Help me to design my new kitchen

[reastie]

We are off for a second visit to a local independent kitchen shop tomorrow to try to sort out finalising our design/choose colours etc. I really want a beautiful looking kitchen that's not too expensive but I'm useless at interior design so hoping mn to the rescue.

I'd like a very bright and airy kitchen which looks clean IYKWIM. I'd like the colour in the kitchen to be blue as we have blue and white china. It's going to be a kitchen diner and it's a victorian house. I want something which looks traditional/timeless in that I don't want to hate it in 5-10 years time for looking outdated. We were thinking of blue kitchen units and white walls but I don't know if I'd like the blue units in a few years.

We're now wondering about units a bit like this only the ones we are looking at aren't quite as nice as it's not bespoke type and is more just cupboard doors taking up the whole of the cabinet, not built in doors to the frame like that one. We don't know what sort of knobs to go for but I like the sort in that picture.

We're also thinking white walls (although not sure if this will just make cream kitchen units look dirty?? Maybe cream walls the same as units would be better of white units and walls?).

Oven wise we are looking at this one and I'm tempted to go for the blue one but thinking maybe black would be better as it'd go with everything --and not show up the dirt). I'm wondering if cream wouldn't work as it would need to blend perfectly with the rest of the blue in the room.

We have french doors and a sash window in the room and I've ordered a sample to check of this as I love the wallpaper we have of this already, but it's more duck egg than blue, so would this go? Maybe I should rethink the blue theme and just have off white units, white walls, duck egg plain tiles and that fabric?

We are having lino for the floor, most likely something very light. Very approximately something like this or lighter.

Tiling wise we are contemplating something like mainly plain 6" tiles but with a boarder in the middle of the tiles a bit like one of these but in the same colour as the tiles we would have (either white, off white or light blue - but again I'm not sure if the blue would go).

I know this is quite a long boring message but didn't want to drip feed. I really hope someone can help me as to if this sounds nice or if there's something obvious I'm missing or a different combination of colours to consider. I've never actually redesigned a room from scratch like this before, so it's very daunting.

Oh, worksurfaces - forgot! I think our budget will only allow laminate, and I'm wondering if the rest of the room will be quite light I should go for something dark (hoping this won't make the room dark) to give some contrast - maybe a black type of surface, but I'm really not sure. Black would match the oven if I had a black oven though. Oh, and I don't want one of those shiny laminate worktops which scratch easily.

FWIW I have a very messy toddler who loves 'helping' in the kitchen, so it needs to withstand alot of bumps

I don't think cream would look dirty if you had white walls but it might all look a bit bland. I do think that a large black range cooker like the one you linked to would be too much unless you had some other quite strong colours competing with it. The blue one is lovely but might not go with blue units if that's what you decide to get - it would be quite tricky to pull off the right shade so that it didn't look too matchy-matchy and blended well. I

'm not keen on black granite or faux black granite worktops and think that wood would look nicer in a traditional scheme. I couldn't see your wallpaper link but I'm not sure that paper is a great idea in a Victorian kitchen (they're usually not that well ventilated, I'd be worried about the paper peeling off after not very much time at all).

lala tbh I'm the same with you on black granite (or effect( work surfaces but I just felt like otherwise it might look a bit too cream and white and it needs something bold in some way. I like the look for wooden kitchen work surfaces but they just aren't practical for us - the only way we could achieve the look would be with a wood effect laminate...and I think that might look a bit cheap. The wallpaper isn't wallpaper, we have it as wall paper (or soon to have) in the downstairs loo but are thinking of getting it in material form for the curtains/roman blind in the kitchen too.

I love the blue cooker too, but I know it wouldn't go with the curtains so would need to find different curtains, and also I'm worried about colour matching the blue of the oven with blue tiles. I think we've completely discounted blue cupboards in favour of off white (or white if they would look better).

That's all very good reading though. I don't really want an overly bland kitchen so will have to think of something to make it special - maybe the tiles and blue oven should be that given the rest will be quite light

I have now got my own dream kitchen. It is possibly "bland" to some - cream shaker, white walls but I have beautiful, warm smoked oak flooring and black granite work surfaces. And a black Esse range (think Aga but cheaper .) I was really struggling in the design bit until I worked out

1. What I wanted to be the heart of the kitchen - the focal bit. And for us it was the range. Then the floor (I know sounds odd). I wanted fairly bland but timeless rest of it so I could/can change the look with accessories/not detract from the range.

2. Then with this in mind I did the tear pages from magazines/brochures. Not with much thought - just instinct. What appealed. And then I got the "Vision" I suppose you would call it. And amusingly, the picture that kept coming to the top of the pile is pretty much what I got - same tone floor/contract between worktops and cupboards etc etc. Yes so I am not original - but I love what I got - and if the kitchen company thought is a good enough look to market their stuff it must look OK (Howden's Tewkesbury White Contemporary look..spit of my kitchen...though mine is nice obviously)

So am not sure if you have done either if these - but pin down 1). Is it the blue/white you want to be the focus or the timeless bit or the range?

Then do 2) if you haven't already....I am useless too at interior stuff - and it seemed almost pointless at first - but actually I found I had more opinions/likes/dislikes than I thought. You may find yourself constantly going for the blue kitchens. Or you may find yourself not tearing any out...telling you perhaps you are not that keen on the blue.

And try to enjoy it...

thamls fish some sound advice there. Can I ask how the cream units look with the white walls? DO they go or do they make the units look like they need a paint/clean?

I'll think through all that. I have looked a bit online at what I like/dislike and I know I keep coming back to traditional style, light and bright, mainly off white units but not too intricate. I like the shaker style of units you have.

I just want it all to work together and walk into my new kitchen and feel 'wow, I designed all this and it actually looks good' and 'I love my kitchen' type of feeling. We are knocking down a wall to make it and so it will be so very different to what we currently have.

The white works just fine - but it is just Trade White - not the Pure Brilliant White - so it hasn't got the blue hues of the PBW's whiteners. Also the cupboards are off-white and not overly "creamy" - so definitely check first. I chose it because I love white walls - and also I could not face the 10squllion "off-whites/creams" offered in paint colours - how the heck do you pick the right one!!