Need ideas on wood species, cab styles for kitchen

Hi all,

My husband and I just purchased a colonial house (ok, it was painful) and are redoing the kitchen and trying to straddle our desire for a clean, modern kitchen and the reality that folks in our area probably won't just *love* that ultra-modern look when we sell.

We've decided to work with a custom cabinet maker (the price was good for the option to get what we want in terms of design), but I am SOOOOOO stuck on the cabinet front styles, species of wood to use, veneer vs. solid wood, etc. I have a few questions and are looking for ideas and insights...

1) I like the look of slab doors in many of the high-end italian lines, but when I look at the regular doors produced by semi-custom companies, there is something cheap about the way they look. Not sure if it's the finish, the wood, the size, what? It could be the size of the door (the italians seem to be oversized a bit). The kitchen is only 16.5' x 11.5' and we want cabs to the ceiling on both sides, so I am a little worried about oversizing things in such a small space. Thoughts? Any pictures of where this has been done well?

2) Our cabinet guy has given us some options for wood, but I am not loving any of them. I think I'm a bit over the orange-ish wood finish but can't go dark to a cherry. Also, we are concerned that a wood with a lot of movement in the grain will be too psychadelic in the space. My cab guy talked a little bit about veneers, and I would like to explore different woods in veneers, but not sure where I can source pictures or actual veneer to check out a variety of types. We tend to like a uniform grain...does anything come to mind? Also, the veneer seems to be *very* thin and I am really worried about durability (2 kids and a dog to be)...

3) I hear so much about Hafele inserts, but haven't been able to really find a good brocheure with just kitchen information. Any idea where I can source that?

Thanks, as always, for your thoughts.

Fran

Hi Fran,
You can try out Constantines Lumber. They have a good selection of materials and they know their stuff. Good luck.
http://www.constantines.com

franco

If you want to do slab doors (which would be my choice), realize that plywood with veneer will be much more stable (and cheaper) than solid doors. I had a local custom furniture-maker tell me that beyond a 12 width, he really prefers plywood over solid for warping reasons). As for wood species, I think of a Cherry with a natural stain as a medium color rather than dark, but I know it does darken as it ages. I would look at Pear Wood or one of the more exotic Maples (Curley or Bird's Eye), or maybe Lacewood or Satinwood. All these are lighter woods with a tighter pattern. I think a 14-18 cabinet width (each cabinet the same width on a wall) for the wall cabinets would look good with a 39 height.