[spats23]

I'm a long time lurker, and am just now seriously planning our kitchen remodel. We have a small, old (1918) house, and I love mixing the old with a very contemporary kitchen. I'm originally from Germany, and I love those very hypermodern and functional but small kitchens.

We now have a small galley kitchen, and will be removing the wall between the dining room and kitchen to integrate the spaces. We currently have the round birch Bjursta table, birch Gilbert chairs, and birch Norden cabinet in the dining room.

For our kitchen, I'm leaning towards the Nexus birch doors, and a mix of Avsikt and Nexus birch wall cabs (I'd love the horizontal cabs but am unsure how I could make them fit), with white toekicks, plain white corian countertops and light sage green backpainted glass backsplash. We will be throwing in one of those Big Chill retro fridges in red. The walls will be pumpkin (we currently have Benjamin Moore's pumpkin cream and oxford gold with white trim throughout the house). The counterside against the current dining room wall will be replaced with a small (48") island with seating for two on the dining side, and we will also have two 80" tall cabs perpendicular to the island, facing into the dining and kitchen with Abstrakt red doors.

The problem is, I don't know whether to go with the white or birch frames. I think for the birch doors, the white frames are more contemporary, but for the tall cabs with the red doors, I'm partial to the birch frame, especially because it's facing the dining room as well, and I think the birch will somehow integrate into the dining room better. But I will also stick with the white toekicks, so won't that look odd?

Also, I'm not sure I'd like for the island to be white from the dining side - or does one put a cover panel in birch on that? Also, the cabinet at the end, over the fridge (will be exposed) - do I put a birch cover panel on that?

We are also planning on the Lansa handles, but installing them horizontally throughout - what size do most people get for that nice modern look, that also works on all the cabs?

Sorry for all the questions - I'd really appreciate some advice!! Thanks in advance...(p.s. I will attach a pic later today or tomorrow, so you can have an idea of the plan).

While I'm at it, which looks more modern: cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling, or not quite? We have 8 foot ceilings, so the 39" cabs would leave us with about 21 inches of space above the countertop, which is fine. But I'm not sure I like the look of the long, vertical cabs.

	PIC PIC = Partner In Crime

[NBeth]

Welcome to Ikeafans! For a modern unfussy look I'd personally stick with two colors--birch and white or birch and red. I.e. birch cabs with birch frames and possibly red toekicks, red cabs with birch frames and birch panels, probably birch toekicks but maybe red (not sure I fully understand how the parts will relate to one another) and island with a coverpanel for sure, in red or birch.

Of course a big question is how are you going to do the floors and counters? If you have very light floors and counters, the white toekicks might be less out of place than I'm imagining them....

[spats23]

Thanks, NBeth! Well, I know my colors are a little crazy - I'd have to attach the plan, but I'm useless at these things (trying to attach my Ikea planner pic , but unsure how to do that).

In any case, I'm going for a plain, white Corian countertop. Our floors are wood, and will stay a honey-color (they'll be refinished - they are really beat up!).

I think I've decided to stick with the white frames, because I do like the lighter look when you open the drawers, etc. I now see that I will need to put cover panels on all exposed sides, which I will do in birch. I'm still in love with the candy-apple shiny red of the Abstrakt red, and like to use it for the tall cabs, since they'll be large, and then stick with the birch and Avsikt for the kitchen itself. I thought the white toekicks would sort of "frame" the base cabs in white (since the counters will also be white), and provide more horizontal lines to the kitchen.

I have a couple pics so you can see what our colors look like. There is a photo looking from our living room into our dining room (the dining room/kitchen will be repainted in all orange when we remove the wall), and another which shows a view into our mudroom from our current nasty kitchen, and one from the mudroom to the kitchen (we retiled the mudroom black and white from a previous dark clay color).

	PIC PIC = Partner In Crime

[cloudswinger]

Hmm, you have birch, white, pumpkin, light sage green and gloss red. I'm not sure the light sage green will work, it might be a little weak to stand next to the other bold colors.

I'd use the longest Lansa possible for the cabinet. So I'd mix the sizes if necessary. Cabinets all the way to the ceiling, definitely. But I don't think the ikea ones will go all the way, even the tallest cab is only 88 in, and 8 ft is 96 inches. It's annoying me, since I am planning a modern look too, with almost all the same colors as yours except for the green(and my wall is more of a mango, less orange, more yellow).

[spats23]

Hi Cloudswinger - thanks for the input! I've actually put the green next to the pumpkin, and it works out pretty well as a soothing contrast to the strong orange - I guess also because I plan on using it as a backpainted glass backsplash, with those spotlights below the cabs, I'm imagining the green would be nice, bright and glow-ey. But I also know that the backsplash color is kind of a last decision, so I can also wait and see what it will all look like.

One other idea I had was to just use the same pumpkin color as a backsplash, and use 2X2 inch glass tile instead. I guess I kind of like the green, though, because it's different from the other colors. Plus our (Ikea) sofa is a nice soothing green, and it works really well with our orange wall (you can see it in the picture).

I feel like a dunce now - after studying those Ikea kitchens long enough, I see now that all exposed cab sides are covered with panels. I've learned from these posts that I will need to cover the bottoms of the wall cabs as well, because that will hide the wiring from the spotlights (right?) (Grundtal). I don't plan on having the deco strip - I'd rather leave the lights exposed like I see in those contemporary kitchens.

Okay, so the wall cabs will go all the way up to the ceiling - is that because it's more practical, or because it just looks better (in my mind, more modern)?

But the tall cabs - right now I'm going with the 80" because I thought the 88" might be too overwhelming for the dining area space (also, since they're going to be the Abstrakt red). Also, the 12" in deep tall cabs don't come in 88" (I don't think I can go deeper - when I finally am able to attach my Ikea kitchen plan you can see why). But do you think I need to match the height of the tall cabs with the height of the wall cabs, especially since they won't be next to each other?

What kind of countertop are you planning on? Cabinets? I'd love to see some pics (before and after)!

[spats23]

Actually, I have now seen your kitchen plan, Cloudswinger - looks great!! So happy to see more of the Abstrakt red being used. Nothing like walking into a kitchen and getting happy!

I'm not worried about resale value, because I love our little house, and can't imagine I'd ever want to move, but also because everyone who has seen our "crazy colors" has so far loved the interiors - typically, they say they wish they had the guts to use fun colors, but are always worried about it, until they see it in someone else's house. In the end, they end up with something safe and boring. Well, life is short, eh?