We know a guy who does practically zero cooking himself, now that his children are grown, and yet when he thinks of time spent with family and friends – the best, most enjoyable times, in fact – the setting for those memories is the kitchen. Even after the dinner, after the party, after the weekend brunch – and even when doing the dishes is your specialty rather than making the luscious meal itself – the kitchen is the heart of the home.
As a result, for several generations now, architects and designers have placed the kitchen at or near the very center of their designs. In fact, even in view of the bountiful variety of materials, designs, colors, and configurations that stretches before us today, there is one principal of design that runs throughout them all.
Where We Savor Life
The kitchen was transformed from a place closed-off from the presentable parts of the home, a place where someone else prepared things, to a place where everybody gathers to enjoy the conversation, the jokes and jibes, the remembrances, the life itself, and where they enjoy each other.
Let’s take this as our cue, as the inspiration for choosing from among the fresh ideas available today for a kitchen remodel.
A Sea of Islands
One design element that often turns out to be central to all the others is the kitchen island. The idea behind the island, and the reason it caught on so universally, is that it enables you to stay in the conversation, even as you are preparing the meal. To mix and measure, to stir and season and sample, without turning you back on your family, your loved ones, your guests – this is the main idea. In fact, when design permits it, a kitchen island sometimes doubles as breakfast table, cocktail bar, and family conference center.
The variety of kitchen islands, pre-built or custom designed, is sometimes the beginning of the many fresh decisions behind a kitchen remodel today. And often, this island is not enclosed, but open in full view of the family room, the den, the entertainment center, wherever the action is intended to take place as the people you love enjoy your home.
The Many Materials
In addition to open structures, the beauty of the materials themselves keeps your kitchen fresh. Quartz and granite countertops have become affordable, and in many communities, they’re considered the norm. Some choose a warmer feeling, even rustic, with tile and burnished wood surfaces. Open shelving is appearing, where cupboards used to be, again part of the move toward access, convenience, and sharing the enjoyment of getting together.
Colors, too, are a direct opportunity to select the fresh feeling you want your kitchen to impart. That feeling is our starting point as well as our goal. Let’s have a talk about how you’d like your kitchen to feel, and we’ll help you decide then how it should look. We can help you bring that feeling to life.
