Hi there, Hubby and I recently bought a 70s colonial in suburban Cincinnati with an outdated dull 80s kitchen that isn't functional. We need to remodel but we have a dilemma! Husband and father-in-law want modern, clean looking high-gloss Euro cabinets from the Kraftmaid Venecia range in grey or merlot while I dream of a classic white Shaker/farmhouse kitchen. The kitchen is narrow and doesn't get much natural light plus Cincinnati is gray a lot of the year so I need light and bright. The kitchen gets a lot of use. Also, our house and decor style is very traditional but the men have got themselves locked into a modern, masculine look and they scorn my Shaker/farmhouse style. (Father-in-law is a builder who wants to oversee the remodeling of his son's house!) Any ideas for a compromise?

Honestly, I think that both modern and shaker are wrong for your colonial house.

Yea, you can do either, or anything else for that matter, but it will not add a penny to the value of your house. In other words, the return on your investment will be zero. That's because, the next owner will probably just throw out your remodel, no matter how new, and re-do it.

I would stick with colonial style cabinetry in your kitchen as the compromise.

I would not go with the modern - it does not fit the house and most people in the midwest would not prefer that look. I think it is more of an "urban" look. Of course -- if you personally loved that look I would say go for it -- BUT you don't. Besides -- you are the woman of the house and it is my PERSONAL opinion that your taste should take precedence in the kitchen. Men can flip if they want -- but that is how I feel.

Your house sounds very much like mine -- built in the early 70's -- the kitchen was redone in the early 80's and I am now redoing it. I had to fight my husband tooth and nail for antique cream cabinets with a brown glaze -- this helps to lighten up the room -- as you said your kitchen was dark and I know about the gray Ohio weather! I would go with a medium hardwood floor and a cream granite with lots of dark browns and golds and maybe an accent color like blue. Use stainless appliances and antiqued silver hardware (you can tell your husband that the stainless is the "modern" compromise) and I think you would be very happy with the end result.

Just my opinion -- of course it is your kitchen and your house -- but if you do NOT want modern -- don't do it because you will always wish you had selected the kitchen of your dreams -- not someone else's.

Thanks guys! Our last kitchen was Kraftmaid painted maple (cream) in a colonial style with tumbled marble tile backsplash, granite countertops (beige, brown, black mottled) and natural stone floors. It was like that when we moved in, a couple of the upper cabinets had glass-front doors we put our glasses and plates behind and it looked great! My kids said they wanted a kitchen just like that again (it was a bit of a pain retouching it where the paint scuffed off but now similar cabinets come with rubbed edge designs, glazes etc which helps!) I even read on message boards that Kraftmaid sells the same cream cabinets at their outlet near Cleveland, so we could even get them at a good price! DH says he doesn't want a repeat of the old kitchen! We MIGHT get to a deal at a transitional maple with a pale glaze! Loved your ideas though!

Wow! I've seen some of the Venicia range in the showroom and I know the red they're talking about. It is slick! I'm guessing that they wouldn't have chosen it if they hadn't seen it and probably didn't know what they wanted beforehand. Modern isn't just about buying the latest trend from the showroom, that can be an exercise in futility by the time you get it home or need to sell the house. Modern is also about door pulls, appliances and paint color. The kitchen needs to flow with the rest of the house and not make it look dated. Sounds like there's a bit of ego involved here, which can be a generational thing as designers used to inject their egos into projects. That's a lot less trendy these days with the move to organic, environmentally conscious design.

I'd tell hubby and father-in-law that they can pick the kitchen style as long as they want to be the ones responsible for cooking ALL the meals!