[MollieM]

Well, my DH went to IKEA nr Londontoday with my Mum to have a scout about as I wasn't able to go. He took lots of digital pictures (mainly of Abstrakt black, red and white but also Tidaholm and Ulriksal if anyone wants me to post them?).

I really had no idea which kitchen to get but SORBO is out for at least 3 more months (and I can't make out whether it's glossy like Abstrakt or more like Applad which I'm not bothered about).Abstrakt white I am worried about in a bright kitchen. Adel white is nice but maybe a bit 'safe' (only for me, no offence to anyone else as I think it's gorgeous). Ulriksal & Tidaholm I've now discounted completely. Abstrakt red is too bright as we've already got a red hallway...........which leaves Abstrakt black. I absolutely love this combined with the oak worktops. But of course, they are now strongly advising that we don't order as they cannot guarantee supply on all items!!

Why is this always the way!

[fisheggs]

Well, shoot, I'm sorry to hear about the abstrakt black difficulties!!! However, I'd guess that if you are worried about white being "safe", there are so many other ways to spice up your kitchen that you could focus on instead. Deep orange counters? That bright blue silestone? Mixes of metal open shelving (grundtal?) with lots of glass? I'm sure everyone here would like to help out with finding the touches that would make you smile whenever you walked in. That way the white can just become a canvas that you begin with, rather than the focal point.

[chabuchie]

You can definitely add your own personality to Abstrakt white. My kitchen is lime green and cobalt blue with Mossby shelves and grundtal rails. I don't know anyone with a kitchen like it. I was concerned about choosing a boring door style, but I felt like the rest of my decor required bright walls.

[MollieM]

Sounds amazing! Where are the photos!!

I may have posted wrong but I don't think ALL white kitchens are 'safe' - I think the gloss white is far from it, it is quite a strong choice. It was the Adel white which I wasn't sure about. I really love the shaker shape and we had that in our last kitchen (and it was gorgeous) but this time I wanted to go for something more striking in a damatic/modern way. I suppose I was wrestling with the fact that the Adel white would bring a more 'cottagey' look to our house, which I am always after.....but deep down I would love to be adventurous and go for something more 'out there'.

Well, last night we had decided on the Abstrakt white and we were going to have a black cooker and black fridge freezer and deep plum/aubergine walls behind the units.

Today things have changed a bit as I have discovered that it may be possible to scrape together enough units in the black to get all the bases done. And I have since found a lot of pictures online with contrasting units on the wall. So, we are thinking black base & fridge freezer cabinet (we get fitted in cabinets for our tall appliances over here) and white box fan units on the wall. We'd go back to the stainless steel cooker instead of black in this case as it needs to stand out slightly from the black units.

Let's hope we can track it all down.

Fisheggs (love the name as always) - I love your ideas but we are desperately trying to keep the entire kitchen down in price. I would love a stone countertop or unusual tiles but we are pretty much tied to getting it all from IKEA. For me that means wood countertops as I haven't seen any others I like as much. But maybe we'll splash out on the tiles........I've seen some lovely earthy white stone ones.

Cheers guys - if you have any more ideas on this or my mix of black and white then love to hear them.

[fisheggs]

Oooh, goody about getting all the bases! I think that will look fantastic.

Personally, I worry a teensy bit about the contrast between the white and black abstrakt. The contrasting cabinets I've seen and liked have always been a bit more traditional and muted, whereas abstrakt will definitely jump out at you. But I've seen the pictures you've posted of your space and I think that it might work very well since you have such interesting architecture to deal with. Still, have you checked out any of the aviskt or rubrik glass doors? I think that the charcoal gray ones would look amazing as uppers with your black base cabinets. You do say "box fan" cabinet, does that mean you are only having the one and that it needs to be opaque to hide the fan unit? In that case, I guess the glass wouldn't work.

I think the stainless stove with the black cabs will look amazing! Are you still going with the aubergine walls? What countertop are you leaning towards at this point?

[MollieM]

Well, the aubergine walls was if we went white as I wanted to dampen the brightness down a bit. I'm not entirely sure if we went with the black?

I did draw up the all Abstrakt white cabinet one with a black cooker and fr/fr but I've lost that for now.

But here's a couple of black & white options. I haven't added any real colour and it's a bit of a hash but gives you an idea.

I've also got one of the pics I found to inspire me - the idea is that the black bases stand out (and I think, look stunning with the oak countertop) but the wall units blend into a white wall. Supposedly it makes the room seem bigger as it doesn't close in on you.

Also look now as though we've tracked down the boxes for the wall in black! I was a bit worried about the black on the wall as I think that's where the smeary finger marks will catch the light the most (apparently that's a real problem with black gloss). But at least it's an option...........shall have to drawer that up too and see what you think!

[MollieM]

This one as well

[chabuchie]

I think the Abstrakt black will look great with a stainless range. You might consider the grundtal shelves instead of uppers. That would tie in the stainless and I think if you painted or tiled in a dark grey, you'd get a really nice monochromatic base to which you could add some bright accents. You'd need a lot of light though.

[MollieM]

And this is just one of the pics I found......

[MollieM]

I've also got this one, which is with a freestanding stainless fridge freezer as well. That's supposed to be a wine rack on top! I wasn't sure about this one as what with having two different colour units already I figured that too many freestanding appliances in yet another colour/texture i.e. stainless, would be too much.

Fridge freezer - to be built in or not to be built in.......that is the question!