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Before I start let me apologize in advance if I tend to meander.
We have been in our house since July. This is hopefully our last house. With that being said everything we are doing to our house is just to please ourselves. I will be honest our tastes are not for everyone. We have kind of a colorful, whimsical(?) ummm... Here is our dining room which is almost done.
So now I would like to start on my kitchen. The original plan was to bump out the kitchen as it is small. But after 6ish months I find the kitchen a very good setup for cooking. I cook and can a lot so I would rather have functonal over a show piece.
We do not like all the gray. What we agree on is replacing the backsplash with talavera tiles. Has anyone used those? Do you like them still or did they get old?
Replacing the floor. I would like a blue and either white or yellow checkerboard. Not sure if I should go for tile or linoleum. I am leaning towards linoleum as I think it's more cooking friendly. Also maybe checkerboard would be too busy with the tile?
We are switching to a gas stove hopefully bigger and older. Also all appliances are switching back to white. We both hate stainless.
My husband wants to take out the wall next to the fridge and move that over. I am thinking about that still. He also wants new cabinets but I like ours with the little swirlys.
Hopefully I explained everything. I will post pics of the kitchen and hopefully you guys can help me sort through my ideas and give me some good new ones. We want cheerful and colorful and to fit in with our dining room.
I think the checkerboard tile would look cute given that the house seems to be older and traditional. However, that would definitely clash with the ornate style of talavera. If you are going to introduce the vivid orangey/red/blue of talavera, then I'd base my floor tile around that. I do agree that talavera would make a pretty backsplash, far better than the paint by numbers glass mosaic that's there now. I wouldn't replace those cabinets at all, but I would replace the doors for something a little more up to date. I'd definitely replace the hardware. That being said, hobby lobby has some beautiful door and drawer hardware that will work with the talavera. Not sure if knocking down that wall would do anything other than knocking a wall down.
With a fun busy backsplash, I’m on the fence about the checkerboard floor. I’d really have to see it lined up. I’d choose tile though. White appliances would be good, although I’d look into the affordability of using a cool color on your range and then a more basic floor. I have a blue range I love from Lacanche but there are cheaper brands. I’d get some nice baskets and canisters for the pantry items or use the open shelves for dishes/glasswear and the cabinets as the pantry. Then you could also change out knobs for something more fun and you too.
I like the idea of just updating the cabinets. He did mention that too.
I should have explained better about taking down the wall. Of he does that he will move the fridge over into this weird landing that is on the other side of that wall. It would make space for the stove I want. But I don't know if I want the kitchen moving into that foyer(?).
I thought it would not work to mix my two prefrences. I would love to kind of retro out the kitchen. The house was built in 1936. On the other hand I have always loved talavera.
Thanks you have given me things to think about!
With a fun busy backsplash, I’m on the fence about the checkerboard floor. I’d really have to see it lined up. I’d choose tile though. White appliances would be good, although I’d look into the affordability of using a cool color on your range and then a more basic floor. I have a blue range I love from Lacanche but there are cheaper brands. I’d get some nice baskets and canisters for the pantry items or use the open shelves for dishes/glasswear and the cabinets as the pantry. Then you could also change out knobs for something more fun and you too.
I would love a cool color on my range. I have been researching older restored ranges and plan to go that way. Many are redone in great colors.
I also agree there are prettier uses for the shelves. I leave my kid's snacks there right now,
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Oh, hi, magicshark!
I just looked up talavera tiles. Oh my god, love! For the floor, I'd pick the color that you love best in the tile and, assuming that it goes with the yellow (love!) wall, I'd do the floor in that one solid color. That's just my opinion, though, and I've been wrong before.
With my own kitchen floor trials and errors (What to do about kitchen floor), I found that what I eventually went with (second try! on page 9) -- a solid dark color -- anchored the kitchen visually, if that makes sense. (And it was ridiculously cheap! Well, the mistake tile that's underneath wasn't cheap, but the final top one was. Sigh... I have three layers of flooring on top of the sub-floor. )
I just looked up talavera tiles. Oh my god, love! For the floor, I'd pick the color that you love best in the tile and, assuming that it goes with the yellow (love!) wall, I'd do the floor in that one solid color. That's just my opinion, though, and I've been wrong before.
With my own kitchen floor trials and errors (What to do about kitchen floor), I found that what I eventually went with (second try! on page 9) -- a solid dark color -- anchored the kitchen visually, if that makes sense. (And it was ridiculously cheap! Well, the mistake tile that's underneath wasn't cheap, but the final top one was. Sigh... I have three layers of flooring on top of the sub-floor. )
Hey fancy seeing you over here! I took your advice and it is already helping. So thank you very much!
I knew in my heart the backsplash and floor just wouldn't work. I am going to look around for a different floor to go with talavera. At the same time I will do some research into what they used for backsplash in the 1930s. Maybe it will spark my imagination.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by magicshark
Hey fancy seeing you over here! I took your advice and it is already helping. So thank you very much!
I knew in my heart the backsplash and floor just wouldn't work. I am going to look around for a different floor to go with talavera. At the same time I will do some research into what they used for backsplash in the 1930s. Maybe it will spark my imagination.
There's so much fun stuff to work with in your kitchen -- the yellow walls, the scalloped window frame, the high open shelves, the little rounded corner shelves. So much to love and so much to work with.
My only real advice -- and this is from my own experience, but your mileage may vary -- is that "busy" everywhere is too busy. For example, my open shelves have a lot of "stuff" and color, so a busy floor was sensory overload. So if you go with the talavera tile backsplash, which I love, then I'd stick with a solid color floor. Just my two cents...
I agree, that's what I was thinking too. stick with a solid color floor, one that picks up the colors of the talavera. I'd use the talavera tile as the catalyst for designing your kitchen, because it's so distinct, bold and bright. don't go overboard though because your kitchen is not Spanish and you don't really want a mishmash of styles.
I will try to link what I was thinking of doing with the talavera. https://goo.gl/images/yr3kNL fingers crossed.
I am second guessing the talavera but I do love it.
So far I have only seen subway tile in the 30s kitchens. I do like subway tile. A cobalt blue might look nice.
Thanks for the ideas and advice!
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I took your advice and it is already helping. So thank you very much!
