Urban Updated Vintage Rehab
Tom,
I have honey maple raised panel cabinets in my southern exposure kitchen, white appliances and honey colored wood floors. My condo is a vintage rehab.
I want to change my formica countertops to granite but am confused on what color to choose. I love a totally urban look, but that is not what I have.
So I am trying to make this work in an updated contemporary way. Someone recommended blue ice, but I afraid this looks dated. Will you please let me know what are your top choices?Thank you very much,
Jeannie
Hello Jeannie,
Yes, you have a problem going urban because of those raised panels. Even though you have the honey colored cabinets and floors, you could get to the urban feel if you changed those cabinets to flat panels with square steel knobs. Then you good bring it together with a color like Polychome.
However, sticking with the raised panels and still crossing over to semi-contemporary, there are two colors that work with the maple honey. Those are Café Bahia and Café Imperial granite. The edge detail would have to be a half-round and the back splash should be a wide or light cream tile.
A half-round detail is not really urban, but those raised panels have to be complimented a little.
Keep in mind that you need to stay away from gray. You could go with a red
like Red Dragon granite. This is gutsy buy it is totally a vintage look on the edge of contemporary. Look at a swatch on www.GraniteStock.com but definitely get a nice chunk of it and bring it home.
With Red Dragon you could run up the splash with the same granite slab and it would be bold and intelligently stunning. I would do it.
If the urban appeal makes you want to be less stunning, then you need to go toward the browns as I mentioned above.
There are a ton of other colors that go with maple honey but I can see that your desire is to really not be traditional and track-home style. Take a look at Café Imperial, Café Bahia and Red Dragon. One will move you.
Best wishes and thank you for supporting the Rock Blog kids!
