If anyone is awake please give me an opinion

[YellowEllis]

Top or bottom kitchen?
Bottom is our current design, it's a laminate worktop but we have oak floors and oak internal doors through to the hallway and utility so I'm worried with the worktops it's too much different shades/tones of wood. Mumsnet pointed it out to me earlier and I'm wobbling now.

Top is the new design, it would be snowy Ibiza silestone quartz.

Which is better?

Top. We actually had an oak wood countertop and changed it out for white silestone.

For much the same reason as you - the wooden one was an absolute pain to care for , especially around the sink area we had to be so careful (and DH wasn't!) and we also have bright oak internal doors and viewed all together it looked just too much - all kind of orangey when the sun shone. We also have shaker style cabinets which are a more modern and less country style, so something a bit more crisp and clean worked better for us.

I find it looks more sterile in images and when it was empty and just after installation I panicked. However it also looks way less cluttered now that the counters have their usual array of toaster/kettle/mug tree/utensil pots on them - the lighter colour seems to alleviate the effect of clutter. People love colour so the bottom image is going to look more attractive and impactful on its own and that is completely natural of course, but your doors and floor and kitchen accessories are important too.

I think you are right to second guess yourself and you are probably on the right track, having thought about the details now.

I adore the white silestone and have never looked back. It really lifts the whole kitchen and is so easy to maintain. As an accent I got a butcher's table with the oak top and an oak counter on my dresser, snd that smaller note is really all it needs to tie it together.

Images would help!

Can you scrap the tiles and have the quartz worktop with quartz up-stands instead? Then there's no need to try and match the the tiles to the worktop. And looks neater.

These are the options. I want D, a brighter oak worktop to match the oak flooring, white tiles with a darker grout for contrast and the stone cupboards we've already picked. I'll brighten it up with plants and accessories but it's a neutral bright base. I don't like our current choice at all and I've just realised quartz is about 4K extra so that's not going to happen. I didn't realise it was so much.

Absolutely d - amazing! Xx

This is the exact combo in someone's house again not mine. Dh thinks to add dark grout for contrast but we can decide that later but I'm definitely thinking white bevelled tiles

I really don’t like the dark grout, chops it up too much for me but I’m not up to date with fashions so maybe this is a thing 🤷‍♀️

I love the top one. The kitchen looks beautiful x

Yeah we'll decide on the grout later but the white bevelled tiles and the brighter oak worktop just lighten the whole design up. It feels gloomy at the moment. Dh agrees about changing worktop but says prefers the green tiles so I'm working on him. Panicking that I'm going to get stuck with our current choice if he takes too long

Yes definitely option D!

Both look lovely

I've had wooden tops alongside wooden doors, skirting and floors , lovely but I got sick of it as too much wood , very big room with loads of natural light that could take the wooden tops
Here I have wood floors but lighter almost white flecked with shiny quartz bits work tops they are great and bounce the light , helping to make the kitchen bigger as this kitchen is quite small so light was essential

Ultimately your choice , both look great

Top, by a long way. I have a cream kitchen with wooden worktops and it's a shaker cottage style kitchen so it kind of works but for a more modern kitchen I would absolutely go for the top one.

D by a mile.
I don’t like the contrast of white worktop and cream cupboards.

But you could do the white grout as per your sink pic above.

I would take a step back if you are unhappy with your current design and rethink. In the long term you won't regret the kitchen coming in a bit later, but you will kick yourself for going with something you weren't really happy with.

I've changed. I phoned up and asked about granite/quartz and it's totally out of our price range. So we've upgraded to a premium laminate in a brighter oak block pattern, and swapped out the green tiles for white bevelled tiles with white grout so that we aren't committed to dark and can change later if it feels boring. The developer said that oak matches the oak internal doors perfectly so that's one less thing to worry about, we haven't chosen our flooring yet but we're leaning towards oak or a slightly lighter shade but we are considering tiles if they aren't too expensive to upgrade too. I feel better now either way. It might sound a bit boring we have the nice sage coloured swan appliances and we'll add some plants and put some colour in that way. I'd rather it be neutral and bright.

Sounds lovely Op, and it’s good you feel happier. As you says you can add colour with plants, accessories and artwork too.

And it doesn’t sound boring at all.
The D pic you posted above looks lovely.

Chalet oak or Colmar oak?

Have you checked houzz for ideas?

Http://www.houzz.com

Done. Dusted. Ordered.

I've emailed for a quote to have flooring like this rather than oak - hopefully it isn't too much.

Which one did you order?

I'm so glad you didn't get the original tiles. Now you can change appliances if necessary without worrying about colour.
Also a big bowl of lemons or green apples adds beautiful colour and is useful and always changeable.

I like D but don't like the dark grout, it looks too industrial