The article discusses nine common kitchen remodeling mistakes that can lead to unnecessary stress and disappointment. These mistakes include wasting space, making aisles too tight, not thinking in 3-D, overloading and oversizing islands, overloading a small space, making changes after the work begins, not planning enough storage, and forgetting friends.
To avoid these mistakes, it is essential to make a kitchen renovation budget and focus on creating a functional, accessible, and beautiful space with smart gadgets, color schemes, and practical ergonomics. If your kitchen is open to the living room or dining room, consider the design in those rooms as part of the project. Focusing on a coherent plan, adequate lighting, quality materials, and practical ergonomics can help avoid common pitfalls associated with kitchen remodeling.
Another common mistake is not taking inventory of your kitchen, layering lighting, considering clearances, and planning out your storage. Another common “form over function” mistake is not considering how your cupboards, refrigerator, microwave, and dishwasher open. This can result in giving up counter space, going over the budget, over-utilizing space, compromising on storage, neglecting the backsplash, and choosing the wrong appliances.
In conclusion, the article emphasizes the importance of planning, budgeting, and designing a well-planned kitchen remodel. It also highlights the importance of proper lighting for cooking and avoiding common mistakes such as wastage, making aisles too tight, not thinking in 3-D, overloading and oversizing islands, overloading a small space, and doing it yourself. By following these guidelines, you can ensure a successful and enjoyable kitchen remodel that meets your needs and budget.
📹 Kitchen Design Mistakes (And How to Fix Them!)
In this video, I go over the biggest kitchen design mistakes that I see and how to fix them! There are so many mistakes that I see, …
What not to forget when remodeling a kitchen?
Before tackling a kitchen remodel, it’s crucial to consider these often overlooked aspects. These include proper lighting, trash can placement, a proper kitchen work triangle, accessibility, backsplash, landing space, practical cabinetry, and room for a kitchen table. Most common kitchen design mistakes can be easily fixed, but planning correctly from the start is easier and cheaper. Proper lighting is essential for creating a comfortable and functional kitchen. While we often focus on adding the right ambiance with lamps and sconces, it’s crucial to ensure proper lighting in the kitchen to create a cohesive and functional space.
What considerations should be considered when renovating a kitchen?
This blog provides a comprehensive guide on how to successfully remodel a kitchen. It covers essential considerations such as setting a realistic budget, assessing current layout, sizing and space planning, flooring options, lighting for different zones, plumbing needs, hiring reputable contractors, and checking local building codes. Kitchen remodeling is a thoughtful process that involves redesigning and upgrading various aspects of the kitchen space to suit the needs, preferences, and lifestyle of the homeowner. By following these steps, you can create your dream kitchen and make it a reality.
What kitchen style never goes out of style?
Shaker cabinets, known for their simple design and recessed-panel doors, have been popular in farmhouse kitchens for over 100 years. They work well with various home decor styles. Functional features like built-in baking sheet dividers and pull-out cabinet drawers are essential for timeless kitchens. The Smeg fridge is a classic kitchen appliance, with brands like Smeg, Northstar, and Laconche maintaining their old-school charm. While stainless steel and white appliances fluctuate in popularity, retro appliances like the Smeg fridge remain popular.
What is the hardest part of the kitchen remodel?
This article discusses five common kitchen remodel challenges faced by homeowners. These include deciding whether to change the layout, re-routing ventilation ducts, expanding the kitchen’s square footage, selecting and installing a good flooring material, avoiding scope creep and budget overrun, and ensuring a smooth transition. Lamont Bros., a team that has helped hundreds of homeowners in the Portland Metro Area, aims to educate homeowners on what to expect and how these challenges might affect their project.
The five most common challenges homeowners face during a kitchen remodel include:
Choosing the right flooring material: Choose a flooring material that complements the kitchen’s design and complements the existing space.
Choosing the right flooring: Choose a flooring material that complements the kitchen’s design and complements the existing space.
What is the golden rule for kitchen design?
The Golden Rule for Kitchen Design posits that by establishing a specific distance between the sink, cooktop, and refrigerator, one can facilitate a more efficient kitchen design.
What do I wish I knew before remodeling my kitchen?
Kitchen remodels can be a costly and time-consuming process, with steep price tags, decisions to be made, and mistakes that can go unnoticed. Interior designers advise that a successful remodel should be done thoughtfully, with research, prioritization, and self-reflection being critical to a favorable outcome.
Function must come first when starting a kitchen remodel. Designers like Mark Williams and Niki Papadopoulos emphasize the importance of considering how the kitchen is used, workflow, appliance needs, and accessibility to utilities. They suggest that the form should follow the function, and once the layout is designed, the aesthetics should follow.
It is essential to order ahead, save space for doors, prepare for the interim, and hire a professional if necessary. By doing so, a successful kitchen remodel can result in the kitchen of your dreams.
What are the don’ts in the kitchen?
Avoid wearing jewelry, making or receiving calls in the kitchen, filling pots or pans with food, leaving food unattended, heating oil too quickly, using wet towels or pads, and operating kitchen equipment without proper training. Accidents can happen in the kitchen, regardless of experience. Implementing safety tips and best practices for kitchen staff can lead to better employee retention and service.
The National Library of Medicine reports high levels of work-related stress and injuries among restaurant industry employees. Continue reading to learn more about avoiding injury and implementing good safety procedures.
What is the 1 rule in the kitchen?
Kitchen hygiene is crucial for maintaining cleanliness and prevents the spread of bacteria. Regular handwashing is essential for both adults and children, and it’s crucial to teach the entire family how to properly wash their hands. Other hand hygiene tips include avoiding wearing rings, keeping nails short, and not wearing nail polish. If a cut is made, clean it immediately and apply a plaster. Additionally, it’s important to tie back long hair when making dishes, as it can carry germs. Professionals often wear hats and hairnets to protect themselves from germs. Overall, proper kitchen hygiene is essential for maintaining a healthy and hygienic environment.
What is the rule of thumb for kitchen remodel?
To maximize the return on your investment in a kitchen renovation, it is recommended to spend between 5 to 15 percent of your home’s value. For example, if your home is $300, 000, your budget should fall between $15, 000 and $45, 000. If you plan to hire a contractor and opt for high-end appliances, allocate your budget for the top of the range. If you plan to do the renovation yourself and use inexpensive materials, allocate your budget for the lower end.
Allocate your budget to each remodeling aspect and divide it among these categories. Factor in at least 17 labor costs when working with a contractor. The expenses of a kitchen remodel are listed in order of highest to lowest price, based on figures from the National Kitchen and Bath Association.
How do you avoid the 5 worst kitchen design mistakes?
To create a functional and attractive kitchen, avoid common design mistakes such as not respecting the Kitchen Work Triangle, which consists of the sink, stove, and refrigerator. Design the kitchen with these fixtures in a triangular arrangement, making it easy to move between them and speed up meal preparation. This will save time and make meal preparation more efficient.
Poor lighting is another crucial consideration during the design process. It’s essential to consider the available natural light during the day and the amount of light available as the seasons change and daylight hours fluctuate. Poor lighting can come in many forms, such as not enough or overbearing lighting. Choose lighting that complements the color palette of your walls, cabinets, and countertops to ensure good visibility at all hours without harsh glare.
In summary, creating a functional and attractive kitchen requires careful consideration of the Kitchen Work Triangle, lighting, traffic flow, missing backsplash, and visible trashcans. By avoiding these common design mistakes, you can create a kitchen that is both functional and attractive.
📹 10 Mistakes I Made When Designing Our Kitchen | How To Avoid These Design Hassles
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The triangle, or L shaped kitchen was first proposed by Lillian M Gilbreth. She was an efficiency expert and inventor. She also invented the foot pedal trash can and shelves on refrigerator doors. She also determined the standard height for countertops. She was was the first professor of engineering at Purdue University. Her husband, Frank Gilbreth, was the inventor of the flow chart. Lillian and Frank had 12 children. After they were grown, two of their children wrote “Cheaper by the Dozen ” which was made into a movie with Clifton Webb and Myna Loy.
Not gonna lie, Color Catastrophe is one of my favorite things. I have to go into a lot of houses, and nothing brings me more joy than when it appears someone went nuts in MS Paint. My favorite ever included bright pink glass blocks all around the kitchen between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling that were backlit with strip lighting, so they sort of glowed, almost like neon. It would have been a nightmare to change, but it was as beautifully tacky as the woman it belonged to, and I loved the audacity.
I’m the daughter of a very talented general contractor, and I LOATHE cabinets that don’t go all the way to the ceiling! (Unless it’s a very high ceiling). It drives me crazy. It looks like a glaring flaw to me every time I see it. Additionally, I also hate double islands! And signs that say “eat” in the kitchen.
My biggest pet peeve as a former kitchen designer was the insistence on having an island even when there was not reasonable space for one. You need a certain amount of clearance for a functional island and enough clearance between the perimeter and island to keep the whole kitchen functional. The number of clients who absolutely refused to understand this concept despite multiple explanations, drawings and even taping space out on the floor was unreal.
An add to the work triangle is the “washing up” line (or whatever shape suits your fancy). I believe it’s super important to have your sink, bin, and dishwasher (if you have one) to be close and accessible to each other! You don’t want to have to scrape your scraps into the bin and then walk all the way across the kitchen to rinse it/ pop in the dishwasher while potentially getting gunk all over the floor!
I was a kitchen designer for 5 years and let me just say the primary piece of advice I always had to remind clients of was FUNCTION OVER STYLE. You can have a beautiful, expensive kitchen but if it doesn’t actually work for you/your lifestyle you will grow to dislike it. Don’t design a kitchen based on the dream lifestyle you idealize having, design it around the reality of your life (I’m talking about you open shelving). Additionally…unless you have an unlimited budget you’re not going to get what you want 100% so make a top priorities list and go from there.
My favorite panelled appliance is my hidden dishwasher. Actually the panelled appliances are more the norm here in Germany. 😄 I would add the following to your list: not considering drawers instead of cabinets for your lowers. I renovated three years ago and switched to all drawers below. No more crawling into the dark hidden corners looking for lost items! I think what you said about keeping a kitchen for a long time applies to ergonomic design as well. The triangle is an absolute must, and anything else that can add to ease of use, such as higher appliances or my abovementioned drawers, should definitely be considered.
Going to politely disagree with the advice suggesting a lighting strip underneath the bottom cabinet baseboard. Crumbs end up down there on the floor periodically (in the real world) and the last thing that you want to do is highlight them. Or pet hair or anything else that gathers on your floor between cleanings. Huge fan of ambient lighting, but that is one location I feel is a giant mistake to highlight for the average person living in the real world.
When I renovated my kitchen 20 years ago, I went with all drawers in my base cabinets except for under the sink and one corner. I’ll never go back. I also measured what I would actually be storing – I won’t lie it was a bit of a pain. I have what looks like standard banks of three drawers, but I can store what I want where I need it. Not having to crawl on the floor to access things or having to put things just wherever because a drawer is a 1/4″ too shallow is wonderful.
Three things important for a functional kitchen : 1/ Drawers 2/ More Drawers 3/ Even more drawers. Use a quality softclose, double wall draws. Mostly Small, medium, large from top to bottom. Even a pantry, in the bottom half, and at the bottom of sink cabinet. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and every client absolutely loves it.
The other “plus” to having cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling is that you don’t have to clean an accumulation of greasy dust of the horizontal top surfaces every 2-3 months. After 20 years of living with my “builder standard” kitchen, where the cabinets stopped 15″ from the 9’ ceilings, I now have a new kitchen with full height cabinets. And I love the extra storage space. Yes, I need a step-stool to access the highest ones, but I put my rarely-used roasting pan, wok, etc up in those top cabinets.
As far as the work triangle goes, in my opinion, the refrigerator is not a part of it. Its really just a cold pantry and one you should not be opening frequently. The real triangle includes the sink, stove, and work surface. And, as far as the stove goes, if you cook a lot, never put the stove right against a wall. Or against the fridge. There needs to be counter space on both sides.
Love all of these points! I’d like to add that having the trash/recycling/etc in a cabinet under or right next to the sink tends to be really inconvenient. If someone is at the sink and a second person needs to throw something away, it gets very annoying to constantly have the person at the sink move over to allow access to the trash!
I would add to the list not taking into account the overall style, age, and architecture of your house. If your house is mid-century modern, shoe-horning in a traditional kitchen might make you happy in the short run, but at some point you are going to realize that it just doesn’t fit. And vice versa, if the home is very traditional with moldings and wainscoting, etc., slab cabinet doors and a waterfall island are probably going to fall flat. Sometimes the currently popular kitchen style is just not going to work well in your house. My kitchen could be a color catastrophe (my walls are chartreuse), but I limited the bold color to easily-changed wall paint and art (mostly, my range is teal). Cabinets, counter, floor, and backsplash are all neutral.
Thank you for pointing out that the backsplash is not necessarily the best place to go hog wild! People say stuff like “go crazy on the backsplash, they’re so easy to replace!” and I’m always like… are they though? Maybe they’re the least expensive built-in to replace but that doesn’t make them cheap, or easy.
When it comes to kitchen remodel (we are in the process now), I like to pick classics for things that are expansive and hard to replace, but I go “bold” on the kitchen knobs and pulls, and the kitchen chandelier. That way, I can replace them easily when I get bored of them or when they become dated.
Agree with all of this. One thing I would say about electrical and plumbing requirements: it goes deeper than just making sure you have outlets in the right places. You also need to make sure that your house is capable of supplying the amount of power you need. Induction cooktops draw a lot of power, as do some ovens, not to mention the trend of having two ovens. So before you buy your appliances, speak to an electrician to make sure you have the power you need. Otherwise, you may be in the situation where you can’t use your induction cooktop at the same time as your oven, which obviously is ridiculous.
I hate microwave exhaust fan combo. The fan is so weak it’s worthless. Microwave placed high means dropping hot food, danger for children and seniors. It also means compromised cooktop height to accommodate tall stockpot. I bought a high power exhaust fan that my 5’ mom can reach (push button operation, no remote or keypad). We do a lot of stir fry and frying. So far I don’t see a layer of grease covering kitchen surface.
Excellent suggestions. For those who wish to integrate a countertop and backsplash in the same material for that higher end look but can only afford laminate, it’s possible to do it. It works best when using a laminate that looks very much like stone. I’ve done it and it was amazing. The designer/sales rep for the company, however, didn’t wish to do it and I had to be persuasive. The end result was impressive (even the rep said so), inexpensive, and always easy to maintain. So it is an option if you’re careful.
I love the way you think Nick. My house was being built when I bought it and the contractor was inflexible about making changes, even if I paid for them, but I got away with a few things in the kitchen like the tile backsplash, the countertops, and pendant lights (I did the legwork of finding the materials and paying for them), but I couldn’t convince them to take the cabinets up to the ceiling. I did have them paint the peninsula a different color to break the all-white look. I love the result. As far as ambient light, I put smart bulbs on the pendants so I can use them as task lighting when needed but I can also dim them and change their color for ambiance.
Thanks for this article, Nick. You shared some good standard principles for designing kitchens. As the “chief” cook in my household, I have some more to add. I am so frustrated with small U-shaped kitchens with the stove or sink at the top of the U and two dead corners, storage-wise. Turntables only hold so much. instead, make it a galley kitchen with the sink or stove on one side – this is so much more functional. If possible, opening a galley kitchen on both ends enables a second person to enter/exit without getting in the way of a person cooking. For lower cabinets, all kitchen cabinet makers need to get rid of the swinging doors and shelves and make those all pull-out drawers instead. This gives much easier access to all the items stored in the back, increasing usable storage. Pullouts under the sink for trash/recycling and cleaning supplies seem have become more standard for these reasons, but all lower cabinets should have drawers. Also, the under-sink pull-outs need to be split so someone working at the sink doesn’t have to move all the way to the side when someone wants to throw trash, etc. in a bin under the sink. dirt One last suggestion is to make the cabinet over refrigerators at counter depth so we can store narrow pans, trays, platters there. One cannot access items in the back of shallow cabinets over the fridge. Another possibility might be a pull out shelf this space to enable more access. Please do a part 2 with more ideas from you and your viewers that you think are worth sharing.
Two points. 1. You can definitely tell kitchens designed for serious cooks from kitchens designed for non cooks. The non cooks make many of the design mistakes in order to have a stylish kitchen: open shelving, funky colors, useless but expensive details … cooks realize the kitchen needs to be a functional work space first, then be pretty second. 2. I am not a fan of the work triangle … I prefer the work asterisk, where the sink, stove and ‘fridge (and other frequently used things, such as the trash cans) are all just a few steps from the primary work counter. I don’t need the sink close to the fridge, I need some counter space close to (and between) both. This also makes a kitchen easier for two cooks to use at the same time.
The worst kitchen I ever cooked in had a huge island down the middle with the sink on one wall and the refrigerator on the opposite wall on the other side of the island. The cooktop was on the wall at one end of the island. It took forever to do anything walking miles around that island over and over trying to prepare a meal or clean up.
For Nick and his specific clearance problem – get a cutlery drawer tray that has handles. When you unload the dishwasher, take the tray out of the drawer and put it on the countertop for easy access and then return it to the drawer after you’ve finished unloading. Hopes this helps this daily chore to be a bit less annoying!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for talking about the work triangle. I cannot believe how many times I have shouted at the tv while perusal popular home shows where the stove is placed on the other side of a yacht-sized island on the opposite end of the room. I can only shake my head and think that no one is cooking anymore.
Thank you for the great vid Nick! You often say “in my opinion” in order to not get into internet fights which is fair, but people should know that what you say is backed up by well-established design principles, that are fundamental & important in any type of design. From interior design to graphic design and a lot of other design types. (I’m a graphic designer myself). Stream lines, simple shapes, neutral pallets are all important and make any design look cleaner and more thought out. Great vid! 🙂
I am so tired of seeing subway tile.😖 I’ve seen some very high end kitchens that completely miss the work triangle. FUNCTION is #1! Spacial issues are another common and frustrating issue…when I designed and built my kitchen I cut up cardboard templates to give me physical reality. Great article, spot on tips!👍🏻
I SO agree about the open shelving. My daughter, who does not cook (or boil water), just remodeled her open concept kitchen with open shelving. For her, it works. It’s an opportunity to display pretty things. For me, a cook with a tiny but very functional kitchen, open shelves would be a waste of space and the grease! To each her own.
I’ve been really interested lately in the idea of an unfitted kitchen (which I think might be an old school victorian idea) and finding ways to incorporate that into our modern kitchens. Certain things like plumbing and electrical, of course, will need to be permanent and installed, however for cabinets and other items, the idea of being able to switch them out to clean or change the piece is really interesting to me.
100% agree about the open shelving. I love open shelving, I dream of the day when I can display my gorgeous teal Le Creuset french oven, and a couple of other adorable things I’ve been collecting along the way, but DUST!!! I’m not clearing off my selves every friggin week thanks! Whenever I see someone clearing out ALL of their upper cabinets I’m like “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!”
Excellent recommendations Nick! Just want to chime in and say, if possible, have your sink area looking out a window or wall opening (like to the dining room that has windows you can look out) rather than facing a wall of cabinets. This is especially true if you spend a lot of time cooking because most food prep and clean up takes place near the sink. Also, ample work space on either side of the sink so you can, for example, set dirty dishes on the left and washed dishes on the right preferably with the dishwasher beside the sink.
Definitely agree on the extension of the cabinetry. I recently built my home and a few people tried to talk me out of going all the way to the ceiling (10ft). I ended up listening to my intuition and went all the way with glass windows in the upper cabinets with LED lighting there and under the cabinets. I’m so happy i went with that look. It’s stunning! My friend has 10ft ceilings and didn’t run hers to the top and it looks unfinished.
You are spot on with every point. When open shelving first came out I just shook my head……..dusting is the bane of my existence……..do I really want to clean every dish before I use it!! While it may look pretty, it is far from practical. The “everything” white kitchen….. so overdone, no personality. It’s like the grey trend where you wonder if you are looking at a black and white photo because there is no colour, just depressing. Love perusal you, you always make sense!
Open shelving works great when you have a small kitchen, when you’re a minimalist, on terms of pantry organization and specially well for people with ADHD (we tend to completely forget things if we cannot see them) I believe that the first thing to consider when designing a space should be your personal needs, then aesthetic. <3
These kitchen mistakes are right on point! I redid my counters a backsplash a few years ago and went with the timeless absolute black granite and a lovely arabesque backsplash. The white backspace is just unique enough to give the area interest without overpowering the space. I chose a soft contrast for grout, just enough for the beautiful arabesque shape to standout and shine. I’m still in love with my new space, so for me, timeless choices always win the day! Oh, and anyone who didn’t see the demise of open shelving the day it hit magazines, just wasn’t thinking! lol Sending love from sunny CA!
Great article – thanks, Nick. Happy to say my kitchen in our new house is pretty well perfect, and avoids all your design mistakes! I worked with both a designer and our custom cabinet-maker to achieve what I required out of my kitchen. I love natural stone; the island and table tops are Neutrino Bordeaux granite, and the main counters Cambrian black granite (the only stone I could find to compliment the multicoloured Neutrino Bordeaux). The granite was, just this week, repolishd and sealed, making it so easy to keep spotless and fingerprint-free, but, elsewhere in the house, I have marble, limestone, quartzite, and even onyx countertops. I had them covered with TuffSkin, a fabulous product that protects the stone from staining and etching! I am always very careful, but my husband isn’t, and I don’t expect my guests to be, either. Tuffskin has alleviated my fear of having my beautiful, and costly, stone counters ruined. It comes in both polished and matte finishes, and both are beautiful. I can’t recommend this product highly enough.
Love the article as a whole, but I have to say that panelled appliances are the worst thing you can do to your kitchen (at least the kind you can get in Central Europe) – by now, I have seen several people having problems after they need to buy a new fridge/dishwasher/etc, because 9 out of 10 times it turns out that the “standard” for panelled appliances has changed after they installed something and they can’t fit a new one into the existing furniture (because of things like the dishwasher panel being 3mm too narrow for the existing front, the fridge being 1cm too wide, cord holes in the back not aligning etc.). If you are sure that the appliances will last as long as your kitchen then ok, but trying to find new ones that fit without redoing at least half of your furniture is a nightmare.
Just remodeled my kitchen completely and I agree on all of these!! I absolutely love my new kitchen with gray quartzite waterfall countertops, marble backsplash, warm white cabinets to the ceiling, under cabinet lighting, lots of electrical outlets. It’s a small kitchen with a peninsula and no island and it’s perfect for us now. All great advice Nick!!
When we remodeled our kitchen, we didn’t make any of those mistakes. It’s a pretty neutral and subdued kitchen, but the jewel of the kitchen imo, is the backsplash. Nothing crazy, we chose a mini 1×2 inch subway tile design but the tiles are an alternating natural stone and stainless steel. It was a compromise. My husband likes stone and I like a little reflection. With the under cabinet lighting reflecting off the stainless creates this beautiful light and reflection but the stone keeps it from being too much or industrial. The stone warms also warms up the steel, so it’s not cold looking. The design is classic, the stone is warm and and stainless is the NOT boring factor. The stainless ties in with the appliances and the brushed nickel cabinet handles. We did it 5 yrs ago and I still love it. My only regret was going with a double sink instead of one large one. And also choosing a light flooring. The light flooring is too high maintenance.
The kitchen in the home my family and I just bought have several of these mistakes! In the future we plan to re model and I am super excited about the potential! I want to spend the majority of the money on beautiful custom built wood cabinets. I want them shaker style, really clean lines, and finished to highlight the beauty of the wood. I am so sick of painted cabinets!
Excellent article, lots of great advice that anyone who is redoing a kitchen or even shopping for a home can use. We renovated our kitchen in 2018 and while we managed to tick most of the boxes in your list, there are a couple of things I wish I had done differently. Like figuring out that new dishwashers have longer doors and ours almost hits the fridge when open, making it much harder to scoot around. We probably should have had it moved to another location…
Great article Nick. I know I am odd woman out, I love the explosion of colour look for most rooms, but it certainly does not appeal to everyone. But I use paint and accessories to get the look, things that are easy to change. I do not use wild colours for permanent fixtures like countertops and back splashes. I find that tile seems to date bathrooms and kitchens faster than other features in the room. We have an older cabin and in order to put in a wood stove we had to move the fridge to another room. It is a pain, especially as there is no countertop beside it to put things on as you load or unload the fridge. One of the photos you shares had the fridge right beside the stove, that is a problem too. This article is timely as I am planning to gut and replace the kitchen in my place. Electrical outlets is a big concern, currently (pun intended) there are 2 but they are on the same circuit, so we cannot make coffee and toast at the same time.
I’d add drawers and pull outs. There is nothing worse than using a big heavy item that has to be lugged around the kitchen to use it. Even if it’s a simple processor I want it in a drawer that pulls out. The standing mixer and juicer must be on their own pull out. As for open shelves – I’d much sooner have glass faces than an open shelf to protect the items from dust and cooking debris. I know you can make bread without making a mess but I cannot. Also, plan for big one of a kind items. Searching storage for the Thanksgiving roasting pan or Christmas platter or 20 qt stock pot because my designer didn’t think to add space for them is a continuous irritation.
I don’t use the work triangle in my kitchen, it’s more like work zones. For example I bake bread every day so all the ingredients and tools for that task are in one area which is different to where I make other food. I call it a baking station. I find these zones really efficient and logical to use while cooking. I have a very small kitchen so I need to make best use of the space and this system works well.
Hi! Subway tile is kind of boring to me and the extended kitchen cabinets never made sense to me. We have very high ceilings in our kitchen and I love the height of our cabinets in there. We just had granite countertops installed in our kitchen. I appreciate your suggestion there. 🙂 Our tiny garbage bin is hidden in our kitchen. It looks so much better than way. I agree with you on that.
LOL OH Dear I for sure went kooky crazy with my kitchen mosaic back splash. I have had it now 8 or 9 years . Still love it. Created a proto type to hang behind the stove to see if hubby and i could live with it and he said it was one of his favorite pieces of mine. So I spent 9 months making the tiles to install. It for sure ties into the ugly tan counter top. We loved it so much I also created tiles to do the ends of the dividing wall between dining room and living room. Then added a coordinating mosaic half mannequin and a 40 inch mosaic steel lizard climbing up the wall to the dining room and called it good. Nick I love your ideas. I really do but my life is now too short to live in something classic=boring to me. Beautiful yes I am just to crazy kooky to live in timeless classic.
Love these! Regarding electrical, one thing we did with our new build that I was happy about, is we had them add outlets into our corner pantry. So we can keep a lot of the miscellaneous appliances in there (coffee grinder, bullet blender, rice cooker) and don’t have to have them cluttering our countertop. For the cabinets-to-the-ceiling, I so agree! Unfortunately that was not an option with our builder. Is there a way to “dupe” or pretend to have this look? Maybe a resource you can recommend?
Lol! First thing you mentioned is a colorful kitchen! I’m in the middle of renovating mine, and I’m going to be painting my cabinets red and dark turquoise. I will have one wall of black “subway” tile with stainless steel shelving, and the others will be painted. I’m doing my countertop concrete. My floor will be the old fashioned black and white check. I’m a very eclectic person, the way I dress and the way I design my home. I always get compliments on both! 😍
These two articles kitchen and bath are fabulous because you present good logic. I had a mother son combo from Dallas design district who failed to get permits and basically provided no plans or supervision despite her 20% design and 20% project mgt. She did neither. This was after a major storm and frozen pipes so not “elective” surgery. It took 6 months to find them and now I have to sue. Your articles remind me to be vigilant. My problem was that they sent one or two guys working at midnight! I’m getting ready to get this back after a year and a half of motel living. Your articles are extremely helpful. Thanks . I will get the quartzite countertops and backslash. You’re right about classic tile. I will return the two “creative” porcelain samples and go for timeless.
Wow. This was truly a professional, great job that I very much appreciate. We are working on remodeling our kitchen and DIYing it so we can put the money into paneled appliances and lighting, etc. Thanks so much for validating some of our decisions and correcting us on one major, the refrigerator placement. YIPES. That one we almost made a terrible decision. I wish you could do one on more creative refrigerators and freezers. What are more acceptable options today? We are considering getting drawer refrigerators to keep our triangle but allow more counter space and an more open feel. Would LOVE to know your professional opinion on those. Thank you again for a GREAT INFORMATIVE article here!
I was literally talking to my husband about our kitchen remodel just before I saw that you had posted this article. So many good things to think about. I really love your personal style (it’s definitely along the lines of what I’m going for in my own home) and can’t wait to see what you do in your new place!
I love how you stop and correct yourself and say it is a lot more expensive to extend cabinets to the ceiling. For us personally, we left out upper cabinets and shelvings completely (2 people in a big house with a room to act as pantry) since we are both too short to take advantage of the storage space AND on a rather tight budget. 😀
I agree, ceiling height cabinets saves a lot of cleaning hassle (ditto with the open shelves, yuck too much to clean) and gives you a spot to store placemats, table cloths amd runners, napkins, paper goods…Basically anything that won’t kill you when it falls out! If you have a good step ladder and a reliable helper, it can also store the holiday china and platters, and extra canned goods.
My current kitchen’s countertop and backsplash (installed in the early 70s) are Formica, and it works quite well. It’s very easy to keep clean. If I remodel (which is expensive) I’ll probably get quartz or Corian countertops and use a Formica or Corian backsplash in a contrasting yet complementary color to save cost, although I like the idea of extending the countertop material to the backsplash. My kitchen is quite small (but more than adequate for my needs) so the extra cost may not be that bad. Ease of use and maintenance is more important to me than style, especially since I’m in my 70s and will only get older. I’ll also be adding some open shelving on my wall, as I have a galley kitchen that’s simply too small to accommodate additional cabinets. I just have to measure the distance between the open cabinet doors and plan accordingly.
As you said in your pinned comment that if someone loves something you mentioned (although I can’t imagine someone loving clearance issues) then it’s not a mistake. I agree with a lot of what is said in this article with one big exception – open shelving. The problem with the assumption that everyone will be sick of open shelving is implication that everyone else’s brain works like yours. My ADHD causes me to have the object permanence of an infant so I like to see everything I have so I don’t over buy or keep things that I’m not using or don’t like. Open shelving causes me to be more deliberate with what I keep and I will put what I have away! Please don’t assume everyone’s brain works like yours.
One thought for a kitchen backsplash is to use mirrors. We had mirrors installed as backsplashes in our current home 15 years ago and still enjoy them immensely. Each mirror is one piece, not small mirrors in a pattern, and runs the length of each countertop around three sides of the kitchen. They are super easy to keep clean, make the kitchen look bigger, and simply reflect the colors and patterns that are already in the room. The kitchen is set back from the windows, so there is not an issue with reflected sunlight.
Idk, I love open shelves for our kitchen. If you put stuff there that you actually use it won’t collect dust. It helps us reducing food waste, faster cooking and is way more accessable if you have only one hand free or carry a child. Also in small kitchens it opens up space and allows us to breath to not be towered by wall high cupboards. We have a mixture of both and have been happy with it for 7+ years.
I kinda like colorful kitchens—they make me feel happy. But do I have one? No. Just a few pops of red and that’s it. It wouldn’t work for me personally. And that pict you showed of the weirdly placed sink??? I can sympathize with the real estate agent who will constantly hear, “OH MY GOD, NO” all day long from potential buyers.
8:33 I’ve always thought of task lighting around the house as the last kind of lighting I would add in a communal space that already has layers of lighting. BUT kitchen task lighting is as essential as bedside task lighting! And yes… electrical outlets are the most satisfying thing to have in a home, above all other interior design! Thanks for this article.
Oh my gosh YES on the open cabinets! Let’s face it—most people’s open cabinets don’t look like staged homes. Those spaces collect not just dust but junk and various bits of detritus from life until they are as cluttered as any open, horizontal surface can get. OR they serve no purpose but to display an expensive or inherited collection of kitchen items that are not ever intended to be used ever.
No one has mentioned a central vacuum sweep tray in kitchen. I had one in my other house, and I loved it. Although we have a central vacuum here, we don’t have the sweep tray here in kitchen, and it’s so annoying not having it! 🤨 I did hear you can get them attached. Everyone knows the kitchen is a crumb collector. Question: Some designers are saying to put rugs in the kitchen, and although their pretty, and good for absorbing spills, and for foot comfort, they always get so dirty, and when you want to sweep you have to move them all the time. What are your thoughts, function over form?
I have been planning to redecorate my home from top to bottom over the next few years. After lots of research I have decided that the best way to future proof it is to stick to neutrals for anything expensive such as walls, tiles, carpets and fixed appliances. Then add colour in more easily replaceable things like paintings, cushion covers, curtains, bedding and flower arrangements. What do you think?
Nick, your a brother from another mother. Not being a professional it is great to get validation from one who is, of my design sensibilities. One thing that you did not mention is the use of drawers in the base cabinets, especially if there is pantry space available for those bulky items. My last kitchen remodel I did that and it made for an efficient and workable kitchen that I would definitely do again.
Just finished designing our kitchen. Whew, I’m glad I did not make any of these mistakes. I have been following Mark Tobin for awhile and discovered you recently doing a live on his website. Everybody said to me, “are you doing a white kitchen?” When I told them no, I’m doing navy on the bottom cabinets, maple on top and an off white quartz countertop with veining and taking the cabinets to the ceiling. You should have seen the looks on their faces LOL! I spent four hours with the kitchen designer and designed this kitchen for how I work. I love your viewpoints!
Thank you! I feel validated re: work triangle, lol. I once.bought a house that included a moveable island that cut into the work triangle and I HATED it! After 2 years I got rid of it and it made a world of difference. The space actually felt lighter not having that clunker breaking the traffic flow.
I renovated a womans kitchen so they could sell their house because her husband was sick and they were moving to Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic. They had bought the place in the early 70’s and it was all original. Including the hideous 70’s harvest gold, burnt orange, and Avocado green, giant flower print wallpaper. . . . It went with all the appliances. It must have been a builders dream pattern. The woman said she wanted to be there when it came down because she, “hated it the day they moved in and everyday since.” But here husband said they didn’t have the money to fix it. (I would have painted over it before I cooked the first meal.) So this woman lived with an ugly kitchen she hated for over 40 year and only changed it out to up the resale value?! People are crazy! It has been a life lesson for me. Don’t wait to change the things in your life that make you unhappy. You may wake up and find you have lived you whole life miserable because you won’t do what you need to change it. Also never wait on someone else to bring your happiness. Go find it and enjoy the journey.
If you have pets, items on open shelving will collect the fur as well as dust. Turn a broom closet into a multi-shelved unit to store those things on our countertops like crock-pots, fryers, waffle makers, etc. I wish I had a faucet over my stove for big pots of soup/pasta. And a decent venting hood. Lighting over the stove is a must.
I agree about the recycling bins being integrated with the space. But I would rather it was part of a pantry, most likely the lower half. And, BTW, that’s one thing that has disappeared with kitchens: Pantries. I remember when I was young my parents had a house with a pantry and it was great. I put pantries into two kitchens and if I could do it again, I would.
I’m seeing A LOT of people redoing countertops with “Dirty Pour” or “Exotic Pour” epoxies to achieve quite an incredibly realistic stone. I’m talking about epoxy companies like Stone Coat Countertops and Legarri…etc. where you can create virtually any type of stone from around the world for a fraction of the cost of real stone countertops. You can create a stone countertop that can cost several hundred to maybe over a few thousand depending on how much surface you need to cover vs. tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for a specific stone. They seem really durable and you don’t need to perform the maintenance on them as you would real stone. As I understand, they take a lot to burn the surface and they won’t stain. These finishes appear to be safe for food (although I cut my food on cutting boards, keep prepped vegetables in bowls, and don’t really lay any foods on any of my countertops). I’m really thinking about buying a product such as this to redo my countertops. Are you familiar with these products and what is your take on them if so? If not, I’m giving you an assignment. LOL 😛 Thanks for reading and hopefully for responding.
In my future house, going to do saturated colour in the kitchen that is reversible. Such as a neutral tile splashback but use funky stickers on the tiles and colourful cabinet fronts that can be repainted if needed. If you have a normal height ceiling and the cabinets don’t go to the ceiling, it looks cheapskate.
6:52 Nick is soooo right about extending the cabinets to the ceiling. I just remodeled my kitchen. I have a soffit (bulkhead) above my cabinets. When I inquired about how much it would cost to remove them,repair the wall & ceiling, then install taller cabinets . . . I nearly died. BUT I wished that I’d bit the bullet and had it done. 🙁
I’m glad you mentioned open shelving. I do too much frying, so despite the exhaust fan there is airborne grease. Dust settles on the grease. Any item left out for more than a few days would have to be washed before it’s used. Also, I don’t have lots of extra shelf space that I can waste on decorative things. Most of my shelves hold items I use, and I’m glad they’re in cabinets behind doors.
LOVE this!! Agree 100% with all your tips. Wish more people knew this. Shopping for a home and pretty much 98% of the kitchens we’ve seen would have to be gutted, walls removed and totally rearranged in order to make them work. So of course we have to take the cost of this off the purchase price. Not a seller’s goal!
I agree with all of the above. However…I’m at the end of a kitchen remodel and it has been interesting. Living with my ugly kitchen for 6 years was helpful because I actually ended up liking our layout (no kitchen island to run around). Our house is fairly large, but only had a small galley kitchen. We decided to keep the galley style and extend into the family room with an island. It will be a unique layout however I hope it will be the best of both worlds. We’ll see. That’s the trouble with remodels…after years of researching, planning, etc. you won’t necessarily know what you don’t like until you live with it.
Integrated Appliances: I put these in my kitchen 15 years ago – because I live in an Edwardian and I like my house to reflect its era and in doing so, it is its own kind of ‘timeless.’ Unfortunately my GE Monogram 42″ panel-ready counter depth refrigerator was a lemon. It went down more ways than I can count and over the years I probably spent more than $5,000 in repairs (it was $4,600 new not including panels which were probably around $1,200 at the time – 2005). I got very frustrated with the fridge being down for weeks at a time and would periodically look into how much it would cost to replace it. Each time I did, I estimate it would cost $2,000 more (so $6,000 then $8,000 etc.). Finally this last time I really gave up and when confronted with having to replace another $2,000 part – again – I said “it doesn’t matter, let’s get rid of it.” Weird size, counter depth, and looking for a different brand (got Dacor) I get backed into a corner and have to shell out $11,000 for a new panel-ready fridge (the stainless steel panels are $1,600 if you buy them separately from Dacor). (The direct replacement GE model by this time is about $8,000 for comparison.) Still swooning over the fridge cost I go and finally get a quote from the cabinet company for the fridge panels. $6,200 without the $2,400 installation. For (nice looking) pieces of wood. Not the fridge – just the panels. I am now looking for another cabinet company – even if they don’t match quite right I will get over it. P.S.
When I had my kitchen renovated, I wanted off white upper cabinets and garnet red lower cabinets. My 100 year old house is kind of open concept and the kitchen is what you see when you open the front door so I was anticipating a sea of white and I thought lower cabinets and a different color would be the way to go. I live in a fairly small town and my contractor was just adamantly against it. So I didn’t do it. And it’s fine. He was right. I DO have color on the walls and it looks nice. I had to give up my garnet red dream.
What drives me crazy as a REALTOR is see a freshly remodeled kitchen and seeing wall plugs on the backsplash. I will see this beautiful material on the backsplash and then see these outlets glaring out at you. They make these amazing strips now that you can conceal under your lighting cabinet strip that even have USB plugs in them (what I chose for my own remodel) or you can put them in the crook of the counter and lower cabinet under the edge.
Talk about perfect timing! I have “signed out” several subway tile samples from our local tile store. We’re having the Tuscan vibe tile removed and a classic handmade subway tile installed. I’m thinking of having the grout the same color as the tile so it’s a smooth canvas in order to let the granite be the star of the show! I’m trying to decide on a herringbone design or off set design. Your thoughts are much appreciated! 🤩
I think the key thing to keep in mind if you want a colorful kitchen (or any room really, but as mentioned the kitchen is the room where this is going to have the biggest consideration) is to ask yourself if in two years you decide you hate it now, how much effort and expense would it be to change/replace? For example, if the kitchen walls are bright turquoise, that’s a pretty easy fix, you could probably knock that out over the weekend. Turquoise cabinets can be repainted, but it would be enough of an ordeal that’s it’s worth considering if maybe you could be satisfied with white cabinets with really fun, bright hardware, or even white cabinets with turquoise doors. Then finally having the countertops as a turquoise laminate would be a nightmare to change out, really expensive and not something most people could just take care of themself, so just go with something neutral that will match your dream turquoise kitchen and also the orange kitchen you’re going to change it all to two years later because you hate turquoise now.
Those hot pink and teal kitchens were giving me anxiety! My kitchen is miniscule. I’m about to put in open shelves. And it’s not a big space for the shelving either. Cabinets would make the space feel even smaller. I have very minimal kitchen gadgets so this will work well for me. My pantry is not yet built either but nearly half of it will be for storage space as I couldn’t possibly fill it all with food.
You must have been reading my kitchen notes. I just completed a kitchen renovation from the studs up. I designed and built everything but I hired the electrical and plumbing. I agree with everything you said. My cabinets go to the ceiling 10ft up bc I refuse to clean grease/dust up there. No open shelves bc I have a China and crystal cabinet that does that work, built in Trashcan bc I don’t want to see it or trip over it. Also a floor to ceiling 6ft wide 1 foot deep pantry so nothing gets lost. While I did go with a soft white cabinet color my granite is blue dunes in the leather finish. The backsplash is a marble 4×12 subway in colors to compliment the granite. Have no dangling lights or head bangers as my tall guys like to call them. We found that the way the kitchen is set up that they detracted from the view and visually cut the kitchen up making it look smaller. I did not do paneled appliances and the one I would do would be the dishwasher. But or dishwasher was pretty new so we chose to wait till it dies then replace it with a paneled one. Yep o have the panel in waiting. Lol. And lordy when you said no to double islands I thought this guy knows. I agree. As an avid home cook it would be ridiculous to cook in a kitchen l Iike that. Mine follows the work triangle even better than the builders version. I spent a lot of time plotting where I was going to place my goods. It was time well spent.
Thanks Nick for your mistakes article series! We learn a lot from your ideas! I see a lot of trendy styles out there! However, I don’t really like all that I see! I agree with most of what you say. There’s a lot of common sense in it ! Sometimes, designers swear by some trends although they scream lack of functionality which is what we’re after, after all! 😃😃😃
HELP! I have open hanging shelves above my sink next to the stove, it divides my kitchen from the open plan dining/living room. In other words best cabinet real estate, dirtiest place to have open shelves. Without walling off my kitchen what can I do to get rid of the awful open shelves? Can’t say how much I hate the open shelves, get fruit flies, you have to wash everything before it can used.
At the beginning, your color catastrophes, I like the 2nd photo with deep aqua cabinets w red countertop. This looks very much like what you would see in a Mediterranean or South American home. Lively and warm, though I could do without all the other stuff hanging around. I think all the tchotchkes make it seem cluttered. If this was paired with rustic furniture, I think it would work.
I also dislike built-in ranges. It’s impossible to pull them out to clean under and around them. If you really want a vermin free environment you need to clean under your range twice/year. I also like the fridge to not be boxed in by cabinetry so it can be cleaned easily and replaced easily if necessary. Everything else you can build in to your heart’s content. I have a more hardcore functional attitude towards kitchens than most.
I like open shelving because with ADHD it’s easier to remember all my items if I can see them. This is also why I like pot racks. However, I do acknowledge that it’s easier to keep your kitchen looking nice if there are doors on your cabinets. My solution? etched or lightly frosted glass cabinetry with interior lighting that you can turn on and off. It blurs or flat out hides a lot of the boring stuff when the light is off, but when it’s on, the general outlines of your items are visible and help you remember that it’s one of your options. And it keeps the dust off the dishes
Hey Nick- Love your website and your take on design. There’s one mistake that many people make that you missed. That is to hire a design professional, and not to try to do a job like a kitchen on their own. With a kitchen, there are so many aesthetic and technical pieces that need to be pulled together on a specific budget bracket that often is frighteningly high at first glance. A professional is a cost, but they help to focus priorities and your vision. A good designer that specializes in kitchen design will be money well invested.
Good timing as in July this year I moved into a new to me place and discovered quickly that what looked like a great, modern renovated kitchen, had great appliances ina poorly designed space. I’m now in the throes of planning a renovation that I never thought I’d do and need all the advice I can get. But am left a bit confused: if not too neutral and not too colourful, what’s the happy medium?! Lol.
Historically in the 19th century people had open shelving. The instant that closed cabinets were offered, people went for them immediately. Kitchens in use get a nasty coating on everything composed of steam/dust/oil. It settles everywhere. It is annoying to get off. It is much easier to wipe a cabinet down than it is to wash every. single. dish. you. own.
One of the problems that I have with my kitchen is the size of the work triangle. There is too much space between where I chop the veggies at then get them to the stove top. I either have to CAREFULLY carry my cutting board to the skillet or put all my prepped food in bowls before I start cooking. It seems to me that we need to consider how the hug kitchen will be used more. You have an excellent point about recycle bins etc….