Country Decorating Ideas

by Mary Wynn Ryan

Sparkling Drama

A sinuous run of counters provides ample storage plus eye-catching design. The ovens and a cabinet/counter section as well as the industrial-size refrigerator are all built in for a smooth line.

Modern style is easy to achieve in the kitchen since so much of it is technological anyway, but it's more of a challenge to create a modern-style kitchen with the appeal of fresh country style.

This design does the job with a masterful use of natural and industrial materials. The result is witty and sophisticated, but much warmer than you might expect.

Smoked glass in a free-form, curved shape makes a gleaming, practical countertop in exciting contrast to the warm wood counter base. Textured glass doors on lighted wall cabinets boost the sparkle quotient.

Stainless steel that covers the state-of-the-art appliances is brushed for a diffused glow. In contrast, the black granite countertops are highly polished to a mirror finish, and the natural mica chips inherent in the stone give a pearly gleam to the surface.

The gleam of a dramatically arched gooseneck faucet is reflected in the mirror-polished black granite countertop that sparkles with natural mica chips.

Shaker-inspired, deceptively simple wood cabinets carry the smooth scheme along, but their sinuous design curves like a meandering stream around the room. Cabinets are finished in a range of natural wood tones, from dark ebony to tawny maple to pale birch: proof that nature-lovers and modernists can be one.

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