are the Italian ones. TSS board as they're called (thermo structured surface). The domestic versions are not appealing to me. At that out of the 50 or more that I have access to only about 10 or so make to cut for me. The newer versions with synchronized grain are probably the best. The one in the picture i posted above is the same board that poggenphol uses under the name "Teak Lava". It's been in their line for years and world wide has been one of their best sellers. They now use the sync grain I mentioned. There's one that looks like walnut that I've used a lot also. And a dark fumed oak look. The waterfall island top in the picture I believe was a 2-1/4" build up.

Here's a closet we did with four different melamines. Wood look, leather and linen.

This was the pallet.

This is one of our melamine sample boards with synchronized grain.

Not sure about your budget, but I am very impressed by IKEA Askersund --- there are a few kitchens with the wood cabinets for the uppers.

https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/ikea-askersund-dsvw-vd~4886750 (pics here)

and, of course, the Voxtorp

Thank you, nosoccermom and jdesign_gw!

jdesign_gw, I was told by the cabinet people that doing synchronized grain would be much more expensive - I am not sure by how much though, as he never gave me a number and discouraged me from doing so.... does it mean a lot more work for him, perhaps?

nosoccermom, I think that at this point, I may be sticking with glossy white cabinets but use wood accents throughout, rather than splitting the color. I am going to have to figure it all out quite soon!!!! Thank you again.

I love the pics you posted. I'd go for it.

Sorry I should clarify. I meant the better European board has the texture of the board and grain pattern synchronized so they match up more like real wood. Synchronizing the panels , doors and drawers either horizontal or vertical means the grain runs continuisly through the whole kitchen. This is more called sequencing. yes it looks better and is a bit more work. If vertical not as much but it should run through a cabinet with multiple drawers from top to bottom.

Here is a kitchen we designed for a client. Perhaps looking at it will give you some ideas?

Thank you, Margarita Bravo! This looks nice! Is that wood or melamine please? Would you mind sharing more information about that please? I love that warm color and texture.

BTW, my wood floor color will be very similar to this. Would you also mind telling me what paint colors you used for the walls and the baseboard please?

Thank you!

Love white glossy kitchen cabinets with wood accents! Are you thinking about a wood counter and/or wood shelves? Wood backsplash? Or how do you plan to incorporate the wood other than in your floors?

nosoccermom, I am thinking of glossy white cabinets with a wood shelf on one side, and then the support under the island will have the wood as well. So it is going to be warming up the kitchen in a few subtle ways, without bringing in too much of yet another element. What do you think?

@ostrich i am in the same boat as you. what colors did you go with?
after looking at a lot of light and airy European kitchens, i figured the formula is light, dark colors both with cool undertones and then wood for warmth. balancing cool and warm is the challenge.
if you have wood floors in the kitchen, adding too many wood cabinets would be busy, so you would have to do cooler colors and then add wood here and there

sarangya_devi, I in the end went with all gloss white cabinets, with walnut accents in a shelf and also in the island. The wood floor is a warm, light oak colour. I am very happy with this combination! Here's a photo:

The photo does not show the walnut shelf on the side, but you get the picture. It's the same walnut stain as what I have in the island. The dark, charcoal backsplash sort of grounded the whole thing. The hardware is a warm bronze tone minimalist hardware. I really like this clean, modern look!

@ostrich looks amazing. love your kitchen. I'm gonna borrow for inspiration. thanks!