Remodeling a kitchen doesn’t have to be a tedious, time-consuming, frustrating or difficult job. Consider these four new ideas to make remodeling a creative and engaging challenge that results in the kitchen of your dreams.
1. Use Color
Muted or bright, matchy-matchy or creative mixtures, your kitchen colors reflect your personality and taste. Sticking strictly to a black and white color palette throughout the kitchen may produce a classic look, but this could be just the right time to break that pattern. Can’t stand your old white cabinets anymore? Try grey, the newest trendy color, especially when mixed with polished wood. Stainless steel appliances are still the preference in remodels, but using an accent color such as a blue or green sink can also be eye-catching.
The trend in countertops is still dominated by granite and quartz, but there are emerging alternatives made of affordable laminate that look like the real thing. The best part is they are also available in a wide range of colors.
2. Try New Technology
Designed especially for smaller kitchens, new hydraulic cabinet doors and drawers open upward instead of outward at the touch of a button. That’s just the beginning of the “smart” kitchen. Coffee centers that rival what’s at the local shop, oven sensors linked to your smartphone to let you know when the roast is done, lights that turn on when someone is in the kitchen and off when they leave, faucets that are completely hands-free and computerized refrigerators that let you surf the net while you’re waiting for the water to boil are just some of the high-tech marvels available today.
3. For the Serious Cook
More and more home cooks are going commercial with their kitchen remodels, installing everything from restaurant-quality ovens and refrigerators to countertops and islands that maximize the space for preparing and presenting meals. In terms of design, these new home kitchens take into account the preferences of a typical professional chef, making sure that cooking is as efficient as possible. Everything is handy with as little moving from place to place as possible.
4. Match Your Kitchen With the Rest of the House
It used to be that the kitchen was a separate space. Now, with more open-space home designs, it’s easier to see the kitchen as an integral part of the home. Contemporary, colonial or Greek revival, patterned or plain, you can use designs, colors and fixtures as themes throughout your home, creating a seamless transition from room to room.