Country Style Kitchen Cabinets Add Charm In Today's Modern Kitchens

(HIT) - The newest kitchen trends confirm researchers' claims that what we want most is a sense of connection and continuity, both in our lives and in our homes. Country kitchens are all about the charm and character that we’ve come to associate with furnishings hauled home from antiques fairs in far-flung country fields. And country style kitchen cabinets boast the comfort and look of heirloom furniture rather than conventional cabinetry, and often they combine unmatched pieces.

"It's called the unfitted kitchen, its cabinets and furnishings are deliberately and artfully aged, and it is a far cry from the strictly functional space that used to be the ideal," remarks Rus Orban, vice president of marketing for Rutt Custom Cabinetry. "Those kitchens were devoted to time- and labor-saving technology … places to get in and out of quickly."

"But newer country kitchens are about style and personality … Which is not to say that they don't function. They do, in wonderfully clever ways. For example, a corner cupboard may well house an oven, a hutch door may open up and out swings an ironing board, and an armoire may hide a refrigerator. But it's the country style that attracts people. They know this look. It reminds them of Great-Grandma's farmhouse kitchen. It's instantly comforting."

American Country Style

The style is loosely referred to as American Country, but Maria Weingard, an award-winning Rutt designer, feels that there's really no such thing.

She calls the look an amalgamation of 18th- and 19th-century European furniture details, Shaker simplicity, and the rugged handiwork of early American craftsmen. "We were always a traveled and transient nation, and our ideas come from all over the globe, and from yesterday, today and tomorrow," she muses.

If its history is fuzzy, American Country's modern roots are not. In the foreground of the movement is Rutt Custom Cabinetry, long recognized for craftsmanship on par with that of yesteryear's artisans. With great flair, the company has added new finishes to its collections of traditional country style cabinets, and the result is an infinite variety of beautifully aged cabinets and free standing furnishings for kitchens and great-rooms.
Instant Heirlooms

The most celebrated of these finishes is Stonewood, which takes 13 steps of wire-brushing, distressing, sealing, sanding, antiqueing, and more, all done by hand. It ages cabinetry intentionally and artfully, right down to worn areas and the nicks and scratches that would occur naturally over time.

In addition, the corners of Stonewood-finished doors feature two raised plugs, in the tradition of early craftsmen, and door knobs are wood. "It requires the eye, care and touch of artisans to produce aging so convincing that provenance no longer counts," notes Orban.

Kitchen designers across the country obviously agree with Orban, for Stonewood kitchen furnishings are being specified from coast to coast. "Even urbanites love the look," notes New York designer George Rallis. "Who cares how old something really is? they ask. They feel that aesthetic is more important than authentic, as long as the quality is there. They don't care if the well-scrubbed finish comes from years of use or straight from the workshop. And I have to agree with them. If it's great, it's great!"

Stonewood is available in eight of Rutt's classic country styles and is offered in seven antiqued colors. To boost the country look, Rutt cabinet designers and master dealers often use contrasting colors on base and wall cabinets, and to amplify the illusion of a kitchen that evolved over time, cabinets of varying designs are often installed at different heights.

Rallis and Weingard both agree that it's an easy look to create and live with. But inexpensive it is not. Cabinetry and furnishings created in this manner are highly labor-intensive, and that brings up the costs. Orban says the price doesn't appear to deter clients.

"It's a high-tech, frantic world out there, so handwork and charm are appreciated," he explains. For more information about Rutt custom country style cabinets, visit the company’s website at www.ruttcabinetry.biz.

Courtesy: Home Improvement News and Information Center