black kitchen

[mjm]

hiya, so its time to do the kitchen and as cheap as possible, so we will be tiling the benches as well as the splashbacks and will be updating the kitchen cupboards with a coat or 3 or paint...

the current plan is smallish black tiles on the benches with a swirl of white or pattern of some sort in it, the splashback which will be a feature wall will go all the way up to the cornice and be plain black gloss tiles, on that same wall after splashback goes up will be a ss rangehood and also 2 shelves either side of the range hood, tiered probably, which will have white ornaments and stuff like the ss coffee maker that rarely gets used up on them to help break up all the black and there won't be any overhead cupboards going up there.
Not sure yet on what colour backing will go on the island bench yet, was considering some dark wood floorboards maybe as something different all lined up and down and clicked into each other. When the floors get tiled they will be a very light beige or a travertine tile.

ps hubby is a tiler so this shouldn't be too hard, except the fact that a plumber always has a leaking tap at his house....

anyhow I'll attach the pics of the kitchen now and a rough sketch of how it will be, keep in mind the sketch doesn't show gloss and nor could I add white swirls on the benchtops or the white ornaments that will go up on the splashback to break it up, nor could I add the stainless steel handles to the sketch....

[mjm]

accidentally sent it before I added pics, its colours aren't set in concrete yet although I do already have black paint for the cupboards so I would prefer not to put that to waste, any suggestions for the kitchen colours or layout would be most welcome , although the layout can't really be changed too much, stove is gas and has to go there, sink is connected to drain and must go there, thanks guys :-)

[mjm]

the plan is also to swap the microwave around with the deep draws, I find I prepare most meals in front of microwave and I don't feel comfortable standing in front of it while its on for too long (paranoid maybe? I don't wear alfoil on my head, I promise!!) also at the moment there are cream draws next to the microwave, they will be removed as there is a set of draws in the island bench and nothing will go in there, the walls will be tiled under there and the bin will live in there happily ever after

ps, thats the tile we are looking at to do the benchtops in, hubby says he can get a smaller tile but same pattern in it

[rosierose]

stone tiles are heaps cheaper than one piece of stone so if hubby can get grout to blend in and give one uniform look then great...... I was looking at cararra marble tiles for my kitchen.....but $$$$$$ too much.....tiles worked out heaps cheaper......have found a stone off cutts place which might have something for us though.

So tell me your kitchen is brand new or not? why do you have to paint it?

[mjm]

no its not a new kitchen, second hand one we have made fit and need to make it somehow look good :-)

an idea I had for the top, but hubby scoffed and ridiculed me was breaking up tiles and laying them like crazy paving, ya know like mosaics but not uniform square pieces

[Julie-Ann]

Hi mjm I love your tile- stunning.
I am planning a trip to Barcelona at the moment and reading all about Gaudi, so I see where you are going with the broken tile thing. I think some people are very symmetric and like things lined up- perhaps that your husband. How big are the tiles you are going to use? My only concern with tiles is grout. Will you use a dark colour? I assume hubby will seal it?
The only change I would suggest to your layout is to put the bin next to the sink. When you are scrapping dirty dishes or removing the scraps that get caught in the sink, you don't want to be walking over to where the bin is in the drawing. My bin is half the distance from the sink that yours is and it drives me crazy.
The shelves are a great idea but I would make them much longer and 1 above the other. The reason being to give them more weight and pop factor- does that make sense at all?
I love the black for the doors and the timber panelling.

[mjm]

oh I'm so pleased, was expecting a lot of "nooooo, don't go blackkkk"

yes definitely a dark grout, probably charcoal if not black, I think that tile is more a very dark grey or charcoal colour than black?

I wasn't sure about how the shelves would go, but I like the idea of 2 longer ones above each other, question about that, what colour do you think? I was thinking either white to help break up the black, however therewill be lots of white sitting on the shelves, or black so they disappear against the wall but lots of white and ss sitting on them, or glass, but weight would be an issue so not overly keen on that, or stainless steel shelves which at the moment I am leaning towards the most, we have some thick offcuts of mdf and I have seen them cover shelves with ss or tin or something similar, do you know what it is called?

The bin really doesn't have anywhere near the sink that it could go without me either having to put it in a cupboard which hubby doesn't like, or butchering an existing cupboard which we are avoiding because a carpenter he is not.

also, above the pantry I have drawn an open recessed area in black and there is a wall in between that and the fridge area, the top of it looks, umm wrong? can't put my finger on it, am I better off having nothing above the pantry and just make that more wall and paint it? or should I paint that wall in between the pantry and the fridge a dark charcoal to fit in with the cupboard colours? or...? we already have pantry doors to fit 820 wide area and alread have an overhead cupboard to fit a 900 wide area with glass inserts

agggghhhhhh I'm so confused

[mjm]

oh I forgot, could just have the shelves be wood and stained to match the backing on the island bench... hmmm , in fact although I like a modern kitchen I am trying not to be too ultra modern, so the wood shelves could help tone it down a bit? or it could look completely crap... ok off to continue looking for stick on stainless steel

[Julie-Ann]

I was thinking stainless steel for the shelves. You could do it 3 ways:
1. use stainless steel looking laminate and cover the mdf shelves with that.
2. Buy real stainless steel (much more expensive) and cover the mdf with that.
3. Buy existing stainless steel shelves like the one below from Ikea.

But then I really love the idea of the wood. Do you know what colour the stain will be? It will work with the panelling on the front of the island but give a modern and natural feel.

With the pantry do you have a sketch of that area?

[Julie-Ann]

I found these pictures where they have used wood and black together. You can use any stain from light to dark but I thought the dark stain looked quite sexy.
What do you all think- wood or stainless steel?