Picking Out Kitchen Materials - Cupboards and Benchtop

We have made some decisions and picked out the materials to be used in our Kitchen cupboards and benchtop.

We knew from the start we wanted white cupboards for the kitchen - they look fresh and modern and will remain classic. The type of white however took a little longer to decide on.

Do you know how many different types of whites there are? There's heaps I can tell you!

 

Classic White Vs Ultra White

 

For the kitchen cupboards we were tossing up between Classic white which has tones of cream in it or the Ultra White which is brighter and cleaner looking. We have avoided all shades of cream and beige in the house so far as the Classic white tends to clash with our grey painted walls throughout the house so we opted for the bright and clean Ultra white.

 

We picked Ultra White Gloss for the cupboard doors and for the side panels we chose Polar White Sheen. Because the door and side panels are made from different materials, the matching Ultra White gloss side panel was in fact a slightly different shade and the Polar White matched in with it better. Confused? That's ok so was I but they have been selected now so onto the next thing!

Ultra White Doors and Side Panel and Polar White Side Panel

 

Now onto the bench top - I like the darker granite because it will hide any red wine and turmeric type of stains which are pretty inevitable in the kitchen. I can't keep white clothes clean and I can just imagine what my white benchtop would look like after months of cooking spaghetti and curries ... I just feel much more comfortable with a darker benchtop.

The company making our kitchen QN Designs import all their granite bench tops and while they don't have a huge choice it is actually easier the fact there are only a few to pick from. There were only 2 choices of dark granite - 1 black with pearl shell or 1 black with silver sparkles - we picked the black granite pearl shell bench top the same as our bathroom vanity.

When we install the lighting in the kitchen we need to pay attention to where the lights will shine onto the bench to really pick up the pretty shell pattern in the granite - some pendant lights shining down onto the island bench and the glass overhead cabinets above the oven should light up the bench nicely.

Colours against the black granite bench top

 

I mentioned last week we are having contrasting kick boards in black. I think the black and white look is going to look classic but still add a bit of interest. Plus the black will make the white cabinets look like they're floating. This is me trying to be daring so I need your support here!

 

Cupboard colours, Kickboard and Bench top

 

From a brochure with 20+ different door profiles I had looked at a hundred times we then went through the QN Designs showroom and looked at the doors themselves to choose what we liked - seeing the materials with your eyes up close and personal is far better than going off a computer screen or a brochure for your final decisions.

We picked out the Softline door profile which has a square angle on the edges ... I know what you're thinking she's really living on the edge with this choice and you would be correct! I'm not renovating my kitchen only to pick standard door profiles and want to have some fun with the design. My only concern with picking a door profile was how easy it will be to clean and wipe over and I think this Softline will be easy to keep clean while adding a bit of interest with the angled edges.

Softline Door Panel

The handles and splashback are the next materials to chose and possibly the hardest because there are so many choices. We are leaning towards large square shaped handles and a glass type of splashback ... stay tuned for more materials updates.

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[All images my own]
 

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