Driftwood gray combines the beauty of natural wood with a perfect gray stain, and is available on Alder, Maple, Beech and Hickory. The differences in the underlying wood color and grain change the look of the finished cabinets, from the warmth of Driftwood on Alder and cool gray of Driftwood on Maple to the rustic look of Driftwood on Hickory.
Check out the Driftwood photo gallery to see our Driftwood gray stain on a wide variety of cabinets for interior design inspiration.
After being introduced this spring, our new rich, brown Kona color has become a very popular choice for homeowners and we’ve gotten great feedback on the finished product! Below is a gallery of different cabinet door styles and wood species in Kona as well as several finished end product photos that show the finished product in the home for design inspiration.
Most new homes have matching kitchen, bathroom and laundry room cabinets mainly because making all of the cabinets the same is the most cost effective method. Each time materials, finish and paint colors are changed, it adds complexity and time to the job which also increases costs. The fact that most homes have matching cabinets throughout does not mean this is the most appealing or best method. Professional designers regularly mix both cabinet materials and colors. This is really a matter of personal taste.
Changing materials and colors can create a custom, high-end look if done right and the colors and styles compliment each other. You do need to be careful not to create a cluttered, mismatched or half finished look, especially where baseboards and crown molding meet cabinets, and in transitional areas where you can see cabinets from more than one room. The same design guidelines that are true for wall colors, furnishings, accessories and flooring are true for cabinets. You don’t need to match every piece of wood furniture in your home or make every wall the same color and you don’t need to do so for cabinets. However there should be some elements of color and style that tie everything together.
One way to add variety to a home’s cabinets while tying everything together is to use a different material, style or paint color on the kitchen island and use that same material, door style or paint color in the bathroom or other rooms. It is common for the kitchen island to be different color from the surrounding cabinets and for the kitchen to have a custom, built in hutch made by the cabinetmaker that is a different color than the rest of the kitchen cabinets.
Another option is to use the same cabinet or door style throughout the home and change the paint or stain color, or use the same wood species throughout the home and change up the door styles. We also have customers who use knotty alder material in one room and select alder material in others to add variety.
As far as door style goes, many customers create variety by using raised panel doors on lower cabinets and flat panel doors on uppers or raised panels in the kitchen and flat panel in the rest of the home.
Homeowners want their home to be a representation of their taste and personality and changing cabinet designs and colors is a great way to express personal style. Here are a few more examples of rooms with cabinets by Burrows Cabinets, that use different colors and materials in close proximity for design inspiration:
Second only to the increase in popularity of white kitchen cabinets, gray kitchen cabinets have been trending upwards over the past few years. This trend is visible in kitchen cabinet design magazines, websites such as Houzz.com and Better Homes and Gardens (bhg.com), cabinet showrooms, and quantifiably in internet keyword search volume. Searches for the term “gray kitchen cabinets” increased 60% over the past 4 years and searches for “grey kitchen cabinets” increased 40% over the same period. Gray bathroom cabinets, office cabinets and furniture have become increasingly popular as well. We think the reason for the increase in popularity is the beautiful, subtle, and varied shades of gray and the use of gray as a neutral, colorless, blank slate to which a myriad of designs can build on. Gray can be the base for contemporary pops of bright color set, or the base for a neutral color scheme using gray with shades of white, grey-blues black or tan.
In case you were wondering which spelling is correct, grey is the European spelling and gray is the more common American spelling (note the 20% difference in searches for gray vs grey) although both are acceptable.
Many of our builder-customers have added gray kitchen cabinets to their product offering and we’ve seen some beautiful model homes and custom homes built using our different shades of gray painted cabinets. Below is a gallery of some of these gray kitchens for design inspiration:
According to Google search trends, online searches for white kitchen cabinets have increased 200% over the past 5 years (July 2009 to July 2014). All white kitchens with white cabinets and white countertops but usually a contrasting floor such as medium or dark hardwood, have become increasingly popular as well. White kitchen cabinets are a classic design that has been popular off and on for over 100 years, with short periods of decline when colors or dark finishes took the spotlight.
If you love the bright, clean look of white kitchens, we have some design inspiration for you. We put together a gallery of kitchen cabinets by Burrows Cabinets featuring white cabinets so you can look at how different flooring, paint colors, kitchen decor, cabinet configurations, countertops, appliances and backsplashes look with white cabinets.
Choosing flooring that compliments your kitchen cabinets is key to achieving an appealing design, and the nearly endless color combinations make the decision time consuming. Below are some tips on choosing flooring colors that will compliment your cabinet paint or stain color choice:
1. Contrast – don’t match. Make sure the flooring is not the exact same color as the cabinets. If the cabinets and flooring blend together, the effect is not as appealing. Notice the kitchen photo on the right has stained cabinets and stained wood floors but the floors are darker than the cabinets which makes the kitchen look grounded and appealing and the dark stain on the flooring picks up the color from the darkest parts of the knotty alder cabinetry.
2. Choose a cool or warm color family and stick with it throughout the room. The kitchen on the far left above has wood flooring with cool brown and grey/brown hues that complement the cool grey wall color and the black and white in the kitchen. The kitchen in the middle photo has a warmer tan wall color and a reddish-brown island stain that is complemented by the warm red-brown wood tones in the floor.
3. Take it easy on the pattern combinations. While these days we are seeing people pair different patterns like plaids and florals or stripes and florals in clothing, a shirt and shorts or skirt are inexpensive and quick to change. Kitchen materials, on the other hand cannot be easily changed out. So before you commit to the checkerboard flooring or herringbone pattern wood floor, mosaic tile back splash and knotty hickory cabinet combination, give it some thought and try to pick just one detailed element so the eye isn’t overwhelmed. If you want more texture on the cabinets and in the floors without looking too busy, a great combination is stained knotty alder cabinet material paired with wood flooring that has a lot of color variation such as natural red or white oak or hickory. The stained knotty alder has texture and subtle color differences due to the knots but it is monochromatic enough to pair with a busy floor.
4. Look at product samples next to each other. Look at a sample of your flooring, cabinet material/color, counter top and wall color next to each other in similar lighting to what you will have in your kitchen and make sure you like how the colors and textures work together. Lay the flooring flat with the cabinet material at a 90 degree angle to the flooring as it will be in the finished room and stand back to look at it. You may want to pick a few cabinet and flooring color options to look at next to each other in case your first choices don’t compliment each other.
5. Find online or magazine photos of kitchens or bathrooms using a similar color, material or pattern combination to give you an idea of the overall final look without making your home and your budget the Guinea pig. Burrows Cabinets website and Houzz pages have dozens of recent kitchen, bath, study and other room cabinet photos and are a great place to start.