{"id":50190,"date":"2012-08-22T00:35:37","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T00:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/?page_id=50190"},"modified":"2012-08-22T00:35:37","modified_gmt":"2012-08-22T00:35:37","slug":"country-french-kitchens","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/?page_id=50190","title":{"rendered":"Country French Kitchens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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DESIGN TIP: Advice & Styles, Country French Kitchen<\/strong> II<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ilene Carp, one of the list members, submitted the following question. Here is her initial statement, “I would love to see something on French Country   Style, especially as related to kitchen decor. I would like to decorate my kitchen in that style and could hope-fully use some of your tips. Thank you!”<\/p>\n

I wrote back, requesting additional information, and Irene replied, “Thank you for responding to my e-mail. I am looking for more specific advice on how to create the look that I want, I do have some ideas, but am having trouble choosing what I would like to do with the walls. My kitchen is about 14 1\/2×8 1\/2. The one long wall has cherry wood cabinets, sink, stove and refrigerator in an L shape. The opposite wall has wainscoting also in cherry wood stain. I have border along the backsplash with the colors burgundy, tan, and navy, peach rose and slight splashes of yellow. I want to use the same border along the top of the wall and possibly at chair-rail height. I do not like the coordinating wallpaper. In fact I have not found any wallpaper with a French Country   motif that I really like. I was thinking of color washing the walls, but what colors should I use? I really love the Old World look of color washing. Also what color should I paint the wainscoting? I have a set of French Country canisters that I love and am also using for inspiration. They have the traditional yellow background with hand painted fruit on them in plum, navy and green. I have an oak table and chairs that I also will be keeping. My counter tops will also need replacing at some point. What color would you suggest? My appliances are almond. Any suggestions you might have would be appreciated.<\/p>\n

RESPONSE:
Dear Irene: Your kitchen is fairly narrow and long, therefore, I would use a light color on the walls. A color, commonly found in French Country interiors, is butter yellow. I think this would be a good choice. Also, color washing is an excellent idea. As for the wainscoting, I would go a shade, or two, darker than the walls. This type of color treatment is also customarily used in French Country   interiors. The use the border on the walls and above the rail is also a great idea. Now, what should you do with the countertops? Most authentic French Country interiors employ tiles, or marble with a subtle gray graining. Unfortunately, I have problems with both of these materials. Tile is very difficult to keep clean (especially the grout), and marble can be expensive, and shows water marks. Depending on your budget , I would recommend granite, Corian, or plastic laminate. If you chose granite, the most expensive option, select a pattern that is light with subtle lines, similar to the marble I mentioned above. (Although most French Country interiors have white countertops, I would use off-white, because of your almond appliances.) Another nice choice, in Corian or plastic laminate, is a light neutral background, with small gray specks. Plastic laminates also comes is simulated sandstone, another material commonly found in French Country interiors. Be careful with simulated materials, they can look “cheap.” <\/p>\n

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DESIGN TIP: Advice & Styles, Country French Kitchen<\/strong> II, Page 2
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I consulted the following books, while writing this tip. I have provided links to these books on Amazon.com.
Pierre Deux’s French Country<\/a>, by Pierre Moulin, Pierre Le Vec, and Linda Dannenberg: Out-of-print. <\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon.com can try to find a used book, check your library, or see other books by these authors.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

International Country<\/a>\"\" by Judith and Martin Miller: Striking out here! They didn’t even have this book out-of-print. But, they did have another book on country interiors by the author’s<\/a>\"\"<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Here are some other books on French Country, also linked to Amazon.com. (Some of these books were mentioned in my first French country kitchen tip, which you can link to below.)<\/p>\n

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This is the second tip I have written on Country French Kitchen’s. The first on the site at Country French Kitchen.<\/a><\/p>\n

Catherine Foust McGivern, NCIDQ Certified
Design Firm Principal –
CatherineMcGivern.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n

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DESIGN TIP: Advice & Styles, Country French Kitchen II Ilene Carp, one of the list members, submitted the following question. Here is her initial statement, “I would love to see something on French Country   Style, especially as related to kitchen decor. I would like to decorate my kitchen in that style and could hope-fully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-50190","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingplans.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}