Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Unique Ways to Create a Modern Kitchen Design

Looking for inspiration for your new kitchen remodeling project? Kitchen is a sanctuary for your home that serves multiple purposes for your daily activities. A kitchen is a cooking area where you cook, eat, and socialize with friends and family; it can be a homework station, a craft corner, or a mini home office place. These ideas will help you give your kitchen a well-deserved facelift and a modern touch.

  • Remove upper cabinets: You’ll not face storage problems by removing upper cabinets. You can go for open shelving to store and showcase kitchen essentials. You get more visual space and the chance to add decorating elements by removing upper cabinets.
  • Open-plan living makes the transition from kitchen to dining area or living room smooth and interesting. Get really creative with open-plan kitchen designs. Install a kitchen island with storage options that can serve dual purpose for you: storing kitchen items and an instant eat-in place.
  • Lighting is the main element of modernizing a kitchen. You can install lights under your cabinets, but these days modern custom kitchen cabinets come with lighting options so you don’t need to do the lighting work yourself. A dimmer switch should be installed in your kitchen so that you can change the mood while cooking, enjoying family dinner or just relaxing for a mid-day snack.  

Just remember that your kitchen should look nice and welcoming to guests when you implement your kitchen remodeling ideas. With these modern kitchen design tips and little creativity, you can modernize your old kitchen to make it inviting once again.

Retro Kitchen Design Ideas to Spice up Your Home

History tends to repeat itself in a cyclical nature, and that doesn’t exclude home design. Retro kitchen designs can give nostalgic homeowners the vibe of old-fashioned cooking area mixed with current design elements. Retro kitchens have made a comeback in recent times and are adding retro charm to contemporary homes. Check out here how retro cabinets, colors, flooring, and appliances contribute tremendously to the kitchen’s retro-style charm:

Retro kitchen cabinet designs: Midcentury modern cabinet designs feature streamlined lines and highlighted geometric shapes. They are sleek and seamless yet give the vintage feel. Another popular retro cabinet design is 1950s American style. This design features exaggerated curves and sharp angles mixed with futuristic space-age elements.

Retro kitchen colors: Funky and playful colors often add to the classic retro feel. Popular colors for retro theme include orange, blue, white, red, and yellow. 

Retro flooring: It’s pretty easy to bring the cool retro back in your kitchen with black and white tiles. Parquet floors that have chevron or herringbone design also add to the retro style.

Retro kitchen accents & accessories: You can mix retro furniture pieces and futuristic accessories to complete the retro look. Artworks, clocks, poster with vivid colors, modern barstools; these vintage-style accessories can take the retro design a step further in your kitchen.

Hire one of the reputed kitchen designers for renovating your kitchen to give it a stylish blast from the classic retro period. A kitchen designer will help you select nostalgic color schemes and delightful retro designs that are perfect for your existing kitchen style. Travel back in time and spice up your home with retro kitchen design!

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing and Painting

Are you thinking to update your kitchen cabinets? If your cabinets are in good condition, then don’t replace them. You can easily spruce up the whole look of your kitchen with inexpensive cabinet updates. Refacing and painting can give your cabinets a new look for significantly less than what it would cost you to completely replace them.

Why do refacing?
Also known as resurfacing, cabinet refacing is a convenient solution that can completely transform your cabinet appearance keeping existing one intact. There are three ways to reface the cabinets: Install new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, Install new wood or laminate veneers over existing cabinets, and painting drawers and cabinets.

Why do painting?
A fresh coat of paint can bring your kitchen back to life without going over budgeted. If installation of new cabinet doors and drawer fronts is inevitable for you, then painting is a great option to brighten up your kitchen. Painting your cabinets using high-quality paint is a cost-effective way to add a touch of flair to your kitchen.

Kitchen makeover doesn’t always mean replacing gloomy kitchen cabinets. Upgrading kitchen look with refacing and painting are an easy fix as compared to total cabinet replacement. Just determine the option that is the right fit for your kitchen cabinets and your budget too!

Choosing The Right Kitchen Countertop

Wood? Laminate? Stone? Concrete? There are so many choices in kitchen countertops that it becomes overwhelming for homeowners to choose the right countertop material for their kitchen. If you’re building or renovating a kitchen, these ideas can help you make right choice for countertops:
  • Natural stone: It is a durable material that comes in different colors and textures and stands up to the tough wear of an active kitchen. 
  • Granite: It can withstand any wear and tear but requires sturdy cabinet boxes to support its weight.
  • Marble: Marble countertop is a traditional choice of most homeowners because of its distinctive veining and sheer elegance.
  • Concrete: Infinitely customizable, concrete is a durable material for countertops and provides a perfect work surface.
  • Quartz: With eye-catching patterns, granite is a popular alternative to granite and marble. You can even find engineered quartz that requires low maintenance.
  • Wood: Wooden countertops are easy to clean and they instantly provide warmth to the kitchen.
  • Laminate: It is the most affordable countertop material and available in an array of designs and colors.
Though there is a wealth of options available in countertops, but you need to decide what matters most to you. Do you want durability and appearance or want to install countertop that requires low maintenance? Your budget and personal preferences will help you select the right material for your kitchen countertop. You can also hire a kitchen remodeling company to help you select and install countertop that works best with your kitchen design.

Top 3 Kitchen Design Layouts

Innovation has become a part of our daily lives, and each room in a house demands nothing but modernity. Kitchen – the most part of any home where people prepare meal, eat, and socialize – has even more modern requirements with respective to interiors, features, and appliances. The traditional work triangle that is the shape created between range, sink, and refrigerator has evolved into a ‘work zone’ concept. Keeping that in mind, here are top kitchen design layouts that can help you improve functionality of your kitchen in the next remodeling project. 

  • Galley kitchen: It is the most efficient layout from functionality perspective. This layout is characterized by two parallel work areas with refrigerator and cabinets positioned on one side and stove and sink on other side.
  • L-shaped kitchen: This layout features two perpendicular work spaces that naturally creates work triangle. The advantage of L-shaped layout is that you can incorporate multiple cooks and even invite guests for conversation while cooking.
  • U-shaped kitchen: This kitchen layout lends itself high flexibility and efficiency. U-shaped kitchen provides a massive expanse for storage needs. It remains open to other rooms and allows for easy traffic flow. 

Other common kitchen layouts include G-shaped, one-wall, and peninsula. Choose the layout that best fits your lifestyle, budget, and other needs. The right layout will help you turn your kitchen into an amazing gathering place. 

Sunday, 12 July 2015

How to Design your Kitchen on a Budget?


Want to design your dream kitchen but short on funds? Don’t fret. It’s possible to remodel your kitchen on a budget. All you need to do is make some smart choices! Here are some of the tips that may prove to be useful-

Paint the ceiling
Sure, ceiling is not the first thing people notice when they enter a kitchen. But it always appears in their peripheral vision. Kitchen ceilings get dingy due to dust and smoke. You’d be surprised how much a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling can transform the appearance of your kitchen.

Change the flooring
You don’t necessarily have to install expensive kitchen flooring. Click flooring or laminate tiles can be easily installed in your kitchen. New flooring will make your kitchen look beautiful and elegant.

Simple products
Be it kitchen cabinets or flooring, you don’t necessarily have to opt for branded products. In case of kitchen appliances too, you can go for simple, basic products that are energy-efficient but not too expensive.

Don’t forget to conduct proper research before buying the products. This will make it easier for you to avoid duplicate purchases. The services of a professional kitchen designer in SF can also be availed to design kitchen in an inexpensive way.

Kitchen Cabinets: Three Things you should know!

Kitchen cabinets can transform an outdated kitchen into an efficient, functional and visually-appealing space. These days they are available in a wide range of designs and styles. Here are the three important things you need to keep in mind while buying kitchen cabinets.

The right color!
If you wish to make your kitchen look brighter and bigger, you should opt for oak, maple and light-colored woods. Cherry and mahogany will help you create a darker look.

Hardware quality
As cabinet drawers have moving parts, construction and hardware quality is of great importance. High-quality cabinet drawers are usually made with solid wood dovetail construction or metal. They are durable and long-lasting.

Style and detailing
Cabinet doors made with solid wood are more expensive than those made with veneer. Also, if the doors are heavily grooved or have moldings, their price goes up.

As crystal custom cabinets and other types of kitchen cabinets can be quite expensive, it is important to make the right choice. Installing functional and visually-appealing kitchen cabinets will go a long way when it comes to making your kitchen a comfortable place to work in. Keeping the above factors in mind will make it easier for you to select the right kitchen cabinets.