Some Thoughts on Some Kitchen Design Trends
Kitchens are no longer seen as just a room in the back of the house used for food preparation. Designers today are creating more family-friendly kitchen floor plans. Kitchens are becoming more become integrated with the living room, dining room, or family room; creating the great room.
Kitchen cabinets show increasing creativity with new woods and finishes. Painted finishes are gaining acceptance. Also there is the trend toward kitchen cabinets having a more freestanding furniture appearance.
When it comes to kitchen countertops, granite remains as popular as ever, although engineered stone countertops provide more color choices than that offered by natural stone surfaces. Solid surface countertops provide seamless acrylic faces. Solid surfaces also come many colors, patterns, and styles, and are stain and heat resistant. Laminate countertops are more affordable but not built to last. Concrete countertops are starting to gain in popularity and are known for versatility, and strength. Wood countertops are long lasting and easy to clean and repair but the wood will not withstand exposure to water and household chemicals. Stainless steel countertops lack the elegance of granite or tile. These countertops do not absorb stains, but tends to scratch easily.
Kitchen islands are getting a lot bigger and wider. Some larger kitchens even have two islands. One island being used for food preparation and the other island for buffets and breakfast service. As with cabinets, islands often have the look of freestanding furniture rather than matching cabinetry.
Under-countertop appliances are popular — look for refrigerator drawers, dual dishwashers, warming ovens, and the like.
Hardwood kitchen flooring can provide elegance, beauty and style for your kitchen. There is something truly unique and beautiful about hardwood kitchen flooring. Because of improvements in construction methods there is now a larger range of colors, finish, cuts, styles and installation.
Bamboo kitchen flooring is rapidly becoming the hottest trend in kitchen design today. Because of the rising cost of hardwood and the problems of deforestation bamboo is being seen as a good alternative to hardwood.
The kitchen pantry is making a comeback. This is because so many households are purchasing their groceries in bulk and they often find that they simply do not have enough space. Many typical kitchens do not have enough room for storing these bulk items. Many people when planning a kitchen remodeling tend to overlook the problem of storage.
Many of the pantries being designed now use custom cabinetry every bit as beautiful and creative as those you would find in the kitchens themselves, including details such as solid-wood cabinetry and sleek state-of-the-art hardware
Besides kitchen pantries other storage solutions have been created to fill a need for more imaginative kitchen storage solutions
There has been a recent change in kitchen storage systems and units that has resulted in the development of high-performance storage that can make it easier to having it all within easy reach. Kitchen storage units are available in a large variety of styles and materials. You can find organizational systems that can be used with your existing cabinetry. These kitchen storage systems can be retrofitted into cabinets.
