Finish Dilemma
I'm getting down to the wire on finish decisions for the kitchen, so I just posted this in the "ask a designer" community.
Anyone care to comment?
annie_v? larslobster? Any other period kitchen lovers out there?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am a designer myself (architect turned interior architect) but I could really use some input from some others right now …
The image below is a diagram of my kitchen remodel.
The red lines on the diagram show where I think the backsplash should start and end; The blue line represent where wainscot could go.
I combined three spaces into one (including a former pantry; built in cabinets still intact) and am trying for a "built over time" period-looking kitchen. The sink is an apron front, the counter will be soap stone, the floors wood, and the backsplash will be some sort of subway tile.
Here are some current pictures:
From back door looking towards dining room
From sink area looking towards front of house
Looking at new window from inside
video panorama
Because I combined three spaces, the kitchen work area is tight but efficient. However, if you follow the perimeter of the room around carefully, you'll notice a lot of discontinuity. For example, the stove is in an alcove where the retinal ice box used to be. The only way to fit a pantry was to inset it behind the fridge because of the wide trim around the windows.
The area to the left of the island on the drawing is going to be some sort of built-in that will spill into the dining room, and pull the two rooms together.
I'm trying to decide two things: Where my backsplash should start and end, and if I should use wainscot.
Looking at the tiled area (red lines) the only questions are if it should continue any further on the stove side, and if it should not go as far as shown on the entry side (sidesplash the right side of the sink wall.)
The wainscot (blue lines) I am less sure of, and have not even sold myself on the idea that I should use it. First of all, on the right end of the sink wall, I'd either have to run it to the corner where it would meet tile, or I'd have to let it meet the tile side-splash. I'm not sure how it would look butting together.
A third option is not to have wainscot in that corner at all, but then the question becomes, should I have it on the *other* side of the door?
From there I start to wonder if I don't have wainscot on the either side of the door, where should it start? Should I have it all? I wonder if it will just accentuate the disjointed nature of all the walls in this jigsaw of a space.
For the record, the casing around the opening to the dining room will touch the casing around the adjacent opening for the pocket door - so that area can't have wainscot.
Input is appreciated - not just on my wainscot/backsplash dilemma, but on the future built-in, or any other finish option. (No space-planning critiques please - too late for that, and hindsight is 20/20!)
Thanks for reading this far ...!
(edited to fix links - forgot about the shutterfly problem!)
Anyone care to comment?
annie_v? larslobster? Any other period kitchen lovers out there?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am a designer myself (architect turned interior architect) but I could really use some input from some others right now …
The image below is a diagram of my kitchen remodel.
The red lines on the diagram show where I think the backsplash should start and end; The blue line represent where wainscot could go.
I combined three spaces into one (including a former pantry; built in cabinets still intact) and am trying for a "built over time" period-looking kitchen. The sink is an apron front, the counter will be soap stone, the floors wood, and the backsplash will be some sort of subway tile.
Here are some current pictures:
From back door looking towards dining room
From sink area looking towards front of house
Looking at new window from inside
video panorama
Because I combined three spaces, the kitchen work area is tight but efficient. However, if you follow the perimeter of the room around carefully, you'll notice a lot of discontinuity. For example, the stove is in an alcove where the retinal ice box used to be. The only way to fit a pantry was to inset it behind the fridge because of the wide trim around the windows.
The area to the left of the island on the drawing is going to be some sort of built-in that will spill into the dining room, and pull the two rooms together.
I'm trying to decide two things: Where my backsplash should start and end, and if I should use wainscot.
Looking at the tiled area (red lines) the only questions are if it should continue any further on the stove side, and if it should not go as far as shown on the entry side (sidesplash the right side of the sink wall.)
The wainscot (blue lines) I am less sure of, and have not even sold myself on the idea that I should use it. First of all, on the right end of the sink wall, I'd either have to run it to the corner where it would meet tile, or I'd have to let it meet the tile side-splash. I'm not sure how it would look butting together.
A third option is not to have wainscot in that corner at all, but then the question becomes, should I have it on the *other* side of the door?
From there I start to wonder if I don't have wainscot on the either side of the door, where should it start? Should I have it all? I wonder if it will just accentuate the disjointed nature of all the walls in this jigsaw of a space.
For the record, the casing around the opening to the dining room will touch the casing around the adjacent opening for the pocket door - so that area can't have wainscot.
Input is appreciated - not just on my wainscot/backsplash dilemma, but on the future built-in, or any other finish option. (No space-planning critiques please - too late for that, and hindsight is 20/20!)
Thanks for reading this far ...!
(edited to fix links - forgot about the shutterfly problem!)