French Country Theme?

Question

I am so happy to have found a theme to tie in my elegant scrolling and wrought iron decor with my love for country - roosters and pastoral scenes. What kind of cabinets and counter top (besides granite) do you think for a French Country Theme backdrop? Do you think a natural maple with dark glaze on the edges or ivory painted maple? Wall paint too? And flooring too? I cancelled hardwood for this room because of cleanups and has an entry area that would get too scratched so something else.

Answer 1

I think I'd go for the ivory painted maple cupboards & butcher block countertops would be perfect.

play around with the Sherwin Williams color visualizer to find colors that you like. It is the best paint visualizer on the web, imho. I like how their color palette is laid out, I like that you can search by color family & color name, the "painted" rooms look the most realistic, and it suggests coordinating color schemes. You can literally spend hours:

http://www.sherwin.com/visualizer/

Maybe a wall color like "muddled basil" (# 7745) or "enticing red" (# 6600) would flow with your gold living area.

Answer 2

I would suggest soapstone for the counters and painted cabinets.

Answer 3

Sounds like you already know what to do, you're deep into details.

When I think of French style, I think "provencale", which means using local materials.   Since it's country, you want a rougher hand made look, rather than too manufactured.  

For counter tops, I would use a tile that looks like a came from a local quarry.  If you have red soils, use a reddish tile, for instance.  If you dug up a rock in a field nearby, what color and type would be?   If there are maple trees outside, use maple.   The view out your kitchen window should seem to be an extension of the kitchen itself.

Of course you will avoid linoleum, plastic, chrome, high tech faucets, stainless steel, levelours, and so on.