Style advice for a kitchen virgin

[GoodtoBetter]

I'm after some general style advice. We are in the process of buying a house that we'll be putting a fitted kitchen in.
I'm crap with stuff like this, knowing what looks good. We like the sort of Shaker style but have been advised by a friend who works for kitchen fitters to avoid wooden worktops as they scratch and get marked. He suggests silestone, but I know that's expensive. Everything here is always that spotty granite (Spain) and I don't really like it.
We will be buying a dishwasher and microwave (probably built in) and oven.
We have a fridge and washing machine already, which are white. So oven and microwave and dishwasher will have to be white too.
So, 2 questions:
We will have a white oven (not those silver metallic ones) as the fridge and washing machine we already have are white, what looks nice with white appliances in terms of cupboards, Shaker style, more modern?
And is it true about wooden worktops?

Thanks.

With white appliances I would go for a shaker style so more trad / country. In cream for warmth. Stainless steel appliances would lend towards a more modern look.
Re wood, we have it and used osmo wood protector and it hasn't marked although only had it for a few months but also like the lived in wood look too (although not black marks around sink but osmo seems to be preventing this). Wood looks great witha s shaker style but am sure there are other work tops that would look good too.
I would go for square tiles in a jolly colour to add to the country feel maybe a light terracotta? Or leaf green.
Good luck xx

Would white appliances look weird in a more modern style? I really like the look of wooden worktops but don't want to faff with looking after them, oiling etc and also houses here (spain) are notoriously damp, so don't want the risk of mould round the sink etc that sounds like it might happen more with wood.

You could go for a sit on sink in white and bamboo work tops. Bamboo is resistant to moisture and mould. Also harder than the hardest of woods especially if strand woven, so not easy to ding. A white lay on sink would cut down further any chance of water pooling on the counter. Also it's a traditional choice which would go with the other white goods you have.

Sink and bamboo counter pics

Thanks for the tip. I think Bamboo may be a bit left field for the rather backward behind the times kitchen fitters in this part of Spain but I'll look into it. :)

The other issue is the floor is sort of grey/white marble and we don't have the money to change that probably. So, maybe white cupborads is overkill. All the shaker kitchens seem to have wood floors. Maybe really modern, bright laminate cupboards and then the white appliances.

No, I'm talking bollocks! They're terracotta floor tiles. So maybe white units to go with white appliances and a dark granite worktop rather than wood.

White appliances in white kitchen blend in better ! If you have terracotta floors then you could get a similar but lighter colour blend of composite Worktop ? Then you can change your accessories to suit the weather - ie - blues and greens in the height of summer to help give an impression of coolness and warmer orange and yellows in the winter - as I know it gets cold in the winter ! White worktops would work too if you didn't want light terracotta look - but might be a bit bright if there's lots of daylight in there !!!

Anything wood in Spain seems to be expensive ( don't know why ) - I did a project for a couple who took their plans to the 'English speaking' showrooms and their builder got quotes using the same plans from builders merchant type place - and that worked out cheaper - but not everything was available - so they ended up buying it all ( same plan ) from Ikea instead. Was still cheaper than the studios - but obviously didn't have quite the same service etc and was a 2 hour trip in a van to Valencia !

Ooooh! I like this. The sand coloured granite is nice and would solve my wood dilemma. Looks nice with the floor, the house has similr kitchen tiles.

Would work with white appliances I think

That granite looks quite similar to ours which is called Ivory Fantasy - I love it

I assume it's quite good at not showing every mark, Marmite?

You could put unit doors on the fridge and washing machine...iyswim

I know, but I think it would add to cost (trying to keep them down) and anyway, I like having the fridge to stick things on iyswim?

With the terracotta floor, a interiors person (!) told me to treat it as a neutral and go with what I wanted colour wise.

I'm with you on speckly granite it leaves me cold, but I once saw some that was more like marble with strongly contrasting veins that looked great.

what you always get here and we have in this house we're renting atm is the pink and grey speckle and I am so fed up of it.

Yes my (lovely in my opinion) granite is very good at hiding crumbs

This is what you get everywhere. Don't like it. Really do like the look of the more golden granite.

My new kitchen comes Wednesday.!!!!
Shaker style wooden doors in F&B borrowed light with Duropal dark wood look laminate worktop.
I saw the Duropal laminate on a john Lewis display kitchen and thought it looked lovely. The main reason for getting it was it is low maintenance.
We have ordered from DIY-kitchens. On their facebook page they have 100's of photos of real kitchens which is good for ideas.
I also like the real kitchens on the Second Nature website, though these have been designed by designer kitchen companies.
I have spent more hours than I care to admit looking at kitchens.
Good luck