kitchens on my mind

I have decided I need to get my butt into gear and start thinking about our home renovation. We're hoping to get it off the ground in December - pending council approval! (argh). We are basically opening up the back of our (north facing) house with an open plan kitchen/lounge area. We are also planning a new bathroom and laundry. (Asking for trouble I know!). One thing on my mind is that I have no idea of the finishes or look I want! On a budget, that is.

It will be an L shape kitchen with an island. We need a look that doesn't make the space look smaller. The kitchen and lounge area need to be seamless in order to make the space appear larger than it is. This is what we have to work with - Baltic pine floorboards, relatively high ceilings, galvanised steel Tolix stools and one very handy handy-man!

This photo has done the rounds already but I love it - the use of white, steel and timber. The opening shelving, the contrast of timber accessories against the stainless steel. The display of treasured objects on open shelves. What I'd like for my own kitchen: open shelving, stainless steel splashback (if $$ was no object), timber accessories, ivory/grey paint.

What I'd like for my own kitchen: industrial style lights (above an island), hanging utensils (we have a small alcove like this where we will hide the kettle, toaster etc and I think some hanging utensils or at least a small shelf could be placed in here for coffee, tea, sugar...)

I like the white on white-wall kitchen with black benchtop and use of stainless steel shelving. What I'd like for my own kitchen: the mix of overhead cupboards and open shelving to maximise space and light (our kitchen is north facing), handles with clean lines.

I have posted about our Tolix stools before - the same as in this picture but ours are 65cm high to suit the height of future kitchen island. This picture highlighted to me how great stainless steel finishes look against timber. Very rustic. I like this look and as I have the stools already I think any timber finish would look great with them. An idea: perhaps a (reclaimed) timber benchtop for our island with a white benchtop for the rest of the kitchen? I'll need to find some images where this has been done successfully...

Decisions, decisions. Once we start work on our renovation I will post before, during and after shots but for now, I'll continue to catalog and dream...

Images - via Style Files (2 - by Living etc, 3 - by Mikkel Adsbøl)