How to Correctly Coordinate Your Kitchen Cabinet with Your Hardwood Floors
When it comes to kitchen designs, many people opt for both hardwood cabinets and hardwood floors within the space. Both cabinets and flooring come in many different shades, wood species, and styles, giving you nearly endless combinations to create the kitchen of your dreams. With all these options, however, can also come the possibility of picking two woods that don’t coordinate or that compete with one another in the space. There are many ways that you can avoid this happening, however, whether your kitchen is contemporary or country in style.
Start with Your Cabinetry
When you walk into your kitchen, the first thing you see is usually the cabinetry. With your upper cabinets hung right at eye-level, and both uppers and lowers running the perimeter of the room, your cabinetry takes up a lot of very visible real estate in the kitchen.
Because of this, you want your cabinetry to set the tone for the rest of the kitchen design. This means choosing a style and finish for the doors that will create a style for the rest of the space to follow. It also means choosing responsible and quality materials, such as environment-friendly plywood boxes with no urea-formaldehyde in them. Quality plywood boxes mean that your cabinets will remain truer, longer, enabling you to get the most out of the design.
Remember that when choosing the color and finish of your cabinets that these will set the tone for what follows. So, if you choose dark wood with a slab door, the rest of your choices will need to have similarly clean lines and either very dark or very light colors to help balance. The same goes for light-toned woods and traditional door styles; you want your kitchen balanced so that nothing stands out as incongruous and nothing overwhelms or overpowers the space.
Consider the Wood Species
When it’s time to coordinate your cabinetry with your floors, you may want to start with the wood species you’ve chosen for the cabinets. Some cabinet woods, like maple, have very little grain to them. This means that you can choose a more exotic flooring without clashing or making the room appear too busy. On the other hand, if you’ve chosen a cabinet wood that has a lot of character or that has a distressed finish to it, you may need to tone down your flooring.
Some woods also match well with themselves. For example, maple does pair well with maple, but you can also pair cherry, white or red oak, and walnut with themselves for a very subtle and cohesive look in the space. Avoid matching very dramatic woods like hickory to one another, as this can quickly overwhelm the kitchen.
Consider the Finish
Your cabinets will likely have both a stain and a finish style to them. Some may be simple; a coffee-colored stain on a mid-grained wood with a low-gloss finish. Others will be more interesting, such as an antiqued or distressed oak cabinet with pin holes and sanded corners and edges. Your hardwood floor will likely also have many options to choose from as well.
In this case, you want the finish to coordinate, if not match, even if the colors are different. For example, if you have distressed cabinets, you may want to opt for a handscraped floor to give your entire kitchen an antiqued look. Trying to pair aged floors with glossy cabinets can often create disharmony; go for a subtle contrast or something that coordinates whenever possible.
As you make the decision between hardwood flooring vs. engineered, keep in mind that you will likely want a factory finish on your floors. This is the best way to coordinate with your cabinetry consistently, to ensure that they age at the same rate from here on out. If you’re unsure, you can always ask for sample from a current flooring lot to see how it looks with your cabinet doors, something that’s harder to do with unfinished wood.
Coordinating Wood Stains
While it can be tempting to try to match the stains on your cabinets and hardwood floors, you want the two to coordinate, not match perfectly. This is because your lower cabinets will meet the floors at a 90-degree angle; woods of the same color will create an optical illusion pushing your cabinets out visually and making it difficult to see the style properly.
Try matching the grain of your floor with the color of your cabinets instead. For example, if your cherry hardwood has a dark grain, pick up the color of the grain for your cherry cabinets. The coordinating grain patterns will tie the two together, while the colors create a cohesive design that has depth and interest, rather than too much of one thing.
You may also want to match the tone of your flooring to your countertops. This is especially helpful if you decide to paint your cabinets; light counters and floors with dark cabinets or vice-versa can be very appealing.
Create the Kitchen of Your Dreams
Hardwoods have a rich, vibrant beauty and warmth that will dress up any kitchen design. Be sure to coordinate your cabinets and flooring correctly to get the best possible results in you
Start with Your Cabinetry
When you walk into your kitchen, the first thing you see is usually the cabinetry. With your upper cabinets hung right at eye-level, and both uppers and lowers running the perimeter of the room, your cabinetry takes up a lot of very visible real estate in the kitchen.
Because of this, you want your cabinetry to set the tone for the rest of the kitchen design. This means choosing a style and finish for the doors that will create a style for the rest of the space to follow. It also means choosing responsible and quality materials, such as environment-friendly plywood boxes with no urea-formaldehyde in them. Quality plywood boxes mean that your cabinets will remain truer, longer, enabling you to get the most out of the design.
Remember that when choosing the color and finish of your cabinets that these will set the tone for what follows. So, if you choose dark wood with a slab door, the rest of your choices will need to have similarly clean lines and either very dark or very light colors to help balance. The same goes for light-toned woods and traditional door styles; you want your kitchen balanced so that nothing stands out as incongruous and nothing overwhelms or overpowers the space.
Consider the Wood Species
When it’s time to coordinate your cabinetry with your floors, you may want to start with the wood species you’ve chosen for the cabinets. Some cabinet woods, like maple, have very little grain to them. This means that you can choose a more exotic flooring without clashing or making the room appear too busy. On the other hand, if you’ve chosen a cabinet wood that has a lot of character or that has a distressed finish to it, you may need to tone down your flooring.
Some woods also match well with themselves. For example, maple does pair well with maple, but you can also pair cherry, white or red oak, and walnut with themselves for a very subtle and cohesive look in the space. Avoid matching very dramatic woods like hickory to one another, as this can quickly overwhelm the kitchen.
Consider the Finish
Your cabinets will likely have both a stain and a finish style to them. Some may be simple; a coffee-colored stain on a mid-grained wood with a low-gloss finish. Others will be more interesting, such as an antiqued or distressed oak cabinet with pin holes and sanded corners and edges. Your hardwood floor will likely also have many options to choose from as well.
In this case, you want the finish to coordinate, if not match, even if the colors are different. For example, if you have distressed cabinets, you may want to opt for a handscraped floor to give your entire kitchen an antiqued look. Trying to pair aged floors with glossy cabinets can often create disharmony; go for a subtle contrast or something that coordinates whenever possible.
As you make the decision between hardwood flooring vs. engineered, keep in mind that you will likely want a factory finish on your floors. This is the best way to coordinate with your cabinetry consistently, to ensure that they age at the same rate from here on out. If you’re unsure, you can always ask for sample from a current flooring lot to see how it looks with your cabinet doors, something that’s harder to do with unfinished wood.
Coordinating Wood Stains
While it can be tempting to try to match the stains on your cabinets and hardwood floors, you want the two to coordinate, not match perfectly. This is because your lower cabinets will meet the floors at a 90-degree angle; woods of the same color will create an optical illusion pushing your cabinets out visually and making it difficult to see the style properly.
Try matching the grain of your floor with the color of your cabinets instead. For example, if your cherry hardwood has a dark grain, pick up the color of the grain for your cherry cabinets. The coordinating grain patterns will tie the two together, while the colors create a cohesive design that has depth and interest, rather than too much of one thing.
You may also want to match the tone of your flooring to your countertops. This is especially helpful if you decide to paint your cabinets; light counters and floors with dark cabinets or vice-versa can be very appealing.
Create the Kitchen of Your Dreams
Hardwoods have a rich, vibrant beauty and warmth that will dress up any kitchen design. Be sure to coordinate your cabinets and flooring correctly to get the best possible results in you
Comments
Post a Comment