A Guide to Selecting Kitchen Cabinetry for Your Country Home

A country kitchen can evoke memories of the sweet smell of homemade apple pie baking in the oven. Grandma pulling open that kitchen cabinet means something good is about to happen! A kitchen with country cabinets is a family kitchen. Let's review some fabulous country kitchen cabinet styles along with tips to help you create and bring back that smell of home, sweet home.

1. Formal Country Kitchen Cabinets.

Often made from birch, maple or oak, this style cabinet is usually simplistic in its design. Look for painted off-white or other pastel colored panels with glass doors behind the center part of the cabinet window. Curtains can be installed from the inside and pulled together in the middle (resembling a vertical bow-tie.)

2. Casual Country Kitchen Cabinets.

If you are looking for an understated cabinet with true simplistic charm, this may be the right style for your kitchen. Experience the big, wide, natural country with cabinets that reflect the lovely appeal of a quaint farmhouse.

3. English Style Country Cabinets.

The English Country style is of an alluring cottage. This style is easily identifiable by the stencil wood cutouts and the assortment of finishes on the panels. Glass doors are sometimes incorporated in the style as well.[1]

4. American Country.

Pine wood and flat panels are reflective of the American Country style. For a clean, fresh look, mix and match traditional with a few modern, but small accessories. Make sure that your American Country style takes control of the kitchen.

5. French Country.

The French Country look is recognized by its panels of medium or dark wood. However, cabinets painted a distressed antique white, black, pastel green and rose are also popular country cabinet colors for the French Country style. Typically, paint and wood finishes are mixed together to create the low luster, clear glaze and light wood finish.

6. Tuscan Country.

The Tuscan Country style is flexible in its color offerings. The wood can be made to look worn and distressed, but it also can be seen in medium and dark colors. Texture is the key element in Tuscan cabinetry. Often the cabinets exhibit an unstructured look because of their open shelving. Bronze hardware completes the "old world" look. The Tuscan Country style can depict the elegant side of country cabinet styling.[2]

7. Strive to achieve unity in your kitchen design.

To increase your successful selection of country cabinets, limit your design colors to three: one neutral, one dark and one light color. If the cabinet wood you select is dark, include contrasting, but complimentary colors in your overall color scheme.[3]

8. Consider incorporating your faucets and kitchen sink to match your country theme.

Since they have come a long way in their design and material elements, a country kitchen sink can truly pull together your kitchen's overall theme. Choices range from the simplest traditional bucket style to the country farm sink. Dare to be creative in selecting your kitchen hardware elements.

9. Range hoods are a major focal point of many country kitchens.

Range hoods that match your cabinetry also help to solidify your overall country theme while adding value to your home.

10. A range backdrop adds a special touch to your country kitchen.

Your country style range backdrop can really enhance your kitchen's personality. A ceramic or mirrored tile back-splash depicting country folk-art mural, or a floral stenciled pattern design can really charm up your kitchen.

Bonus Tip 11. Country kitchens can be enhanced with the warmth of a fireplace or even a pot belly stove.

Why not take a relaxing break by your kitchen fireplace? Set the timer so that dinner turns out fine.

The country kitchen of today embodies the best of both worlds. It embraces traditional style by showing appreciation for generational design while containing elements of modern convenience. Define your country kitchen style by deciding which cabinet type is representative of your personality, then make it your own. Your country kitchen can be your little oasis, not away from-- but within your home.

[1] http://www.directkitchencabinets.com/Designs.aspx. Accessed August 22, 2008.
[2] http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_kitchen/article/0,1793,HGTV_3375_1394809,00.html. Accessed August 22, 2008.
[3] http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_themes/article/0,1793,HGTV_3383_1393054,00.html