May 25 2008
Log Home Kitchens
Here’s a worry I’ve had ever since Eric decided we should have a log home and that the decorating would all be up to me.
Cathedral ceilings. Vaulted ceilings. Wood walls. Open concept.
We’ve got them all in our kitchen and each one comes with its own set of design challenges to people left to kitchen design (pro or amateur) the world over.
Log Home Kitchens – Upper Cupboards
The trouble with cathedral ceilings and vaulted walls in your kitchen happens when you’re choosing cupboard styles. Upper cupboards specifically. I’ve seen this done poorly too many times to mention and when it is done poorly, it sticks out like a sore thumb and ruins the visual for the entire open concept. I’ll post some pictures shortly of upper cupboards gone wrong so stay tuned to this post to see what I mean.
As our layout dictates, the great room, dining room and kitchen are open concept. Only the living room and kitchen area are vaulted ceilings.
The lower cupboards will wrap around on three sides of the kitchen, leaving the remaining area open. The area leads to the dining room and double doors (walk out to the grilling deck).
Bad Log Home Kitchen Design
Here are a few samples of bad log home kitchen design and the reasons why…
Above: Upper cupboards in this cathedral ceiling kitchen stick out like a sore thumb. No design was factored into this layout and application. The uppers look like they were just ’stuck’ onto the walls – more about function than style.
Although the wood tones are similar, your eye just gets stuck on the protrusions (ugly cupboards of the walls). A home should ‘flow’ both to the feet and to the eye. This does not. Remember that this home has an adjoining room (open concept) which means no matter where you are, this atrocity will be in plain view.
Above: The white washed cupboards and the pecan stained wood are clashing horribly! Whoever designed this mess had a serious lack of understanding of tones and was quite likely color blind. Another case in point for requiring gifted kitchen designers to look carefully at the space (and pitch of ceilings) before they hand over plans to home owners.
This too is an open-concept kitchen (flowing into another room) and shows nothing but clutter and pain to the observing eye.
Above: This kitchen nearly has it. An understanding of the space, vaulted ceilings and tone. But it is seriously lacking in imagination (which is troublesome considering the imagined high cost). The island is too confining, the refrigerator is sticking out 6″ into the work space (and looks like the owner either didn’t measure before he bought the fridge or the designer didn’t measure for modern living).
Apart from the above annoyances, all the dark clutter on the tops of the cupboards is the only other setback. This kitchen is closer to being decent than the others, but still lacks in imagination.
One comment/suggestion/concern we have in our kitchen, we have an 18′ peak ceiling, and i have a hanging light that is over the island. The chain that the light is hanging on, is next to impossible to keep clean! I don’t have a solution, but thought I would share this dilemma with you
Just viewed your photos and comments regarding a few log home kitchen builds. I am nervous because I am trying to design my own kitchen in a log home build and have been searching for unusual ideas that will compliment the log home design. Any ideas for unusual kitchen cupboards? I would love to have then look more like old pieces of furniture . I will be using a flat to the wall and a dry sink along one of the walls. Our kitchen opens up into an open dining/great room. Really struggling with a unique design for an island too. I think I want a three level plan to accomodate eating, prep and serving. Any thoughts on that? Looking forward to hearing from you. Sherry
I liked your points, and the helpful photos of what NOT to do. I too live in a log home, although our logs are not flat wood, like shown in these photos. Our walls are complete logs, other than the hallway and parts of the guest bathroom. I am struggling with what to do with our kitchen. Our layout sounds similar to yours…the living area, dining area and kitchen are completely open to one another. Vaulted ceiling throughout the area, open beams (which I love). Our kitchen needs serious work, it was clearly designed for a second home. The cupboards are a good style, like a cottage cupboard, but its a darker different shade of wood to the logs. I have contimplated painting them a rubbed out vintage white, but read your article and now changed my mind. Any thoughts?
Although my process of building has taken a little longer than originally planned I have finally determined the direction of my log home kitchen – so soon, I will have photos on a new post of ideas and concepts for the kitchen layout.
I too want to go modular for some of the workspace-against-the-wall cupboards – all with polished concrete countertops. I’m toying with the idea of adding tiny LED lights into the island countertop – I’ve seen this and it is stunning! Imagine tiny specks of light embedded into your countertop, like stars twinkling in a night sky…oh goodness, I can barely wait.
Our island will be two-tiered and will consume quite a lot of the room’s footprint but will house the farm house sink, the microwave and all the clutter of appliances. The face of the island will be a painted beadboard, mildly aged for a warm, been there forever, look. As for color of the cupboards and beadboard I’m not certain – I’ve just stained the log walls with a pickled white stain and I might need a flash of soft color on my island for visual interest.
Deciding on all this, without living in the house is hard as the house hasn’t taken on it’s full personality quite yet.
My recent re-work of the kitchen’s layout places the higher tier seating on the living room side (not dining as originally planned) as I’m keen to keep a fresh, clean view while retiring and entertaining in the living room.
I still stand firm on my “no upper cupboards” decision, although I have seen a few nice built-ins for fridges, etc. that help the transition of uppers in a cathedral ceiling. I’ll post photos and references shortly as there is something to please everyone and get those creative juices flowing, I believe.
Laura Childs
http://www.loghometoday.com
Hey, love the critiques, just realized my grand plans may be shot now though…
We’re building a log home soon and the problem is my husband really wants wood everything and I, well, don’t. I’m all for the log home but I just get overwhelmed with all the… wood! I was hoping to be able to do white wash cabinets or something but as the pictures above show it can go horribly wrong. Do you know of any pictures posted of how to do it the right way. He won’t let me white wash everything so I’m just looking for ideas to lighten up some areas. Any ideas???
Thanks!
Hi Sarah: I have a few men friends like your husband in my life so I totally ‘get’ where you’re coming from! Without getting into the “how to manipulate men” or “how to talk to a man about wood, wood, wood” diatribes I’ve been known to go on, let me just say that if you can see what you don’t want, you have plenty enough design sense to create the look you will love.
Since every kitchen is different – especially in a log home – and stains have different hues on different wood types, a lot of your work finding just the right look will be trial and error. One of our dealers at PermaChink gave me a box full of sample stains to play with before I made my order. If you’re careful and document every brush stroke, you can mix them to get just the right hue (1/2 pickled white and 1/2 seagull as an example), then ask them to do a custom mix for you. One small note to everyone about interior stains – if you have a pile of windows in your log home be sure a UV protectant has been added to your stain or you’ll notice fading and darkening areas over the course of a few months.
As for a photo reference to various country kitchens – I have been hunting and collecting for over a year. My favorite resource to date is the Country Living book at the bottom of this page: kitchen ideas. The ideas are not all log homes, but many of the kitchens are wood and variations and nearly all of them are stunning.
Laura