Rural Italian-Themed Kitchen

• 1). Choose a color palette reminiscent of old-country Italian stucco construction. Pick a peachy orange, deep golden yellow or light tan as a base for your walls. Add authenticity and flair by selecting textured Venetian plaster, stucco and glazing products applied to the wall with a trowel or spackling tool.
  
  
• 2). Order cabinets for your Italian-theme kitchen fabricated of dark woods. Distress old kitchen cabinets so they look warm and inviting. Top your cabinets with marble or granite countertops embellished with gold, burnt orange, brown and cream mineral patterns. Add copper hardware and hinges plus a wide-troth sink with oil-rubbed bronze faucets and spout.
  
  
• 3). Lavish your cucina with materials prevalent in Italy. Earthy wood planks or distressed wood flooring looks sensational, but if you're going for authenticity, buy Italian flag tiles or terra cotta brick to replicate the look of a European farmhouse floor. Locate appliances in the copper, brass or warm bronze family. Replicate these earthy tones when you install back splashes.
  
  
• 4). Add decorator touches: A ceiling-mounted rack laden with copper pots, earthy baskets filled with silk tomatoes, artichokes and sprays of black and green olives, and garlic strings morph a ho-hum kitchen into a rural Italian kitchen cucina. An expansive farm table and chairs of wood and woven reeds double the charm--particularly if you have French doors leading to a stone patio.
  
  

Urban Italian-Themed Kitchen

• 1). Remove old drywall from your kitchen ceiling to expose pipes and electrical hardware. Suspend tin lighting fixtures on long tethers from the ceiling after you've painted everything white. Apply a thick coat of white-on-white Venetian plaster to the walls of your Italian kitchen to brighten the room and add texture.
  
  
• 2). Choose Italian laminates for your kitchen cabinets. They're all the rage from Siena to Sicily and come in a bounty of colors--brick red and cherry are hot. Some laminated cabinets are even curved to typify 21st century Euro styling. Install stainless steel countertops. Select one accent metal for knobs, fixtures and hardware. Cool stainless steel looks perfect in the urban Italian kitchen setting.
  
  
• 3). Install high-tech stainless steel appliances that are both energy-efficient and sleek. Cover floors with oversized squares of cool Italian slate or cherry wood. Go in search of quirky decor items for your Italian-themed urban kitchen: Tin and enamel replicas of street signs from Venice, Pisa and Rome look terrific. Make sure your stainless steel canisters have Italian labels for the coffee, tea, sugar and flour.