I love this kitchen.
1. NUMBER 1 THING TO DO: take your Pinterest pictures that you have been pinning for years and consolidate your pins into a new folder. This folder should only contain things you absolutely have to have in your new home. Also, make sure these ideas are within your budget.
2. Anytime I am designing a new home, the very first thing we discuss it what color my client wants their kitchen cabinets. This will often shape the entire home interior and exterior and 99% of the time the client already knows their dream color.
In this kitchen, we did white shaker style cabinets on the exteriors and on the island we did a knotty alder wood with a grey stain to match the hardwood flooring. The cabinet color and hardwood was selected at the same time.
3. Next I like to go over the door designs. Even though we had picked a shaker door…what do you want on the island? do you want glass cabinets? what type of glass? what color do you want the inside of the cabinet behind the glass? Do you want lights in the glass cabinets etc.
On this island we had the cabinet maker do some trim work and we always do decorative corbels to support the island.
4. Hood design: I find most women already have a picture of what they want their hood to look like. Our client for this home had pinned a picture of two hoods she liked and we simply had our cabinet maker combine the ideas into one hood.
5. Layout: Where do you want cabinets? bank of drawers? Pull out trays or garbages? Spice racks etc. The list of cabinet insert options goes on and on but the one I always recommend is a pull out garbage, especially if your pantry is far away from your sink. Also, in my home I opted to add pull out trays inside every single lower cabinet so everything would be easier to access. These can get pricey depending on how many you need but totally worth it.
6. Backsplash: I really like a simple backsplash and if you do want to add a design, I always suggest it over the cook top. In this home we went really colorful with the accent tile over the cooktop. It is a cement tile and because it is so colorful, we decided to go with a simple white subway for the rest of the backsplash.
7. Countertops and Sinks: I love a good apron front sink whether its a single bowl or double. They are a bit more expensive but so cute. I’m also a huge advocate of simple clean counters but a LOT of my clients love the exotic granites with lots of color and personality so just make sure your granite doesn’t clash with the color of your cabinets and do not over design. If you do an exotic granite, select a simple backsplash and vise versa.
8. Appliances are easy: Mostly based off of price. Your builders should get a great deal on a good set of appliances but if you want to upgrade to the top of the line Wolf or Viking appliances, expect to spend between $5,000 and $20,000 extra. I will usually suggest clients simply upgrade the dishwasher and hood vent because these are small increases in price but large increases in value/performance.
9. Jewelry: Faucets, lighting, cabinet hardware etc. Don’t cheap out on your kitchen sink faucet….EVERYBODY see’s it. Pendants are also a great way to add personality to your kitchen and the sky is the limit design wise here.
I love black or chrome hardware on white cabinets. Kitchen can be pretty simple and you can add more personality to the hardware in the bathrooms and laundry for fun. Also, lots of clients forget to think about hinges and how they want the cabinets hung. Do you want inset doors? Do you want the hinges exposed? etc.
All in all, the kitchen is the heart of the home, make it special. Make sure you allocated a good portion of your upgrade money for this room first before you decide on other options there might be.
