Kitchen Cabinets and Paint Selection Preview

We first met with Dave at Rivermill Cabinets several months into our planning and design process.  We talked about how Rob and I wanted the cabinets to look.  We were looking for soft white cabinets on the perimeter (the outside walls) and darker wood stained cabinets on the island (and in the bathrooms). 

I didn't want traditional raised panels and I didn't want them to be totally Shaker style either.   I was looking through his sample doors showing him what I liked and didn't like about them and he said he could combine two ideas and simplify them for our doors.  It sounded like just what I was looking for. 

Then we had a talk about color.  I showed him the sample of granite from the slab we had chosen at Arizona Tile in SLC.  I said I wanted the white to be a very soft grayed white, not stark and cold.  He said he could get a gray glaze instead of a brown or black glaze and I said yes, please!  The brown was easy.  We wanted a dark, rich, full brown.  Not rustic and not formal.  He showed us two sample doors and it was an easy decision from there.

He said he would whip up a sample door for us to approve before he started building them all. 

Then it was time to start waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.

It was time to finalize our selections with Visionary, including the paint colors, and I asked if I could wait to see the cabinet door sample so the whites wouldn't clash.  I know it's silly, but it would have driven me crazy to have the undertones of the cabinets and the trim clash.  They said they could wait for a while, but last week I got a reminder email and then I got another one.  I hadn't heard back from Dave, even though I'd sent two emails asking about the sample door.  I tried calling and got a message saying that number had been temporarily disconnected.  I tried to be calm, because I knew this cabinet company has one of the best reputations in Cache Valley.  I knew they were always busy and ours was a relatively small job.  (but I was, honestly, a little nervous)

So in the meantime, I've been looking at white and light neutral paint colors a lot and often.  I bought a paint deck from Sherwin Williams, then I bought one from KWAL (once I was told that is the paint our subs use). 

I finally narrowed it down to five choices (two trim colors and three for the walls and ceiling) and bought sample quarts of each so I could paint up a sample board.  Rob and I took the sample boards up to the house with the carpet, tile and granite samples.  With the walls insulated (white, not pink), we felt like the light coming through the windows was pretty true.  We quickly realized the white trim color that the guy at the paint store suggested would not work and decided on the trim color I had selected.  Then it was time to choose the wall color. 

Actually, this is the final ceiling color, because, if you've been in any of our homes, you will know that I use color on my walls (and have trained Rob to like color in his rooms too).  It shouldn't have been so stressful choosing a ceiling color; but when you see our ceilings you will understand that repainting them is not an easy option so I wanted to be sure I was going to be happy with them once the kitchen cabinets were in.  BUT I hadn't seen the kitchen cabinets!  What if the undertones didn't match?  LOL  (yes, I do know how crazy that sounds)

I finally decided that we were going to make a decision and hope for the best, and if it was a really horrible combination, we'd ask the cabinet guys to come up with a different white.

So, we put up the three sample boards and took down Honeywind as it was obviously too yellow.  We had Gull and White Pebble left.  Both of them looked good with the granite and the carpet, but the Gull was a little timid and just kind of matched.  White Pebble brought all the pieces to life, and really complemented the colors so we knew we had a winner and sent our color selections off to Val, at Visionary.

Yesterday morning, I got a from Tex, at Rivermill asking if we were available to come by and approve the sample doors, review the plans and select our hardware.  YES!  I said I'd be there at the first available appointment (and luckily Rob could step away from work for an hour to go with).

He pulled out the sample door and I was ecstastic.  The style was exactly what we hoped for and the color was lucious.  I pulled out the sample boards and laid them underneath. 

Guess what!  They work together!

Hallelujah

This second picture is actually a better representation of the colors.  The top one went a little green, but it shows the two paint colors, the sample door (the actual color and style of of our cabinet doors) and the color of the island cabinets with the countertop selections.  I was so relieved and so happy to know that my "vision" is actually working and the parts are all coming together.  I went to high five Rob, but was standing on his left side, so I had to tell him, "High Five Me".  Tex thought that was funny until we explained.  His boss is also blind in one eye, so he understood.  He was really impressed with Rob's shell, but that's another story.

Mmmmn, isn't it pretty?

So we reviewed the plan and got his email address so I could send him the model #'s for all of our appliances.  Then it was time to choose the hardware.  I didn't really want ORB but thought we might have to end up with it on the white cabinets, although I was really looking for something that would work on both the perimeter and the island.  Since we will have two colors of cabinets and two colors of countertops I thought it would be better to have just one color for the hardware and figured we'd just end up with a polished nickel.  Tex listened to me say all of that and suggested a completely different color.  It's a soft gray that has just enough color in it that it works really nicely on the stained wood and picks up the gray in the glaze on the white cabinets.  It was a great suggestion.

We quickly selected our favorite style of pull but it wasn't available in the color we wanted.  So Tex showed us a really cool, contemporary pull that we quite liked, but it didn't have come large enough to use as the dishwasher pull.  Darn.  Two strikes.  Tex said he was used to spending a lot of time selecting just the right hardware and not to stress, because he had set aside an hour for our appointment.  We went through the first part of the appointment fairly quickly so we had plenty of time to figure out the hardware.

This was the third option Tex showed us.  Perfect!  Simple lines, the right color, and it comes in different sizes for the drawers and the dishwasher.  We decided we are going to install the large size at the dishwasher and also at each of the sinks so we will have a built in towel bar.  Hooray! 

Hah.  The hardware selection took just over five minutes - see, I'm not THAT picky.  :)

I'm actually really happy about the color, because it matches the pendants we bought to hang over the island.  I like it when things like that happen. 

I'm getting so excited to see it all come together.