Our home’s kitchen, simply put, is everything these days. Savvy homeowners are going the extra mile to ensure these spaces meet their specific needs and expectations, and be designed to exacting standards of efficiency and beauty. Let’s explore six essential strategies at the heart of statement-making, purposeful kitchen design.
1. Mixing Tones
Inviting. This is certainly what we wish all our kitchens to be. Conducive to culinary creativity as well as gathering and supporting the way we live day-to-day, the kitchen that can do all these things and look great doing it, sets the standard. One great way to accomplish the visual aspect of this standard is using a tonal mix. Adding new tones can be tricky, however, so experts advise following the “Two-C” rule: complement and contrast. So, for every new tone introduced, it should either complement or contrast what is already going on in the space. It’s also a good idea not to exceed three distinct tones within one space. From the look of things in this room, the paleness of all the tones complement each other, while the mixing of the grey, the washed aqua, and a subtle sage green provide an almost subliminal contrast. When in doubt, find a pro who can help you find a balance of how to use each tone and where to use it.
2. Creative Space Making
No matter how much room we provide in our kitchen floorplans these days, there are always times when we wish we just had a little more space, or wish the space could “do more.” This may be one of the reasons that kitchen islands have gotten larger and are seen as the multi-functional miracle worker of the kitchen. While you may sacrifice space initially for its footprint, what you can pack into an island—storage, sink, dishwasher, shelving, and seating—has helped earn it a valuable place in the kitchen, nonetheless. Another stylish way that storage is here to stay in the kitchen is clever and sassy banquette seating with built-in storage. With functional upholstery options, a variety of materials, and tabletop options, there are so many smart ways this element can work in the kitchen. Getting creative and not depending on cabinet storage so much can actually lead to opportunities to show off your sense of style. More and more, we see dishes coming out of the cabinets and placed where they can be easily accessed and displayed. While this in-wall option may not work for every family or kitchen, it certainly stands as a stunning reminder of your good sense and great taste!
3. Frugal Use of Restaurant Design
While you wouldn’t necessarily want the harder, more austere aspects of a restaurant kitchen in your home, prudent uses of industrial elements cannot only be functional, they can convey a sense of sophistication in your style choice when appropriately modified. For example, applying an industrial application to the ever-popular kitchen island concept provides flexibility, abundant storage, and in this case, true panache. Adding a sumptuous marble countertop, dare we say, is like adding butter to bread. Other restaurant-style applications such as open and floating shelving, warming stations, professional-grade ranges, and elongated food prep counters are appearing in many current-day kitchen plans—not only making statements, but making life easier for the home chef.
4. Embracing Longer-Lasting Trends
There’s nothing wrong with baking a little longevity into your kitchen design plans. Blending long-term needs with trends that are expected to endure is a worthy and achievable design goal. Warmer, “comfort colors” such as warm beige, shades of aqua, and orange are said to be on the palette, as is the most perennial kitchen color, white. A newer trend that intends to stick around for a while is the implementation of organic style in the kitchen. Elements of biophilic (love of nature) design, such as indoor herb gardens is, no pun intended, growing, as is the use of organic, wood-look flooring, and energy-efficient light fixtures. Designers and homeowners alike appreciate the optimism in these “greener” features. Touchless faucets were a great idea prior to the pandemic and will endure; they just make for an easier, quicker, and safer clean-up experience. Increased storage space is another practical trend. Organized storage not only helps you track your inventory of edibles, but it also provides extra room for the new appliances you most likely bought for our extended eat-at-home period. Now that we know how much easier these appliances have made life in the kitchen, we will want to store them properly for years to come.
5. Promoting Our Special Relationship with the Outdoors
As the year 2020 evolved, we learned not only how important our interior spaces are to us, but how essential our connection to the outdoors is to our emotional and physical wellbeing. This special relationship has prompted many homeowners to take a critical look at the room they spend the most time in, the kitchen, and assess if it is properly equipped to address this essential need. The natural light, the rays of sun, and the access to the fresh flow of air that properly functioning windows and sliding or bifold doors provide, have become just as important as heating and cooling our homes. While upgrading windows and doors can be costly, there is long-term value in this investment and designers are creating exceptional takes and re-works on windows to make them larger and enhance the focal points to the outdoors. Less expensive fixes, like swapping out heavier drapery treatments for softer linen or soft woven shade looks can also help lighten up this part of the home.
6. Intuitive Appliance Integration
A trend that started out in highly-customized kitchen design, is now becoming a must-have for any aesthetically-inclined homeowner. The bigger, bulkier looks of today’s refrigerators and the mechanical facades of dishwashers are being upgraded as designers are fitting them flush with adjacent cabinetry to streamline the look and provide for uninterrupted sightlines. In fact, nothing cumbersome or utilitarian need show its shiny facade in today’s kitchens as integrated flip-up cabinets serve as cover for larger, everyday appliances, such as toaster ovens and smoothie makers. Just a quick touch and these precision cabinets easily rise for out-of-sight-out-of-mind convenience. When it comes right down to it, the exceptionally well-designed kitchen is no longer the aspiration, it’s a realization of the importance of this space and it’s uniquely inter-woven connection with our quality of life.
