choosy moms choose cabinets

Our family spends a lot of time in the kitchen. It's the hub of our household. So I have a pretty good idea as to what kind of kitchen I want in our new house.

When the cabinet folks told Dad2Amara that our appointment would take two hours, I laughed.

Dad2Amara and I knew what type of cabinets we wanted. We even had the color down pat. All we'd have to consider was the cabinetry for the bathrooms. And even then, I knew what I wanted.

Our appointment went three hours. Oops.

The Yellow House has stainless steel appliances. I love the look of stainless. And it's fairly simple to keep the stainless steel looking great. (Think cleaning wipes.) So we knew we wanted to keep with stainless steel for the new house.

Next, we had to decide on if we should go with cherry or maple or even painted cabinets.

Our builder's standard cabinetry is from Cardell. The Yellow House was built with Cardell. And while they look pretty, I think they could be better.

The Cardell cabinets we have now are made of maple and stained in a cherry color. The wood tends to have a greasy gloss to it after cleaning. And at times, I feel they are more like a laminate than a true wood cabinet.

So Dad2Amara and I opted to go with painted just for something different.

Out of all of the colors to choose from, what would look best with stainless steel? Not to mention what will look best with the countertops and walls?

We searched thru all of Cardell's inventory and did not find one thing we liked. I'd like a certain door but it wouldn't be available in an off white paint. Or I'd find an off white cabinet but hate the look of the drawer.

Anthony, our cabinet expert, suggested we upgrade to KraftMaid...a suggestion Dad2Amara loved.

The quality of KraftMaid is superior. And because KraftMaid's headquarters is a hop, skip, and a jump from where we live, if we needed a part or wanted to add something at a later date, it would be fairly easy to do so.

Then we found it - a cabinet paint color called "vanilla bean glaze" along with a door in a very Shaker style.

The end result will look similar to this (excuse the bad lighting):



What I think is so fantastic about the color is the glaze creates an accent color along its lines. It's almost a goldenrod that gives the illusion the wood is aged. I love it. I don't think this picture does it justice but you get the idea. (So no, that's not dirt, that the glaze.)



To dress the cabinetry up a bit, we added molding to the top.

I think I'm going to love my kitchen. We plan to stay in the new house for years. And I don't think I'm going to want to change the kitchen any time soon.

So my tips for choosing cabinetry?

1. Keep an eye on your upgrades. It's easy to get carried away with beadboard for the island. Or slide out shelves for a cabinet or two. You can blow your budget with just a few details here and there.
2. Bring your paint swatch to the cabinet warehouse. It's amazing how different a wall color looks against an actual stain or cabinet paint. I had a color in mind for my walls but quickly changed my mind because I had the swatch in hand.
3. Bang on the doors. Make sure the quality of the doors is what you want. I have a soon-to-be-kindergartner. She slams doors a lot. And I want cabinets that can take a beating. Durability is key.

I'll tell you about our bathroom cabinets another time.

Next up - countertops.