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 Kitchen
Trends
The kitchen of the past, was used
primarily for food preparation, storage and clean up.
This
left the area and the cook isolated from the rest of the
main areas. Today's kitchens have become the central
focus area for our family and the entertaining of guest's.
It should be an inviting gathering place that is convenient
with state of the art appliances and allows for quality
family time.
The Hot Trends
of Today - according to "Houses: What's New in the Kitchen"
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Cabinetry-Maple #1 with Cherry a close second, varied
heights w/o soffets, all storage accessible, looking
like furniture with lots of moldings, islands in every
design possible
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Countertops-Granite most popular, mixture of surfaces,
varied heights
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Colors-Green is out, Blue in (color of water), Bisque
is the new appliance color
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Appliances-Stainless Steel extremely popular, faster
cooking appliances, built in refrigerators, quiet
dishwasher, separate cook top with built in double
ovens
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Plumbing-Reverse Osmosis water filtering systems,
Instant hot water dispensers
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Electrical-under cabinet lighting, toe kick lights, in
cabinet lighting, recessed for general
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Flooring-Oak is #1, Laminate (Pergo, Formica etc) next
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Venting-Range hoods are back & they're bigger than
ever (NOTE make sure you don't create a negative air
flow when selecting size)
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Use of
Space-extension of family room creating a great room,
Dinning rooms are vanishing as the formal living room
So what does one find in Today's
Kitchen?
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Efficient
floor plan or a Triangle workflow. Allows you to move
from refrigerator-range-sink freely
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Appliance
Garage or storage-typically a center island with a
clearance of 3'6" around perimeter. Usually has an
appliance located on/in IE cook top, sink etc
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Work
Centers-A) Food storage-refrigerator-freezer B)
Cooking-baking-oven-range-microwave etc all typically
close to refrigerator C) Clean Up-sink (high spouts
for easier pot n pan
cleaning)-dishwasher-disposal-recycling
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Pantry-tucked away, spacious and easily lit. May find
adjustable roll out shelving, toe kick, step ladder
etc.
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Countertops-providing landing spots, snack areas and
includes lazy susan, roll outs, cutting boards, TV
swivel, built in appliances etc
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Durable
Surfaces-Plan according to what you'll be doing there
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Plastic
Laminate-Lots of choices-will stain, can't cut on
them, prone to scorching n chipping, not repairable
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Wood-Available & Low cost-unsanitary, too soft for
cutting, up keep, not toxic oil
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Ceramic
Tile-Durable & popular as black splash-tough to work
on, not smooth, prone to breaking n chipping
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Solid
Surfacing-Completely waterproof & seamless in
appearance & durable-Brittle, prone to scorching,
bubbling from heat
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Granite-Lifetime durability & has edge choices- bad
for sinks due to porosity, prone to staining n
chipping, can't repair, weight
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Concrete-Many colors n textures
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Stainless
Steel-Expensive n scratches
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Good
Lighting-that is task specific, general as well as
provides ambiance. Your choice of Natural, Skylight,
Back light, Indirect, task
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Appliances-cook tops, Ranges, Wall ovens, Microwaves,
Warming ovens, Dishwashers, Disposal, Instant Hot
Water, compactors etc
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Flooring-Again plan for how you are going to use each
area-Wood, Vinyl, Ceramic Tile, Carpet, Laminated
flooring
No matter what
your direction is, we have some excellent tools to assist
you with you pre-planning.
Contact us, we offer a quick
survey/checklist and possible floor plans. We like to help
keep you aware of all possible considerations.
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