Cherry wood
, whether authentic or a stain over cheaper wood, adds wramth to the smallest kitchen.
Cherry is a hardwood that is easy to work with. It sands to a fine finish and has remained a classic choice for kitchen cabinetry, from Arts and Crafts styles through colonial cabinets to contemporary, sleek facades. The heartwood will darken with time and exposure to light, deepening from a pinkish shade to a deeper red. This is the wood most commonly used for kitchen cabinets and it is such a visual presence that it can drive design for the rest of the room. In a small kitchen, acknowledge cherry's warmth and rich tones when choosing other materials. Does this Spark an idea?
Closet Kitchen
In an urban apartment you may have to deal with a kitchen the size of a closet. Treat the space like a boat galley. Build cabinets, wine racks, shelves and the base of a caf bar from warm, elegant cherry wood. Slot a brushed steel fridge and pale, gray-veined marble counters into this careful cabinetry. For a tiny space to work, everything has to have its own place and you must police it to keep the work area uncluttered. As always with colorful cherry, add lights everywhere to keep shadows from under-cabinet counters and brighten the granite bar top, which also serves as the cook's prep counter.
Tiny Kitchen, Tall Ceiling
A small space with a high ceiling has a height advantage. Continue the cherry wood cabinets to the ceiling, even if the originals stopped short of ceiling height. Add custom boxes with glass fronts to the tops of the closed, upper cabinets and put lights inside the boxes to draw the eye up. You can display prized antique mixing bowls or Fiestaware in the boxes and keep the more pedestrian serving dishes in the regular cabinets below. A brushed aluminum refrigerator door, a variegated gray penny tile backsplash and slate gray granite countertops keep a small, vertical kitchen from seeming choppy.
Very Cherry Kitchen
A kitchen that is traditional without being too heavy-handed about it might feature raised panels on cherry cabinets and period detailing on table legs and chairs. Plenty of light, a white backsplash and white ceiling inside a cherry ceiling coffer can make a space crammed with upper and lower cabinets, a granite island and a breakfast bar seem more spacious. When the kitchen is part of an open plan layout, a plank floor with light and dark stains that covers kitchen and living area balances the darker cherry wood and integrates the two spaces.
Cheery Cherry
A lighter cherry stain on cabinets tends toward the orange spectrum of cherry shades and brightens up a small kitchen. When the ceiling is low and the square footage is minimal, cover the walls up to the cabinet tops with tiny, variegated copper and cream glass tile. Use large hand-painted tiles for countertops and display bright bowls, enameled pots, and strings of peppers and garlic on open shelves and pot racks. Add lots of light, to make all the colors pop, with gallery lights and daylight LED or compressed fluorescent lights over the work areas.
Tags: cherry wood, ceiling height, small kitchen
