[aike]

Hi,

new kitchen under way... Lots of questions... Hope you can help?
we are completely sold on the ULRIKSDAL door and draw fronts, which we are planning to mix and match with some custom-built doors which we will paint -- for nonstandard cupboards to maximise space in our tiny kitchen. The custom-built doors will be made from MDF, and we're going to repeat the groove design of the ULRIKSDAL as a narrow strip, routed out near the handles -- difficult to explain! Anyway, there are only two painted sections in the kitchen, so in theory they will look a bit like freestanding pieces of furniture, and shouldn't create too bitty/busy an effect.

We are now thinking about worktops. We can't afford the solid surface/granite , but don't want laminate. That leaves us with wood. I have perused these boards endlessly, and read much about the practicality/look of the IKEA oak butcher's block, and think (disadvantages aside) it really is what we want to go for. In order to tie the kitchen together we are going to use it for a work surface which runs round most of the U.-shaped kitchen, as well as a high shelf at one end -- another reason why wood is a practical choice for us (easy to cut up into small bits, and should give a fairly high end look).

We bought a section of the NUMERAR oak butcher's block work surface -- we are going to use it elsewhere in the house -- specifically to see how it would go with the doors. (I have to say, it is gorgeous, and we are in love with it). We were already thinking we might like to stain it to get a little bit darker -- as more of a contrast with the ULRIK, which should also slightly lessen the stripey look it has in its natural state. Overdoing the stripes is a little bit of a concern, but fortunately the areas where we are having wooden worktops all have drawers underneath, and the top drawer of the ULRIK is plain wood, which does give a bit of a break before the stripes happen on the drawers below.

Another advantage of playing around a little bit with the stain/oil on the butcher's block work top is that we can manipulate the colour slightly. We found that when we put the worktop and doors together, the slightly pinker tones of the worktop made the ULRIK oak look a little bit green. The painted colour we are planning to use for the MDF sections is a green/blue, so hopefully that will go some way to making the ULRIK lean a little bit more towards the warmer golden tones. What do you think?

Another reason for going for the oak butcher's block, is that we quite fancy using the EDEFORS table, butted up to our peninsular, so the two together form a kind of L-shape, extending the kitchen into the dining-room.

I don't know whether any of this is making sense -- but it would be great to hear if anyone else has tried using the oak butcher's block worktop with one of the real wood ranges of door/drawer fronts (TILDAHOLM or ULRIKSDAL).

In the UK catalogue there is a photo of the TILDAHOLM with the oak butcher's block in its original state -- the two colours (ie the door fronts and the worktop) look fairly identical. This is not our experience with the NUMERAR. We might be persuaded to keep the original colour of the butcher's block if it matched better with the ULRIK, but certainly the NUMERAR is not a good match in its current state -- although would look nice darker I think?.

That brings me onto my final question (hooray you will say!): could I get away with using both the NUMERAR and the PERSONLIG oak butcher's block worktops in the same kitchen -- if not right next to each other? We could save £80 GBP if we used a bit of both? Is there much variation between the two? Or between either and the EDEFORS table?

Apologies, apologies, apologies for so much information/so many questions! But please, please, please help...