I have finally looked at every kitchen on Pinterest.
Lots of you have wondered why our kitchen progress stoppedā¦ It might bear explaining eventually, but hasn’t yet feltĀ like blog-fodder. In the meantime, it can be summed up as: life.
I have no idea how other bloggers manage to have their house/projects/progress all proceed in a way that is so perfectly linear and sensible.
The forced hiatus helped me work through a lot of my existential kitchen angstā¦ Not to mention the dubious gift of time to look at every kitchen on Pinterest.
It took a while.
As of today, my kitchen board is filled with 800 designs of extraordinary proportionā¦ which I cannot affordā¦ do not have the space forā¦ but will look fantastic when I inherit an estate in the Hamptons. (Hopefully that happens soon.)
After all of thisĀ extensive research ā I am now able to report for sure, that my only kitchen-design options are:
1. monument to ostentation.
2. faux-IKEA-hack-monument to ostentation.
3. DIY budget-minded makeover that looks good in the text-annotated pinā¦ But when you actually click through, looks like crap.
There may be a small community of outliers who have broken with this mold, but I believe the kitchen-design-police have prohibited them from having a strong presence online.
Aside from wasting my life on Pinterest, another benefit ofĀ the design-suspension wasĀ the time it gave meĀ to break Paulās spirit get Paul on board.
On board with what, specifically? Remains to be seen. (It also remains to be seen whom I will rob in order to procure funding.) But the common elements seem to be ā white, white, white, some dark wood for contrast, glass-front cabinets, vast amounts of marble, a ridiculously large island, monster-sized crown molding, and possibly some open shelving.
All that needs to happen now is for these elements to arrange themselves into a yet-to-be-decided genre. I have narrowed it down to four:
1.Ā Liberace meets Versailles.
2.Ā THE THING
3.Ā On-trend Christopher Peacock knockoff.
4.Ā Vintage/retro/kitsch.
Ā 
vintage & repurposed kitchen
I thought I would really enjoy doing kitchen-inspiration postsā¦ Ā you know, collecting pretty pictures? How hard can that be? But it turns out to be a soul-sucking exercise. First, because finding the original source for anything is nearly impossible. Second, because looking through 800 kitchen photos is mind-numbing. Third, because trying to find kitchens we haven’t all seen 50,000 times is impossible.
I wanted to present some kind of working hypothesis. But instead I ended up spending all my free time revisiting my Pinterest kitchens. (Pin-hoarding, anyone?) And getting sucked into other peopleās boards. And trying to track down the source for these plantersā¦
Itās the problem with the internet ā it’s so internet-y.
I am at a loss for how to wrap this upā¦Ā (Seeing as how I never really got it to go anywhere.) So now itās time for you to give back.
If you have a dream kitchen, a favorite pin, or are working on your own kitchen ā share it with us and leave a link in the comments. *reminder ā more than one link will likely get you eaten by the spam filter.
if you missed my own personal dream kitchen
all kitchen posts
May 25, 2014 @ 12:12 am
I am really rather enchanted with some of these unkitchens. I am not sure I am creative enough to design the space.
http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=unkitchen
I especially like Donna Brown’s unkitchen… featured cotedetexas(dot)blogspot(dot)com/2010/05/kitchen-flattery(dot)html
May 25, 2014 @ 6:36 pm
All those pictures having the same thing in common. Squares, lots of them !
May 26, 2014 @ 12:58 am
sooooo, you’ve run out of pinterest pictures to look at and now are enlisting the aide of your loyal legion of followers/reader to assist you in your kitchen fashion addiction???
meh,seems legit.
May 26, 2014 @ 2:52 am
When I renovated my current kitchen (if it sounds like I have a kitchen thing going on – you’d be right) Pinterest etc wasn’t around, soooo much easier, less is more and all that.
It sounds to me like you’ve already narrowed things down to what you really want, the rest is just getting started. Work out what goes where, and remember to plan your kitchen space according to what you know about how you use the space. eg; I always like a good amount of bench space around my stove/microwave – for when I take hot dishes out of the oven or off the hob. I like as many drawers for storage as I can possibly have – they’re sooo much easier than cupboards. I don’t like cupboards above the bench – I’m too short to reach most of them so I keep them limited to things I won’t use very often. Also – think classical, elegant and stylish – but be wary of being too on-trend with expensive fitted items (eg: lime green anything) – this avoids the desperate need to re-do the whole kitchen because the oh-so-trendy lime green item is no longer flavour-of-the-month. Also consider flexibility with fitted cupboards around refrigerators, I’ve noticed recently that whitegoods aren’t as long-lived as they used to be and they certainly don’t come in one standard size. I’ve spent waaay too much time shopping for a fridge or freezer based on it’s size rather than the features I want.
Hope it all goes well, now that you have Paul fully on side (or broken-in as the case may be).
Cheers Tracey
May 26, 2014 @ 7:36 am
First: there is a company on the west coast “Legend of Asia” legendofasia.com they import Asian ceramics and pottery. They are a “To the trade” and a wholesale vendor. They have what you are looking for, not antique. But for me if I am going to put plants in them and leave them out in the weather I would rather not have antiques (and the price point will be better as well).
Second: My husband and I have built a few homes and I have designed kitchens in a progression. Small and functional, Medium emphasis on storage and the last was the big-daddy-double-throw-down-monster kitchen of pinterest/houze dreams. (We have since down sized to a home that makes more sense for just 2 people) I also flipped houses before the real estate market went to hell, I have designed and redesign lots of kitchens. So, I have a couple tips for you (well I probably have more than a couple but oh so boring)….take or leave as you will.
-in a Victorian house where inches matter, use all the cool storage components available; corner cabinets with lazy susan trays inside, deep drawers with trays, etc (but in my opinion a designate knife drawer, although cool, is a waste of drawer space). And double height cabinet that go all the way to the ceiling give you a place to store things that are not used often. Your cabinet guy/or team can trim them out with what ever crown you pick for a smooth cohesive look (that whole cabinet- blank space-then ceiling thing, is a huge waste of space)
-A lot of people think they want glass front cabinets, or open shelving; but honestly I have not found a person yet who can keep them looking good. In real life we don’t have time to take the dishes out of the dish washer and “re stage” our cabinets every day, people do not live like that. Save the glass fronts for the high cabinets where you store the nice soup tureen until next thanksgiving. And the open island trend falls into the same category, and is an opportunity for more storage.
-Although a lot of people don’t like white-on-white kitchens; but they do SELL. If you are worried about resale value keep that in mind. And pantries; people like pantries like they like walk in closets.
-Keep in mind the work triangle especially if you do all the cooking. In my last gigantic kitchen from hell, I put the microwave on the opposite side of the monster island and found myself doing laps around the island when preparing a large meal or entertaining.
-don’t over appliance yourself. I had to have a warming drawer; used it once in 7 years. Does any one really need a 60″ 6 burner, grill, griddle combo stove? If I have 3 pots on the stove going at the same time it is hard for me to manage. Leave those monsters to the professional chefs. Having said that, one thing I will always from now on: the double oven. Very handy and I used it much more than I every thought I would. If you are going to go with a separate oven and range configuration it is the way to go. I currently have a conventional size oven with a smaller one above, perfect!
That’s all I got for you, hope it helps š
May 26, 2014 @ 8:13 am
I agree that looking at kitchens on Pinterest can become mind-numbing. There are so many fabulous options, but after a while, they all start to look alike.
I prefer quirky, colorful, unfitted, make-do kitchens. The gleaming stainless/marble kitchens are starting to bore me. When we bought our old farmhouse, we did a “good enough for now” kitchen redo (replaced the horrid vinyl floor with Pergo) ripped out the upper cabinets, which were laundry-room grade laminate and replaced with open shelves and a flea-market cupboard, and replaced the appliances. That was 15 years ago, and it looks pretty terrible and is super-inconvenient. There is not one single drawer in my kitchen, because the cheap laminate drawers that were there originally disintegrated and now I just have a big basket in the cabinet space where the drawers used to be. I know what I want to do with my kitchen, but it will have to wait until our kids are through college. I might do another small “make do” renovation to get us though the rest of the college years.
May 28, 2014 @ 10:03 am
Oh Victoria, you make me truly laugh out loud!
But I get how overwhelming it is to re-do a kitchen. We did ours three years ago and there are definitely things I would change, but it’s definitely better than what was there before, so just dive in. I think it’s one of those projects that doesn’t start to make sense until you’re in the middle of it.
As far as some budget-friendly options, we went with Home Depot’s Martha Stewart line of cabinetry and they have proven to be such a great choice. They’re a little more expensive than Ikea, but not much (if you go with the basic options, which we did). I liked that they had dove-tailed drawers and soft-close doors. Our counters are a combination of Ikea butcher block and hardwood-flooring-turned-kitchen-island-countertop diy’d by my husband. I was skeptical but it was insanely cheap and has held up well. You can do it, and it will be gorgeous!
June 2, 2014 @ 2:13 pm
Love love LOVE these last couple of posts!
June 3, 2014 @ 11:52 am
I used to hate the internet and I don’t read blogs. Then there was a link on a gardenweb forum to your tyranny piece. Now I read a blog.
About your kitchen plan. You really seem to like classical white kitchens with some pretty refined details, it’s hard to picture you in a kitchen full of cute repurposed stuff.
I like a little bit of rusticity (not what they call it on houzz, tho)
Here is my favorite rustic inspiration kitchen. I am getting a herringbone patterned travertine floor because of this pic. (I live in Austin so stone is more appropriate than brick.)
http://www.houzz.com/photos/7554780/Kinderhook-House-farmhouse-kitchen-new-york
June 12, 2014 @ 10:42 am
God forbid you put Houzz into the pinning mix.
You’re so right about the Pinterest kitchens being seen 1000 times. When one loves a style or palette, one keeps returning to the same places!
I’m rebuilding my house after a fire some years ago. My DH bailed on me, leaving me with 3 generations of tools, but no heat, water, extension cords poked through walls jury-rigged to the fuse box, and holes where windows and pot lights would go.
The positive side of being practically indigent and doing things myself, is I have the [ahem] luxury of changing my mind. I’ve swapped out reuse center cabinets several times before just making my own. My lovely bamboo kitchen flooring (still in the boxes) was swapped out for future doctor visits. I’m using my old fence as flooring. Mine is the epitome of “bespoke” or furniture-like kitchens. Nothing matchy-matchy, and everything definitely “Christine.”
The whole point in this is that my Pinterest boards are stocked with tiny details I want to incorporate or modify to fit my own Hampton’s mansion. (Ok, my ’76 ranch outside DC.) It’s taught me that in 300 “rooms I love” pictures, when Chipped on SW’s site, I choose the same colors and palette every darned single time. I also found you and a few others’ blogs, who share my love of the wry, ironic, and non-standard-decorating. Where would we be without the Pinterest catharsis? I still get lost just looking at things I’ve actually pinned, let alone adding more. š It’s the devil’s work, I swear.
November 19, 2014 @ 8:24 pm
All those white cabinets… all I can think about is how much they will show fingerprints. And splatters. And drips. And flying cat food because cats are incapable of eating without spilling it all over the place. All those little things that occur to cabinets when a kitchen actually gets used to cook in.
And you KNOW the people who own these kitchens are scrubbing down those white cabinets on their own. Oh nooooooooooooooo.
May 18, 2015 @ 11:20 am
Do you know how to do a Google Image search? Many times, it can help you find the source of a photo.. even if it’s on the internet 1M times.
In case you don’t, go to Google > Images (top right) > click on the “camera” in the search bar > window pops up so you can upload image (drag it to your desktop to upload, but you know this š ) > Upload an Image.
Allison
August 6, 2019 @ 7:31 am
Weāre currently looking at re-doing and designing our kitchen, so this post is fab, as it isnāt all that big. Iām looking to completely change the styling and these are right up my street! Thank you so much for sharing so many amazing ideas.
March 2, 2020 @ 12:11 am
I feel your pain being on pause with kitchen re-think or overthinking going on. I have been in the thinking and planning phase literally for years due to our wood-stove being in the middle of the kitchen, we aren’t wanting/or willing to part with it in the cold Northeast but it’s wreaking major design havoc in my brain trying to “work around it”. I also can’t change the not even 7′ foot ceilings we inherited – thank goodness we weren’t granted tall genes this one instance. I have some things narrowed down as I know myself well enough that an all white kitchen would look dirty too quickly or make me OCD instantly with our busy family of artists, gardeners, cooks, pet rabbits and the occasional part time doggie visitor. I also can’t do all stainless appliances, I just CAN’T do the upkeep. My fridge plan is real chalkboard panel or some kind of black wood board with brass/metal borders for a finished/custom look.
As far as new ideas for you…I think you already have some great ideas & motions in place going on. Go with your gut/”your taste” and what you believe you’ll like many years later. My inspiration is often English kitchens, minus the gray dreary weather. I’ve come to realize that quick decisions or too trendy design ideas like bamboo flooring we chose, don’t make for great choices for longevity. So I’m trying to imagine what I will like 15 years from now, antique style accent pieces, soapstone, maybe cement tile or European terra-cotta painted tile , weathered wood, etc. is what I’m trying to achieve so I like it not just now but for a long stretch. With all “my visions” I am trying not to go broke in doing so collecting up bargain have to have pieces and hoarding some at my Dad’s so my husband won’t have a fit. I have a lot of pieces we’ll use “down the road” such as a vintage glass cabinet doors, a large old store counter will get their forever spot…really they will be put to good use, someday.
March 2, 2020 @ 9:03 am
I also meant to say I’m envious of your abilities to put tall pieces in your kitchen we may end up forgoing many top cabinets due to our small people/low ceilings.
Can’t wait to see your progress & I know your finished kitchen will be uniquely your own!