A lot has changed in the cabinet industry over the past several years.  One of the big changes is the way we design our kitchens for our customers.  It used to be that you would look at a hand drawn design and try and envision what your kitchen would look like when it was finished.  

If you were lucky you had a kitchen designer who was actually an artist and could draw a pretty accurate sketch.  Most were just quick hand drawn sketches and didn’t even come close to really resembling the finished product.  Customers had to use their imagination more times than not.   Too many times people ended up disappointed because the drawing might have been similar but the kitchen didn’t turn out quite like they envisioned.

          Sketch Drawing                           CAD Design                             Actual Kitchen

In our previous post, we talked about many benefits to having an open concept kitchen – from a flowing design to a more social space. While open concept designs are quite popular, there are still many homeowners who aren’t as keen on giving up some of the benefits a closed kitchen offers…such as:

• The hidden mess – Where can you hide your dirty dishes in an open kitchen?
• More controlled aromas and noises – Although ventilation hoods can do a great job of eliminating smoke and odors, closed kitchens can also help keep them from traveling to other rooms. Closed kitchens can also help keep distracting noises to a minimum (i.e. putting away the silverware, juggling pots and pans, etc.)
• The element of surprise – Keep your masterpiece meals a surprise until you’re ready to plate and serve. This is harder to do in an open concept kitchen.
• More room for artwork – When the walls come down, where will you hang your favorite paintings?

Ask today’s homeowners if they’d like an open concept kitchen design and you’re likely to hear “yes” about 77% of the time; or at least that’s what a recent survey of over 7,800 people revealed. While open kitchens seem to be the norm these days, it wasn’t always that way. Thinking back through the homes of your parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents will likely uncover memories of closed-off spaces (or at least mostly closed-off). In decades past, homes were more “compartmentalized,” so to speak. The kitchen was usually quite hidden, and a place with just enough room for the essentials and one cook. Keeping the kitchen hidden from the adjoining rooms allowed for the culinary masterminds of the home to prepare food, undisturbed.

We’ve mentioned in previous articles how important it is to think through every detail of your remodel before you make any final decisions – but we can’t stress it enough.  Some people go into a remodel thinking that the transformation will be primarily visual.  While aesthetics are important, there is much more you can do if budget allows. 

Have it all

Your kitchen can be designed to do facilitate what’s important to you: make multiple cooks comfortable by playing with the walking area width and placement of work areas, keep kids safe by focusing on appliance placement and corners, make life easier by getting storage where you need it and things at the proper height.  All of this can be done – it just takes proper planning. 

The most common reason for a kitchen remodel is that homeowners are unhappy with the space due to the layout. And because not every remodel can be a complete rebuild of the space, it’s important to know what your options for the space are. With the proper changes to an existing layout, or creating a new space that better fits your needs, your kitchen can become the space you had always dreamed of.

Kitchen remodels are big projects that have many moving parts (literally) and you’ll hear a lot of different opinions on where you should start with your remodel. Should you begin with colors and hardware? Should you begin with your cabinets? When should you start picking your countertops? It can all get a little crazy if you don’t sit down and think it through before you begin the demo process.