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Things to Consider As You Design Your New Kitchen
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items Interior Design is my profession, and designing kitchens is my specialty (and true love)! I have so many horror stories about mistakes I made when starting out… and projects I was hired to fix after many, many wrong decisions were made by other designers and installers. I've seen it all, and I would love to share some kitchen design tips and insights with you. I am speaking to new kitchen designers looking for some help, and to homeowners who would like some more in-depth information before selecting a designer/company and signing off on a new kitchen reno project.
Budget is a touchy subject. Clients can sometimes be weary of revealing their real budget to a designer right away. But it is a trust thing. It is imperative that you share this with your designer. No one wants to waste their time on either side. A positive design appointment should start with a really good discussion about your needs and limitations; building the trust between the designer and the client. Once a budget is revealed, good designer will stay within your budget. A great designer will stay within your budget and present you with a couple of options on how to save a few more bucks, and how to spend a little more for features that will actually add value to your daily life. There are literally hundreds of ways to overspend on a new kitchen. Here are some examples of ‘upgrades’ that can be removed to reduce the price of a project: glass inserts in doors, fancy handles/knobs, having lots of drawers instead of cabinets with doors, extra tall upper cabinets, cabinet/drawer inserts and acces... If you have been presented with a design that is over your budget and the design includes a bunch of ‘upgrades,’ then the designer is not working with your best interests in mind. A kitchen can be designed to look outstanding without including a bunch of bells and whistles. If you spend past your limit on your new kitchen, you won't be able to fully enjoy it… if all you can afford is Kraft Dinner!
Budget. No Seriously, Your Designer Doesn't Pay Your Bills.
Beige on beige on beige on beige. yawn. Do you have a specific aesthetic you are drawn to? Color plays a huge role in creating the feeling you want in the heart of your home. When thinking about color, you have to consider the cabinets, walls, floors, countertop, appliances, knobs/handles and possibly backsplash. Clean and minimalist style calls for a neutral palette without a lot of variation. Or a single bold color with neutral or white background. You could consider a tone-on-tone palette of all white with hits of soft gray. You could ‘blend’ some of the materials together by choosing similar colors, so the eye isn't darting around the kitchen trying to take it all in. Your goal is to have the kitchen be a subtle and serene background to life. Too same-same can look boring and bland, so add a pinch of variation, just not too much. A rustic or eclectic design aesthetic calls for much more variation in color and materials. So have fun with it! This design style is difficult to attain without looking busy and confusing, so please let a trusted designer guide you with this. I would also encourage you to think about the quality (and amount) of natural light that enters your kitchen. Your kitchen could be quite dark because of very small north facing windows letting in a low amount of cool natural light. Maybe don't go t... It may end up looking like a dungeon!
Color: Consider The Overall Aesthetic
You can affect how formal vs. informal your kitchen feels by playing with height and line in your kitchen design. By height, I'm referring mainly to the actual height of the cabinets. You can have upper cabinets that reach all the way to the ceiling, or shorter ones with space between the ceiling and the top of the cabinets. Simply speaking, taller upper cabinets tend to feel more formal and imposing. This is because of LINE. Line, in this case, is referring to the direction your eye naturally travels through a space when you look at it. When the cabinets are very high, maybe with glass doors, adornments, crown molding at the top, etc, your eye is drawn upwards. You will naturally feel awe and a sense of formality. This kitchen can feel rich and rigid and full of splendor. You will probably take care not to make a mess…. If you want your kitchen to appear luxurious and expensive, and the style compliments the rest of the home, go for it! When the cabinets are low, wide and unadorned, your eye will survey the room from side to side. This style of kitchen will feel informal, serene, relaxing and less imposing. You can boost these feelings of serenity in a kitchen like this by ‘matching’ all the colors of everything except the count... Have white (or light) cabinets, walls, and backsplash… and very dark flooring and countertop. It will feel like your eye CAN'T move up and down, because the strong horizontal line of the countertop stops it. This combination I mentioned above represents about 95% of kitchen reno shows (and client preferences) I've seen in the last 15 years. Dark floor- white-white- dark countertop - white - white. Everyone is doing it. Because it makes us feel good!
Height & Line. Consider the Overall Aesthetic
‘Door Style’ refers to the profile or design of the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. Doors can be made of a variety of materials, but the design of the doors can really make or break an overall design goal. You can choose a highly complex door (raised) profile for a traditional style kitchen. A shaker door profile for a rustic or cottage style kitchen, and a slab profile for a modern or contemporary style kitchen. Refer to the pictures with this card for a visual explanation of this idea.
Door Style: Consider the overall aesthetic
The materials you use in your kitchen design affect the overall look and feel of the kitchen. If you love a modern or industrial look, choose sleek and non-porous materials like shiny and smooth metals, quartz, thermofoil, and other glossy lacquer finishes on cabinet doors. These reflective surfaces can bounce light around the space, sometime... If you don't love cleaning, though, I would steer clear of these choices. Dust, fingerprints and wet dog nose marks will stand out like a sore thumb! Porous, rough and textured materials can help a kitchen look more casual, rustic and ‘lived-in.’ Wood, hammered and distressed metals, low gloss hand crafted ceramic tile, and brick are examples of materials you can use for this look. Easy to clean, these may be great choices for a busy family making lots of happy messes. Some porous materials need to be sealed or treated with oils to keep liquids from being absorbed and causing discoloration. Your designer should know about the maintenance of various materials they offer. I prefer to mix up the textures in a kitchen design to add interest and excitement!
Materials: Consider The Overall Aesthetic.
Look at your kitchen plan. If you draw lines connecting the stove, fridge and sink, the shape you make should resemble a nice equilateral triangle. Anyone who has spent time working in a kitchen will thank a great designer who keeps this triangle as tight as possible. If one of the points of the triangle is very far away, the main user of the kitchen would be walking quite the distance to use it. It would really suck to have to walk 10 steps between each point cooking a meal or putting away groceries. Everyday use of this kitchen would leave you out of breath! And if possible, secondary traffic pathways should not interfere with this triangle. For example, a writing desk or a main pathway down the hallway shouldn't be inside of this triangle. Another person's activities would interfere with the cook's space and collisions could occur. If you see your kitchen plan, and notice that one of th...
The Triangle
Usually you are looking at a kitchen design on a flat piece of paper… a bird's eye view of the walls and how the cabinets and appliances line up along those walls. It is difficult to envision how functional the kitchen will be for you. The fridge and the stove are appliances that stick out (forward) past the 24" depth of the countertop. This is usually not an issue… until you get to the corners! Please think about HOW the base corner cabinet door will open, and is it able to open properly if it is going to hit a fridge or stove. Image #1: Base corner cabinets have lots of interior space inside, and often a very small door to fit things through. If this door cannot open more that 90 degrees (because of a stove/fridge beside it), your designer needs to problem solve this area. Image #2: If you have drawers on one side of the corner, and a fridge on the other side of the corner, it is possible that you will not be able to pull out the drawers all the way. They will hit the fridge. A good designer will be able to imagine how each component of the kitchen will actually function in reality. Before it becomes a nightmare.
Make Sure Doors Can Actually Open And Close! (near a corner)
This tip is a continuation of the previous, I just had more to say! Much of the time, designers are tempted to place the fridge next to a wall. (ie; there is a wall behind the fridge and on one side of the fridge) If the fridge is 36" wide, and the opening for the fridge is 37", this means that you are squeezing the... If the wall is on the left side, the fridge door hinges should also be on the left side. If the fridge is tight to the wall on the left, you will not be able to open the door much more than 80 degrees. The handle will hit the wall and you won't have full access to the fridge in order to pull out the drawers and clean. The solution for this is often give more width for the fridge to fit , and shift it over to the right. There will be dead space between the fridge and the wall, but you be happier for it. This is the same story for cabinet doors that open ‘into’ a wall. The designer will often move the cabinet away from the wall, sometimes having to make it smaller in order to leave some dead space. Don't worry, you won't see the ‘hole.' The installers will make it look pretty! If you are looking at your kitchen design plan, and you notice cabinets or appliances placed directly against a side wall, please ask about this. This is a red flag.
Make Sure Doors Can Actually Open And Close! (near a wall)
There may be corners in your kitchen where there may be no solution to how badly it sucks. This sometimes happens is smaller and/or older homes. I've run across a few situations where there was simply no functional cabinet I could put there. Back in the day, people had smaller and/or fewer large appliances, and the house wasn't designed to have these huge fridges and a dishwasher included in the kitchen. In a couple of kitchens, I left the space dead. I know, it brings a tear to my eye still when I think about it. I had the installers include some supporting material in the corner and add pretty non-functional skinny panels to the front (where a door... Sometimes there are opportunities to use some creativity to make that base corner functional. For example, if the corner bends into a peninsula, you could install a cabinet 'backwards' so the doors open on the peninsula side. Or have some pretty open shelving on that side. At least that space isn't wasted! I've seen a skinny spice pullout installed on an angle in a corner base cabinet. Be careful though… if a spice falls off the rack inside the cabinet, good luck getting it out of there! Anyways, I wish I had thought of that one :)
Corners Suck. Find A Designer With Some Problem Solving Skills!
When considering the kind of countertop you want, you have to think about durability, hardness, aesthetics, maintenance and cost. For a lower budget, you can stick to tried and true laminate. There are so many cool options for laminate countertops now, so you aren't stuck with a grandma's kitchen look anymore. You'll still need to use a cutting board, because it can be damaged easily. If you get a chip or cut in the surface, it will be quite noticeable, as the surface layer of laminate is quite thin, and you will see the under layer of wood show through. Also, water can seep into the seams causing the wood underneath to swell and bulge. So keep it clean and dry! Laminate is fairly porous (depending on the finish), so if you spill red wine or beet juice on the counter, you must wipe it up immediately! I like that laminate is ‘soft’, so when something drops on the surface, it may not break. There are several edge profiles you can choose from, and my favorite edge rises up slightly so liquids won't drip off the edge if you spill something. Best of all, it may be the cheapest option out there! You can also choose to tile your countertop. The only reason to choose this (in my opinion) would be aesthetics. A tiled countertop looks great in a country cottage style design. Besides that… if your designer recommends tiling your countertop, please run for the hills. Seriously. It is very hard, uneven, and the grout in between the tiles will absorb stains. Even if you seal the grout on a regular basis, from my experience, ... Your countertops will look good for 5 minutes, and quickly turn into a hot mess if you actually use them to do anything :(
The Countertop: Laminate and Tile
One of the most expensive choices, if you use natural stone for your countertops, it will be a the stand-out feature in your kitchen. Granite and Marble are luxurious and they come in a variety of spectacular colors. The pattern can be flecked, speck... This has not been my experience… and I wonder why you would want to drag a knife across something that cost thousands of dollars. Anyways, if you end up scratching or chipping a natural stone countertop, there are fairly easy methods to fix it. The stone is the same color all the way through, so a chip will be less noticeable. Also, natural stone is porous, so you need to seal it on a regular basis so liquids don't get soaked in. Granite and marble are hard, so if you drop something on the countertop, it will probably break. I had a client who chose granite for her new kitchen. She used to have laminate countertops, and she had a hard time adjusting to granite. She kept breaking glasses when she set them down too hard. But she learned quickly! Natural stone is cold, so it is an awesome choice for bakers! Keep the butter cold as you roll out that pastry… I'll be over later for taste-testing!
The Countertop: Natural Stone
Quartz is essentially a man-made stone product, and has been the most popular choice for clients (who have the $$ to spend) for many years. It is quartz stone chips mixed with resins so it never has to be sealed and maintained. It is cold and hard and tough. There are so many styles of quartz, from plain solid colors to patterns that resemble that of natural stone. Because of this, it ca... I would always go with a rounded edge profile, as the square edge profile is known to chip easily. The biggest drawback to quartz is the price. The price has come down over the years, but it still much more expensive than laminate. And depending on the manufacturer and pattern/color, there is a big price range as well.
The Countertop: Quartz
Butcher Block countertops can look amazing in any design style if used correctly. Being wood, they are warmer, softer and more prone to damage and staining. Butcher block countertops have to be oiled on a regular basis, and you can sand and repair damage as it occurs. Stainless steel countertops look great in a more industrial & modern design aesthetic. They can be hard and cold, and easy to clean and maintain. Or you could choose a product called ‘Solid Surface’ (or Corian). Solid surface countertops are made of a thick moldable plastic. They can resemble quartz to the untrained eye, but have a more matte finish, are are softer and warmer than quartz or stone. Damage won't be so noticeable, because the surface color is the same as the color underneath. And if you do chip or gauge this top, you can actually sand and repair it yourself! Solid surface countertops have fallen out of favor a bit in the last 10 years, but I'm not sure why. I really like them. As for pricing of these three options, please consult with your designer, as the prices can vary quite a bit.
The Countertop: Interesting Alternatives
If there is a window in the space, please center the sink to the window! People who are chained to the sink for any amount of time will love something more interesting to look at than a cabinet door. If you notice that the sink isn't centered to the window on your kitchen plans, ask your designer about this. There are times when this is not physically possible (especially in older homes), or maybe the plumbing doesn't line up. If it is a plumbing issue, ask your designer about the costs of moving the plumbing over. I promise it will be worth every penny!... Sometimes the installers have ideas on how to make it work. Hopefully your designer can show the plans to an installer and ask their advice. Maybe you could do with a smaller sink? In my opinion, this is a big deal that should be worked out before cabinets are ordered. Even a SLIGHTLY off center sink can ruin an otherwise great design.
Center The Sink To The Window!
There are a few really cool things that you could splurge on if you find some room in the budget. Designers should keep themselves up-to-date on the latest and greatest kitchen cabinet accessories so they can offer you solutions to problems you didn't even know you had. Some accessories actually can improve the quality of your life!! Example #1: People with arthritis (or a family history of arthritis) would benefit from a simple upgrade from knobs to handles. Sometimes it's hard to open doors and drawers with sore arthritic fingers by grasping a knob. It's easier (and less painful) for these folks to ‘hook’ their hands onto a handle to open it. Example #2: People with troubles bending or kneeling could really benefit from base corner cabinet pull-outs or lazy susans. No need to crawl around your kitchen floor trying to reach to the back of the abyss. The stuff comes right out to you!! Example #3: There is a huge trend in the last 15-20 years to do away with base cabinets entirely, and go ALL DRAWERS BABY! There is an actual functional reason for this. You pull the stuff out to you instead of digging around to find it. But it costs more… sorry. I would always talk about this with seniors and suggest this as an upgrade for them. Example #4: I designed a kitchen for a single woman who was 5'2". She needed a ladder to reach the top 2 shelves of her upper cabinets. I suggested she consider using upper cabinet pull-down accessories. These have a bar inside the cabinet that pulls the shelves out and down so she could reach everything easily. She was so excited about this, she happily invested the money. She was about 50 years old, and thinking about her future as a single gal, was not excited about constantly using a ladder as she ages. The moral of the story? Your designer should be TALKING to you to find out if you have any special considerations. They should be trying to make your life better by designing a kitchen that works for you. And if you have any troubles using your kitchen now, note it and bring it up with your designer. There may be something perfect for you.
Splurge... maybe.