Design a Kitchen – Part Two

Yesterday the ever-so-talented Eva Kavanagh detailed the first of a series of insider information when it comes to properly designing a kitchen. If you missed it, do yourself a favor and check out Design a Kitchen – Part One. You will be entertained and all the better for taking the time (and if you are short on time, you will be long on ideas from the pictures alone).

Yesterday the ever-so-talented Eva Kavanagh detailed the first of a series of insider information when it comes to properly designing a kitchen. If you missed it, do yourself a favor and check out Design a Kitchen – Part One. You will be entertained and all the better for taking the time (and if you are short on time, you will be long on ideas from the pictures alone).

6. Adapting Commercial Conveniences to Your Home
Like many others, I enjoy kitchens with stainless steel appliances that are embraced and displayed like the prodigal son come home. Commercial kitchens look the way they do for two reasons: maximizing efficiency and cleanliness (Read: profit & health code). You probably also want a kitchen that works like a dream and is easy to clean, but cabinetry on wheels and all-over stainless steel may not be your thing (Fingerprints make me die a little inside).

Don’t despair! Industry professionals have gotten the hint and adapted many commercial products for use in residential spaces. You don’t have to have a hyper-contemporary kitchen just because your faucet is more like a hose and your dishwasher looks like it could comfortably house your husband. Ask your designer to meld the two styles if you’re so inclined. Fusion kitchens, like the one picture above, are “in”, but what’s more “in” is you being able to let 8 lobsters live out their final moments happily creeping around in your stainless steel sink.

Subzero, Wolf, and Asko (featured above) have fantastic lines of high-quality products that you can either proudly display or camouflage with cabinet doors and drawer fronts. Other companies at varying price points have similar options, but since we’re talking about luxury, I’m choosing to reference the best. If you don’t like the idea of stainless blocks interrupting your gorgeous cabinetry, the following is an example of fully-integrated appliances in a traditional kitchen.

Speaking of convenience (which I can say we’re specifically speaking of because it’s in the title of this section and I’m in need of a transition), you probably noticed the refrigerator drawers on the island, which are a good 4 feet away from the larger fridge in the back. Appliances come in all shapes and sizes to fit your needs. I can’t guarantee that they will suddenly make you feel like your life is truly worth living (and your significant other inexplicably more attractive) but anything is possible.

As an example, Interior designer Heather Ernst (Innerwood & Company, D.A.A.P.) is all about undercounter refrigerator drawers. “Not only do they fit conveniently into your base cabinetry,” she said, “But they also provide easy access to drinks and snacks for children, without requiring them to root through your larger appliance or demanding that you sacrifice valuable refrigerated real estate for loads of prepackaged and ready-to-eat items.” In other words, the gigantic slab of marinating ribs you’ve been babying for two days, because the cool people from work finally accepted your dinner party invitation (smells like success!), don’t have to share a shelf with 17 fruit cups and an industrial pack of hot dogs. Breathe easily Ribs, we have your (baby) back.

7. Roll-outs as opposed to Fixed Shelving
Maximizing pantry space is usually a priority for those of us who actually have families and lives that don’t really fit into neat glass-lidded jars on our (probably immaculate) countertops. Open shelving would probably be the easiest solution, but it doesn’t actually work for a lot of us. Sure, pastas and grains look beautiful on display, but what about your economy size box of Frosted Mini-Wheats? For those of you who are fortunate enough to have walk-in pantries, this may be a non-issue, but for the rest of us, storing those “necessities” where they are within easy reach of a small human usually means pushing our non-perishables to the back of a dark 24” deep cabinet. Roll-outs are the answer for all of us who have, at one time or another, looked to the heavens and silently screamed “Why me?” while elbow deep in cans of refried beans, merely attempting to locate our emergency stash of mango salsa (No?).

Roll-outs can be simple shelves on slides or they can be five-sided boxes on slides, but the end result is that your food comes to you like a little lamb lost: no need for double-jointed shoulders or night vision goggles.

The best part is that your cabinetry can usually be retrofitted with slides, AND they can remain adjustable for added flexibility. While it’s certainly possible to DIY a project like this, utilizing a local cabinetmaker or carpenter to install is a smart move. Slides require several expertly placed holes on each side, and care needs to be taken to ensure that your new roll-outs don’t interfere with cabinet doors or hinges. To find a good resource, check out National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) members in your area.

(Okay, not a pretty photo, but you get the idea. This is from the Ball State University website. Shop class?)

8. Hardwood Flooring
I think that hardwood floors may be a no-brainer for a lot of you. They’re very popular in homes, and have really begun to replace tile as the go-to flooring for kitchens in the past several years. One of the biggest benefits, I feel, is that they reduce noise. Stone or ceramic tiles are gorgeous, but every crash and clank will be amplified without some kind of dampener (totally not soothing). So hardwood floors, check.

I’m going to take it a step further and specifically define some hardwood helpful hints for you (because every once in a while, I’m kind of helpful).

1) Use a true hardwood (engineered or otherwise). We all like to be eco-friendly, and bamboo and cork are in right now for their low environmental impact, but the vast majority of those options are soft and dent/scratch easily. Dan Hueber (The V Collective, CEO) recommends testing the samples by pressing your fingernail hard into the bamboo before you purchase; If it dents, don’t use it in your kitchen (there are other applications where it will work beautifully). Look for brands that have FSC Certification to be sure you’re being ecologically responsible, or call a local builder who specializes in LEED Certified building and ask what they recommend (in the Cincinnati area? John Hueber Homes is the King of LEED).

2) Choose wider or random width planks. We like 5” planks, but anything larger than the 2” oak you see everywhere is going to set your space apart. Wider strips allow you to see more of the natural grain pattern and make your floors look less busy over large spaces.

3) Find something with texture. Distressed floors can get pretty pricey, but we found a sculpted hickory option from JP Flooring (Cincinnati, OH) that reduces that glossy look and feels soft underfoot. We’ve used it in a variety of spaces because it’s visually pleasing, and also hides wear better than other styles.

You should also keep an eye out for simulated barn wood or even reclaimed wood floors. Anything with texture will warm up your space, and the juxtaposition of natural texture and clean lined cabinetry/appliances will honestly rock your world.

As much as the symmetrist in me would like to finish out this list to make it an even 10 items, I’m going to go ahead and stop here. Hopefully, I’ve given you a few things to think about for your dream kitchen, and maybe some ideas you can look into for making your current space totally awesome. If not, a local designer will undoubtedly have some incredible solutions to your problems. Remember the old adage: Spa kitchens are the best therapy (Read: not an old adage).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Eva Kavanagh is the PR Coordinator for The V Collective, a coalition of fine craftsmen in the Cincinnati area. The V Collective is

composed of several companies in the interior design and woodworking business, who share ideas, combine resources, and collaborate on projects in order to support each other and our clients. Kitchen and bath specialists, Don Justice Cabinet Makers and The Kitchen Design Studio, work seamlessly with the millwork and built-in experts at Innerwood & Company and the fantastic interior trim carpenters of Hueber Brothers, Inc.

The V Collective 513-707-1495