New This Week: 3 Woodsy Kitchens That Welcome You In

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berekann

April Young - i believe the stove/cooktop in the first picture is along the back counter. In the second picture, i would think the refrigerator is well-placed as one can remove items and set them on the peninsula counter and have them readily accessible for cooking in the main area. A bit of a walk around at times, though.

2 Likes 8 April 2018 at 9:58p.m.

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Joan O'Brien

@Debbie Lusk, ...I realized a couple of years ago, that it was the quality of the 80s oak that left me cold. I guess there was just so much being used the manufacturers couldn't get enough high quality wood. If you look at your Craftsman's oak, or fine antique oak furniture, it is a beautiful thing to behold, and looks nothing like all the pseudo Victorian oak furniture and the oak kitchen cabinets of the 80s.

3 Likes 10 April 2018 at 12:41a.m.

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User

@Joan O'Brien: things to remember with wood in order of my preference: #1 Quality of wood (heartwood vs sapwood, knots, burls and how it's put together - joinery & sturdiness, mortise, tendon & dovetails, dowels, nails/screws), #2 Type of wood (usually selected because of the grain, #3 Cut of wood (end grain, veneer, MDF, particleboard, OSB, thin, thick) #4 Stain or no stain. #5 Paint or Wash/Milk Paint, #6 Is is printed to look like wood (pseudo-wood such as flooring).

BTW, there are about 28 species of Oak that are used in various things. And they are different from each other in colour and grains. So you can like one type of oak but not another. :)

All of the above choices will effect wood materials. Here is a nice site to help you learn more about woods. This is my favorite wood identification site. :)

So you may love mahogany but hate it because it's way tooo dark (heavily used for Victorian furniture). So that says, change up the stain to a medium or light rather than dark or go with a glaze or raw. It could also be the cut of the wood - plain or flat sawn, end cut (usually used for butcher block due to strength), quarter sawn, rift sawn. If you aren't familiar with those terms, here is a site to help you learn, so the next time you see wood furniture or cabinets you don't like, you can figure out why? Hint: most times, it really isn't the wood type unless you have a definite preference for certain type of grain that only is found in a few types of wood.

2 Likes 10 April 2018 at 5:20p.m.