Kitchen renovations open design creative storage

Kitchen renovations with open design and creative storage

Along with bathrooms, kitchen renovations are the smartest investments you can make in your home. Today's kitchens are far removed from those of a generation ago...

Instead of being simply a room to prepare meals in, they have become the focal point of family life - a gathering place where everyone can review the day's events, and enjoy a well-made meal. As such, good design is essential. Often, group home houses are built in such a way as to save money for builders, so sound design principles are compromised. By undertaking a kitchen renovation, you can make the space more inviting, remedy inefficient traffic flow and eliminate storage problems. Consider the following home renovation trends to give your family a brand new kitchen:

Wall Removal

Over the last few years, taking out a wall between the kitchen and an adjoining room has become one of the hottest home design trends. This concept is appealing because it opens up space, while dramatically changing the look and feel of your kitchen. In many instances the placement of an island in the location where the wall once stood is an option. Islands can give you additional storage space, along with an informal place for snacks, coffee and relaxation. Removing a wall to create an open plan design also makes small homes appear larger and more spacious.

Hardwood Flooring

The popularity of open plan kitchens has sparked a trend towards the installation of hardwood floors. As a natural product, this type of flooring gives additional warmth to the family gathering area. Installing hardwood flooring also gives homeowners the option of using one type of flooring in adjacent spaces, such as dining rooms and family rooms. This provides a nice feeling of continuity. Be aware that the old adage of you get what you pay for certainly applies to hardwood floors - study carefully or discuss at length with your contractor before making your choice.

Twenty-First Century Cabinets

Good cabinet design is essential to the success of any kitchen. Gone are the days of well-dressed kitchen cabinet interiors having lazy susans (rotating tray) and a built-in spice racks. In the twenty-first century, cabinets have gone minimal, with touch-latch fronts that eliminate the need for hardware, and exciting new surfaces that include aluminum, high-glass lacquer or even semi-translucent glass. If you shy away from the latest trendy surfaces, you will still want to make sure that the interiors are well-equipped.

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Cabinets and bench space

Often concealed behind sliding doors, tight spaces are utilized for storage of cookie sheets, muffin tins and similar items, in areas that previously would have had false cabinet fronts. Retrofitting of cabinets with pull-out trays, bread boxes and other specialized spaces making it easy to access serving dishes, pots and pans and similar items.

Butler's pantry

If you have the space, the Butler's Pantry is the go to add on in today's modern kitchen/dining space. With the bench/breakfast bar becoming the focal/gathering point of the home the last thing you want is food preparation left overs or dirty dishes destroying the ambiance. A Butler's Pantry, complete with a double sink and good bench space, is the solution.

Don't forget the lights

Finally, one of the easiest ways to go green is to replace your old, inefficient lighting with energy-efficient LED lights. Excellent for task lighting, LED fixtures have come a long way in the last few years. Undoubtedly, this type of lighting offers softer colors that appeal more to traditional decor. Whereas, well placed downlights are a must in today's home.