Tips & Trends by: KathodeRay Media

Are you looking for kitchen design tips to help save you time and money? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Kitchen design options abound, so before you dive into the particulars of layout, material selection, and other options, it’s smart to have an overview of the terrain ahead.

Sometimes less is more when remodeling a kitchen. For example, if you’re tempted to knock down walls and redirect plumbing and electrical lines to help open up your smaller kitchen space, you will pay a premium for it. There may be other, more creative solutions that will give you more bang for your buck.

Here are a few key kitchen design tips to keep you on budget – and on time for project completion.

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The kitchen is the pivotal gathering place in most homes. We start the day with nourishment and meaningful conversation in the kitchen….and we reconnect at the end of a busy day in the kitchen, too. Kitchens have become much larger spaces, opening into the family room for entertainment value. But unfortunately, we’ve lost the natural kitchen designs we fondly recall from our grandmother’s homes.

In our efforts to streamline the preparation of meals and create more efficiency in the kitchen has led to the creation of more clinical, cold spaces. This is largely due to the surfaces. These days stainless steel, marble and tile are the dominant materials. White, gray and neutral tones have become the color palette.

To bring more warmth back into your design, you must learn to think of your kitchen in a more holistic context.

How do you do this?  Try to remember the things you loved the most about your grandmother’s kitchen. Your emotional connection to those warm kitchens of your past will provide clues to your personal style, as well as opportunities to bring some unexpected architectural elements and color back into a stark kitchen.

To begin your journey to a more natural kitchen design, consider these elements:

Set the Tone.

Begin with a new color palette!

The simplest way to set a dramatic new tone is with paint and fabric. Bring in warm earth tones like gold, terra cotta, sage, copper and bronze. Be cautious of certain shades of red, warmer is better, so the tone should be more toward the yellow/orange range.

And don’t be afraid of dark tones…. like deep aubergine and indigo grays. You can add contrast with your furnishings, artwork and accessories.

Choose Dazzling Surfaces.

If you have the budget, copper or ceramic sinks can add some character and a strong element of design to the space. Keep the metals the same. If you start with copper, keep it everywhere: light fixtures, faucets, curtain rods and drawer pulls.

If you are adding a backsplash, consider pulling in bold design elements and accent colors with your tiles. If you go the antique route, use recovered tile or even pressed tin (sealed for safety). If you are stuck with white subway tile everywhere, get creative with hanging accents that pull in color.

Wood Flooring & Cabinetry.

Warm, wood-toned flooring is one of the easiest ways to warm up a kitchen. It adds a blanket of honey-hued color to a room, and also creates an organic feel.

If you already have a lovely neutral-toned tile floor, consider changing up your wood cabinetry instead.

There are a lot of white cabinets around today. Mixing things up a little adds character to your kitchen. If you already have white cabinets, consider keeping the white on the bottom cabinets, and painting the top in a softly contrasting hue.

Remember that dark floors and counter surfaces recede, so if you decide to play with color up top on the walls and cabinets, reserve the darker shades for the lower elements to ground your design and help showcase softer color narratives.

Go Natural.

Don’t be afraid to “go natural” with your accessories. Using cork, sisal and coir carpets can warm up tile flooring. They can also be stenciled to create a more personal element of design and coordinate with your fabric choices.

Simple window treatments with subtle patterns and textures can add tremendous visual interest to your kitchen. They also represent a great opportunity to experiment! If you’re not sure about using a bolder color palette, window treatments are the perfect place to try out different combinations to see if they work in your kitchen.

Incorporate Plants.

Living green entities are the perfect focal points in a kitchen setting! Culinary herbs in terra cotta pots set right at your fingertips will help you execute that extraordinary meal. They also add fragrance and brightness.

By adding live elements to your kitchen, you create an ecosystem. Plants find a natural alchemy in any aesthetic. They draw you in. If you entertain frequently, plants can function as co-hosts. Fresh flowers create mood and fragrance, while culinary plants can be used to tantalize your guests about the coming meal.

Highlight Your Personality.

Most importantly, when creating a natural kitchen design, don’t forget to make your kitchen your own.

Your personality should always infuse your kitchen space. If you have a beautiful six-burner, gas chef’s range and a boring white tile back splash, why not create a piece of tiled artwork in its place? Hire a tile painter to create a unique, one-of-a-kind vista or place a leaning European cast iron fireback against the tile for a rustic effect.

Kitchens are also a great place to show off your collections. If you have open cabinets, use them to showcase your prized collections. If you are struggling with ways to infuse color, consider removing a section of top cabinet doors to create open shelving, or add glass paned doors. Paint the backdrop and let your beautiful dishes tell a color story. If you love architectural elements, use them in their natural state, don’t be concerned about painting everything to match.

Tip: Remember environments from your past that created natural warmth and emotional wellbeing, and pull those elements into your kitchen design. Make it personal. Design should always tell your personal story. This is what makes a house a home: a kitchen to remember!

Questions about your kitchen design project? GNH Lumber’s kitchen design team can help you choose the perfect cabinet to complete your kitchen style. Stop in to our showroom today to browse cabinetry to match any style or budget!

Create a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind space that defines your home with these 5 simple kitchen design tips.

What’s trending for kitchens? Simplicity, elegance, and personality are still at the top of the list. But as we spend more time inside of our homes, functionality is increasingly important. No matter your budget, you can achieve a gorgeous new kitchen to match your style, and also create a practical environment for the whole family.

Here are 5 of our favorite kitchen design tips and trends:

1) Bring Back the Pantry

Do you want your kitchen to provide optimal food storage and free up wall space at the same time? You’re not alone! According to Homesandgardens.com, “Pantry cupboards have been kitchen staples for centuries and, in the last few years, have established themselves as one of the must-have items in modern homes.” They help organize food shopping and storage, and free up wall cabinets that are better used for storing dishware.

Design tip: storing food in a pantry frees up walls for open shelving, which is a great way to personalize your kitchen by displaying art pieces, antiques, or decorative dishware!

2) Quality Quartz

Love the look of stone surfaces but afraid of the maintenance? Quartz is an excellent option! You can’t argue with its good looks: we love the consistency in patterns and color tones. But at the same time, Quartz’s non-porous surface means that it’s bacteria-resistant and low-maintenance! Not to mention durable for the realities of family life. This eye-catching surface, with all of its nuance and texture, is going to become the focal point of many new kitchens in the new year and beyond.

Design tip: pair boldly veined countertops with flat surfaced, neutral-toned cabinets to keep the quartz center stage.

3) Come to the Dark Side

Already trending, black or dark-toned kitchen cabinetry is now a firmly entrenched design choice for a range of home styles.

Expect to also see darker kitchen walls, fixtures, and flooring that take this look to the next stage. Darker kitchens create a sense of elegance as well as coziness. They make larger kitchens feel inhabitable and warm. Plus, they are a perfect backdrop for light-toned countertops, or other features you want to command attention.

Design tip: dark or black kitchens help metal accents, faucets, and lighting fixtures really glow!

4) Built-In Office Space

As the trend of working and studying at home becomes more of the norm, finding creative places to add a home office is key. A kitchen is a great place to add a multi-functional office space. Plus, it’s not always a major renovation project to add a home office or study zone. Start by finding a designated area just outside popular kitchen work zones, or in an adjacent hallway or entry area.

Thisoldhouse.com suggests placing a desk extension at the end of a long countertop. “To retrofit the desk, remove a seldom-used base cabinet. Then install a new drawer and end panels on either side of the knee hold to support the counter and give the desk a finished look.”

Design tip: When not in use, your kitchen office can double as a seated prep area for cooking and baking!

5) Make a Colorful Statement

When it comes to kitchen designs trends in the coming year, color is king. Whether you paint a bold accent wall, choose colorful cabinetry, or add a bright and commanding backsplash—color is key to creating kitchen personality!

Design tip: Don’t overdo it! Choose your bright pops of color carefully, and then compliment these with a neutral or de-saturated palette. Adding too much and too many colors makes them all lose their impact.

Stop by GNH Lumber to speak with our design experts and get started on your remodel today!

Whether your bathroom is large or small, smart bathroom storage helps to keep things organized and reduce clutter. It can also enhance the style of your space.

Open shelving with stacks of towels evokes a contemporary, spa-like atmosphere. It also makes it more convenient for the whole family to reach for a towel or washcloth.

Here are 5 easy ways to add storage to your bathroom without creating an eyesore!

1. Wall Cabinet or Shelf

If you have a small bathroom, you know that using every inch of space is essential.

An easy way to add an attractive bathroom storage unit is to install a wall shelf or a wall cabinet. The compartments of the fixture allow you to store things like towels, soaps, toiletries, or anything that won’t fit in your bathroom vanity!

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The bathroom can be a tricky place for remodeling. If you have a very small bathroom, you may feel limited by what you can do. But even if your bathroom is the smallest room in the house, there are creative ways to fit all the essentials—shower, bath, sink, vanity unit—and enhance the style of your new bathroom!

There are several things to consider when planning a bathroom remodel.

Here is a list of the things you should keep in mind before beginning any renovation work:

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If you’ve decided to give your outdated, old bathroom an overhaul but aren’t sure what design style to choose, one way to find inspiration is to look at the latest trends in bathroom remodeling.

To help make planning your bathroom makeover a little bit easier, we made it our mission to gather the best bathroom designs we could find.

Explore our 5 stunning bathroom remodel designs and get inspired:

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