Personally I like the look of narrow strips... I use a 1 1/2 inch cut , the colors just seem to melt into each other. It is faster to use the wider strip cut. If you want a curved look to your piece... use a wider strip on one side and a narrow on either the dark or the light side. You get a nice appearance of a curve if there is 1/2 inch difference in the width cut from the dark to the light. So when I make a "curved" log cabin I cut the dark 1.5 inches and the light 1 inch.