Six Designer Secrets To Achieve Your Dream Kitchen

BLURB: Are you remodeling your kitchen? You are looking through brochures and home improvement magazines to find out the most affordable, trendy and awesome ways to spruce up your kitchen but nothing’s clicking? Look no further. Here are 6 secrets from a designer that you can add to your kitchen to make it what you always dreamed it would be!

A Google search for home improvement or interior design will turn up scores of results aimed particularly at the kitchen. Why is the kitchen such a popular space, irrespective of the size of the house? The fact that it’s one of the busiest rooms in most houses, has the highest number of footfalls and involves maximum utility is just the tip of the iceberg. A kitchen is a space where families cook, eat, socialize or simply laze around – which puts it at the top of most home improvement project lists.

So, if you’re considering remodeling your kitchen, there are certain things you need to think about before you begin. Are you a frequent cook? Do you need more storage? Are the countertops too old-fashioned? How do you want to re-do your pantry space? What about all those trays that are filling up an entire drawer? Maybe these six ideas can help you make a better choice.

Get In Line

The easiest way to create a seamless look in your kitchen is to make sure your cabinets and appliances go hand-in-hand. However, to create this built-in look, you need to set the stage while your design is still on paper: The depth of your cabinets should be marginally more than that of the panels you use on the side of say, your refrigerator.

This helps create the illusion of seamlessness. If you have tall cabinets, then they should have a good amount of depth as well. These are some of the basic ways in which you can create a modern, yet functional kitchen design. The other things to consider while choosing cabinets for your new kitchen are

Color: Choosing bright and bold colors that reveal your personality is a gamble sure, but it’s one that can really pay off when you want to create a striking kitchen design.

Crown Moldings: If you want your kitchen to remodel to be classy, then the crown molding should be a must-have on your design list. Meant to close the gap between the top of your cabinets and the kitchen ceiling, the crown molding can help create an unbroken uniformity like nothing else.

Clearance and Swing: While redesigning your kitchen cabinets, make sure you account for things like door clearance and the direction in which the cabinet doors swing. This will prevent the doors from banging into each other.

Make Your Pantry Smart

Depending on the space available, your pantry could be a pull-out or a roll-out version that makes for smart storage. Not every kitchen is big enough for a dedicated pantry but it’s possible to incorporate pantries into your design more than ever before.

A vertical cabinet, which extends from the floor to ceiling in some cases, serves kitchens that are limited in space. It comes with shelves stacked over the entire height of the cabinet and makes for a convenient, yet space-saving storage solution.

The roll-out pantry, on the other hand, is your best bet when you have over 15 inches of space to play with. Made of stackable drawers, the roll-out pantry is highly functional, without compromising the aesthetics of your kitchen design. If you do decide to go for a pull-out pantry beware that they can get quite heavy and difficult to pull out if you overload them.

Designed To Stay Clean

Some kitchens are easier to clean and keep clean than others and there are three possible reasons:

You don’t cook very often
You don’t have children
Or, Your kitchen was designed for easy cleaning

If you’re someone who has kids, then it’s quite likely you cook frequently and struggle to maintain the sparkle of all your kitchen surfaces. When you’re considering a kitchen remodel, give yourself a helping hand by incorporating small design details like under mounting or flush-setting your sink to eliminate dirty crummy rims; creating a dedicated space near the gas range for storing oils and sauces and ensuring it’s snug; and choosing matte finishes over glossy finishes to keep fingerprints and dirt to a minimum.

For Frequent Entertainers

If you’re a family that frequently entertains friends and throws popular dinner parties, chances are you have loads of fancy trays and cutlery that you struggle to find space for. You can leave behind the days when your trays threatened to cascade around you the moment you opened a cabinet door; or, you vigilantly guarded your over-stuffed cutlery draws for fear of a friend opening them and discovering the mess.

Your new kitchen design can find smart storage spaces for your trays according to their shapes; can replace your builder-grade cutlery drawers with trendy two-tier cutlery holders, and dedicate storage space for your glassware that double up as tastefully done displays.

Kitchen Islands As Focal Points

Who doesn’t love a kitchen island? These days, most remodel include the addition of an island or the redesign of an existing island. Islands are popular because they are versatile as storage spaces that also provide the option of cooking, dining, and cleaning. If your existing island includes a stainless steel sink, then consider replacing it with one that matches or complements your island countertop.

Stainless steel sinks maybe practical and affordable, but they don’t always fit the bill aesthetically speaking. If you plan on cooking and dining on your island, then make sure your design segregates the cooking and dining portions adequately to avoid accidents. Islands and the statement lighting you choose can create that much-needed focal point in your kitchen design.

Kitchen Is King

Kitchens can make or break the design of your house. In fact, a well-done kitchen will not only make your life simpler while you live at the house but help you sell faster when it’s time to move on. That said, kitchen remodels can be quite expensive, depending on what your needs and desires are for your new kitchen.

So, make note of everything you want from your remodeled kitchen and bring onboard a designer who not only understands your needs but is capable of advising you on the latest design trends.

Wish you a happy new kitchen!