The Mix And Match Kitchen

We are in the midst of a mini kitchen renovation. Mini because we don't have money to rip out the kitchen and hire someone to put it back together. I have been pulling out the old clipping file for encouragement, and I find that I am drawn to the mix and match kitchen.

I'm sure it's no surprise that I love a mix and match kitchen

I like to think we're being green by not throwing everything into the trash, when it still has good use left in it.

Visual Vamp Kitchen ReVamp stage one HERE

So Alberto has been making new doors for the existing cabinets. The bottom doors of the upper cabinets have a paneled look, and the top doors will have chicken wire insets to still show off the white ironstone.

Idea for wire insets in the cabinets to show off the white ironstone

We are going to replace the bottom cabinets, and do a new counter top and maybe a new sink and faucets.

I am not doing marble or granite counter tops for two reasons: dated and cost. I found a black "soapstone" laminate look-a-like that is great for our non budget. And I really do not want granite.

Sample of the counter top we will install

Don't gag - this is laminate

The trick to make it look good will be how it's installed - no integrated back splash, no seams, and an Ogee edge.

Laminate counters can work - note no built in backsplash, and the Ogee edge

New appliances? We'll see. Again budget is the thing, and if ours look okay with the updates, we can live with the white ones we already have.

I want to retrofit an antique style piece for one of the base cabinets. I love a piece from Wistera, and it just happens to be the perfect size, though it is certainly more pricey than any stock base cabinet. So I am looking around for a used vintage piece that might work.

Wisteria French chest HERE
Let me know if you find something like this on Craigs List!

Of course it's time to paint the kitchen, and the retro French mustard will be going and in its place the greige that I recently painted in the dining room will creep into the kitchen.

Visual Vamp greige dining room HERE

Some of the furniture and maybe some of the cabinets will be painted in a distressed greige.

Distressed greige inspiration

I have my eye on a Louis Phillipe mirror, another one of those beautiful French things I have always loved and not yet had the pleasure of acquiring. I want to put it over the fireplace mantle in the breakfast area of the kitchen.

Louis Phillipe Mirror

Right now I have Majolica plates, and a gilt tole candle sconce above the mantle. It' s just time for a revamp, and even though a mirror over a mantle is classic and predictable, I think it will be a nice change.

Visual Vamp breakfast area in kitchen - see more HERE

Louis Phillipe mirror over mantle from Chic Provence

Love this Louise Phillipe mirror over the mantle

I've been checking out all the kitchen renovation projects by other bloggers, and by and large they are very very nice. The only thing I see happening is that personality is stripped away. In many cases the old kitchen is much more charming than the new ones with all the usual bells and whistles, and blog advice.

One of the many great copy cat kitchens from Cote de Texas

I happen to like my old kitchen, but it is in need of an update after six years of living with the initial cosmetic band aids. But I am trying not to be tempted and seduced into becoming part of the herd making cookie cutter kitchens.

As time goes on taste and style evolve. We grow as decorators and designers. We are influenced and bombarded by all the beautiful things we look and at and study.

So it's exciting to evolve and maintain the fine line that is personality that makes each one of us unique. Some people love to recreate a look; some people love to go their own way. It's the balancing act that is tricky and intriguing.



I have always been attracted to Euro style country kitchens, what we Americans have come to romanticize as French.

Romantic and French from Shawn Stucker

For me, displaying cooking tools and crockery makes a kitchen interesting and homey and useful. And I am a die hard with things I have loved and lived with all my life: white subway tile, pot racks and pot stands, white ironstone, wallpaper, and rustic elements.


I like the top cabinets to be different than the bottom ones. Do you like mixing and matching this way?

Most kitchen design gets daring by just making the island different than the cabinets. I want to take it further than that.


If we have the money, and the energy, I'd love to change the 1990's white tile floor. We inherited laminate (don't gag) in the rest of the house (and it looks great and is so easy to care for), and I would continue using the same color into the kitchen. You can lay laminate on top of tile without having to rip out the tile.

But if we run out of gas (we are in our early hundreds after all, and doing most of the work ourselves), and money, I can live with the white tile floor.

White tile floor can work, and maybe we'll keep ours

So what do you think of the mix and match kitchen? Chaos or personality?