[dece9410]

Hi folks,

My wife and I have decided to go with Hallarum cabinets. In the middle of our kitchen will be a pretty good size island of Abstrakt Black (already purchased and sitting in the garage).

Question: Is it ok to go with flooring that is nearly identical in color and graining to the cabinets? We both really like a particular engineered Merbau wood floor, which, although has quite a bit of variance from plank to plank, looks VERY close to Hallarum in general.

So is it ok to macth your floor and cabinets? Will the fact that we have a nice large black island in the center of the kitchen be enough to break it up?

Could I possibly help break it up further by perhaps going with all black toekicks all around?

By the way, the kitchen appliances are all stainless steel GE Monogram w/built in oven/micro, and a Monogram cooktop. Hood is stainless Kobe. Counters will be a yellow tonedvarigated and veined granite. Backsplash is not quite set yet, but I am leaning toward the same red glass mosaic tile that is on my fireplace surround. Another case of too much matching?!

Any advise would be welcome!

Thanks!

[DesignDiva]

I'd go with stainless toekicks, personally. You need something to punch up all the darker wood tones. Black won't do that, but stainless will. Alternatively you could do all stainless CAPITA or NUMERAR legs, less of an impact but still a bit of shine and sparkle.

What are your pulls and knobs? And I would suggest you look closely at your lighting plan because I think you will want a bit more lighting than normal. It will be stunning, especially when lit properly! Think layers of light...recessed, pendants, undercabinet, maybe even toekick and soffit area lighting.

Are you going with the same granite on the island?

[dece9410]

Eventually I am looking to cast myself a concrete countertop on the island, but in the meantime I will go with one of the Ikea butcherblock options (not oak). Concrete will be the natural concrete gray color with a smooth waxedfininsh

As far as lighting is concerned, I plan on having a mix of cans, pendants, and undercounter. I planinstalling a ropes oflow voltage lighting above my cabinets as well if I end up with 6 inches or more between my ceiling and the tops. I haven't actually done the math to see if that's possible yet.

Like the idea of the stainless toekicks as an open legged design is not in the cards.My two small childrenwould find certain satisfaction with losing toys and such underneath if I did not have a toekick.There may be some concern with keeping a lighter shaded toekick clean, however I see the value from a design perspective.

[dece9410]

Handles are a mix of long and short Lansa...

[DesignDiva]

I'd definitely go for the stainless kick then. I don't think it will be any harder to keep clean than black would be, possibly easier.

[kelly]

Have you thought about laying the flooring at an angle to the cabinets? You could also alternate some stain colors to create a border or pattern effect- its a very high-end look and you would still have the integration without "losing" yourself in all the wood...

Diagonal:

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/har...r/brazil20.JPG

Herringbone:

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/har...rringbone2.htm

OK, this is using stain to create a pattern- this may be waayy more than you are looking for, but you can use it more minimally to create a lighter or darker border pattern to break it up.

http://www.paintedwoodfloors.com/P3080027.JPG

And finally, here's one from this very site- by kingjoeyjr!

http://www.ikeafans.com/forums/forum10/3053.html

Kelly

[dece9410]

This particular flooring is prefinished and I won't be doing any additional staining. Facinating idea about laying the floor in patterns or an angle though I don't see myself using these options.

Patterns I could not do, simply for the fact that this flooring comes in strips with 3individualplankon each. This makes eachstrip about 9 inches wide, although when installed it looks like traditionally laid individual planks.

Angled floors always make me feeloff balance when I'm in them, so I want to say that this is out; althoughdoing so might solve other issuesdue to my downstairs configutration. I'llget into that on another topic!

So still the question remainsifthis is a a design faux pas to have floors which very closely match the cabinets. So far I've had some good solutions but still no one has said if this is a no no.

Love these discussions! Most of the time I lurk, but I love and trust many peoples judgement here!

Thanks,

Ken

[GardenOfDarwin]

I don't think it's a no-no, especially if you are going to lighten it up with stainless kicks and appliances (and countertops, it sounds like). I do think that with the dark floors and glossy abstrakt island you're going to notice the crumbs, dust and dirt more...this may be a good thing, depending on your philosophy about cleaning.

My answer when people say they'd rather have carpet because hardwood floors "show" so much dirt/fur/dust is always "at least you know it's there so you can clean it!" I shudder at the thought of what would be buried in our carpets (if we had them), knowing our two cats and two kids! ACK!

Susan

[Ikeafreak]

We have some matchy-matchiness going on in our kitchen. Nexus birchand honey maple flooring, which matches the edge banding on the cabinets... I like the look a lot.

[nyc_home]

We're also using kind of a matchy-matchy scheme,similar to ikeafreaks: nexus birch cabs and a beech laminate floor. I think it depends on the look you are going for. Matching colors can make your space seem larger and sleeker and accessories and other elements can really pop by comparison.

That hallarum/merbau color is really beautiful--very rich and distinctive. I think it'll be a great look!