My Dream Kitchen – What Do You Think?

I’ve been collecting images via the web and magazines for years, putting together a collection of ideas for my someday dream kitchen.  In our previous four homes, we basically made the best out of what we had.  We always renovated with reselling in mind knowing that those homes were temporary and not our forever abodes.  Now that we are finally settled in a home that we hope will be ours ’til grandkids come (which will be far, far into the future) we’re actually starting to make our dreams a reality.  (Check here to see what got the mini-reno ball rolling.)  The hubs, even though he’s the modern-loving half of this duo, pretty much leaves the kitchen to me.  Smart man right?!  He does have veto power though and is never afraid to speak his mind.  My favorite quality of his 🙂

I picked up a copy of one of my favorite glossies the other day!

As I was flipping through, I stumbled across this gorgeous kitchen.

It was literally love at first sight.  I love every single inch.  Not just one part but all parts of this kitchen.   I love black and white!  I love that it feels like it’s been there forever and yet it’s still so now.  It has an old soul that almost begs you to come and cook – does it not?!  Obviously, it’s quite frenchy which is probably why I’m so drawn like a moth to a flame.  It just feels so useable, so casual, so elegant, so perfectly me!  One of the main things I love about this kitchen are the distressed cabinets.  I feel like the cabinets more than any other aspect make this kitchen.

So, I got to thinking about my own cabinets and wondered if this would work.  We inherited white painted cabinetry from the previous owners.  They are the original cabinets (about 20 years old) and they are still in good condition.  The only thing I’m not crazy about is that with them being painted oak cabinetry you can sometimes see a bit of the woodgrain.  However, I think with a distressed finish this could be a good thing.  I decided to do just one door and “see” if I like the look.  It’s just a glaze right?  Just one door?  What could be the harm in “trying”?

I think I like this look!  The harm is that this “let’s-just-see-but-now-I-love-this-and-have-to-do-this” project may take me oh about ’til them grandkids show up for dinner 🙂  Ok , I’m being dramatic but you get the point – right?  I’m not sure about that black knob, but I do like the look of the black over the stainless knobs we have now with this kind of finish on the cabinets.  Anyhow, what are your thoughts?  Which do you prefer?  Pay no attention to the knobs just the cabinet doors.  Distress or no distress?

I would never do this to factory finish white cabinetry but on old, painted oak cabinets this could be just the right finish to give our kitchen a totally custom feel for a fraction of the cost.  Considering the fact that we have no plans to resell I really think we should just go for it – throw that whole “would this appeal to a potential home buyer” thing out the window and just follow our dreams!  I say “our” dreams because my modern-loving man actually loves my dream kitchen too!  See folks giving your man a cave most definitely has its benefits.  I may or may not have been tactical about this 🙂

So, for realz – what do you all think?  Spill!