opinions and ideas on my new kitchen please

[mothersmilk]

ok so in brief (iv already posted on s&b with little luck) im getting a new kitchen yay! solid oak bespoke oak tops shaker type style cntempory handles (nice clean lines but the warmth of real wood) so its a kitchen diner and i want to create a space that isnt too kitchen like so that we can entertain in there aswell. i want somewhere warm cosy and inviting without being to bog standard kitchen like iyswim? so iv decided on some lovely victrian rectangular tiles with a bevled edge in pinks and purples(rich&warm tones) i thoght perhaps a plum on the walls iv seen one i like and also i was thinking of wall papering the wall behind were im going to put my dining table iv seen one that is pink with three tones of grey in a flower pattern which i rather like. the room is well lit from bothe ends with natural light also we are putting tin spot lightin and under unit lighting maybe some plinth lighting aswell. i just want some opinions and ideas really on what other people have done with there spaces im a bit stuck as to having an alternative dh wants two options (he makes,designs and fit bespoke kitchens for aliving its his buisness but this has been left up to me)
all comments will be greatly welcomed thanks to anyone who has actually bothered to read my rambling iv waited 5 years for this kitchen and as may be able to tell getting it right is very important to me
thankyou

anyone?

You sound so excited . My kitchen is too small to have a grand vision so I can't really help but don't want you to go unanswered.

What exactly are you worried about? It sounds quite dark, which is probably not what I would choose for a kitchen (but I am often wrong) and it would be nice and cosy for winter dinners and with good lighting might feel very welcoming when you get back on dark evenings. Is the aim for it to look sort of like a dining room? Can you try and imagine all the things you want to use it for and see how you feel about those scenarios? For example, would you also be in the room for summer barbecue type things? What mood is most important to you?

PS What colour is it now? Don't underestimate how much smaller a room feels in a dark colour.

its half way through being demolished so not much colour and it wasnt much of a kitchen befor that. Actually im having abit of a crisis of colour now. Im now being swayed towards more traditional colour that will stand the test of time but ineed it to feel really cosy and warm i was looking at olive green and moroccan red as a feature wall is that abit old hat i dont know? obviously change the tile colour to suit

I like the Moroccan red idea, maybe more than the purple are you still thinking of wallpaper? I think that any kind of floral or leaf pattern wallpaper would make a kitchen look cosy (even, say, if the pattern was on a white background), because wallpaper is not part of the purely practical wipe-clean kitchen look. Especially with all wood units. Since you've chosen wood units, which will go with anything, maybe you should choose tiles which could also potentially go with various different paint colours. That way you're safe in the knowledge that you can repaint in a few years and get a whole new look if you want to. E.g. olive green tiles would go with lots of wall colours you wouldn't be tied to having red paint forever. But pink and purple tiles are quite restrictive.

was thinking perhaps ocre, cream, red and burnt orange tiles olive on the unit walls and red on the one clear wall dh has stated above all else we are not to have one colour or neatural tile (and as he is making the kitchen early mornings nad late nights i feel i should let him have at least one say) otherwise i would go for natural stone ones as they would go with anything
thankyou so much for your imput

Green does work beautifully with wood, but it's a very difficult coluor to get right with paint. Most off the shelf greens are pants.

Green tiles is a grand idea, or any colour that gives you scope to change the wall colour.

Get loads of those paint mix coulor sample things, little strips of paper with shade of colour on, no idea what they're called. They're free, you choose a colour and it's mixed for you.

Pin up the ones you like in the room. Go for a range of colours and shades. You'll find each colour looks different at different times of day and depending on which of the walls it'son. You should be able to narrow it down quite quickly to the sort of depth of colour that works best and then it's easy to choose the shades you like. See if you can find a tile colour that goes with most of them.

How is the layout? Kitchen on two walls? 3? Wrap around?

two walls

I agree with you 100% about the tiles -- natural stone would be lovely and then you could paint the walls any colour of the rainbow, have wallpaper, whatever... it would have real staying power and would still be very cosy. Nice curtains also make a dining kitchen look cosy, and I think I would be inclined to get my colour from all of those things rather than tiles. I can see that your DH should get a say though, under the circumstances! Your new colour scheme sounds good also, and like it would maybe last longer than the pink and purple? You would need to experiment with some testers to make sure your olive and red didn't look sludgy together, especially with all the wood. I'd probably be inclined to use a rich cream in the unit area with those colours of tiles, but you should probably ignore me as my taste is often a bit too cautious and spartan .

Ok, 2 clear walls? Then maybe you could put a deeper colour on the two 'non-kitchen' walls rather than do a feature wall. I'm sure that'd be much more cosy.

I'm really not clear on what sort of style/feel of room you're after. Howw would you describe it, apart from cosy? Could you link to some photos of rooms with the sort of feel you're after. Doesn't need to be kitchens.

If DP must have mulicoloured tiles, how about something like this? Or is that too 'modern' a look?

sorry i have one cleat wall the other has a dor in it the other two have kitchen on them. we have now agreed on some lovely natural multicoloured salet tiles and am deciding between four colours
-sage
-camoflauge(green)
-jazzberry(purple)
-morrocan red

the pueple and the red look quite nice together but havnt put them on the walls together as do jazzberry and camoflauge and the red and camoflauge. Sage looks abit pale but we'll se once its on the wall
Do you think perhaps 2 colours will make the roon appear smaller? perhaps i should be brave and just go with the red OR the purple as the kitchen does take up ALOT of the wall space and we are tiling all the way up to cubourds now as the tiles are SOOO lovely!