I always design a kitchen as if it were my own home, and I don’t believe in a lot of the gimmicky things you see out there. There are many theories you may read or hear about that we find are not actualities in the real world.
Manufacturers today offer hundreds and hundreds of accessories to keep up with the Jones’s, and the ones that work most efficiently are usually some of the more basic options.
I steer my clients towards the things I know will work and match their needs rather than loading the kitchen up with gadgets that are just going jump the price up without necessarily giving them any more benefit. I’m very practical when it comes to designing and using the accessories in the appropriate manner. For example, which drawer solution below would work best for you? The answer is… It depends…
To answer this, I will ask you a lot of probing questions about your lifestyle so that I can more appropriately help you design a kitchen you’re going to love to not only work and cook in every day but also entertain and live in. It is a moving component, and by that I mean there’s a big difference between the kitchen needs of:
1) a single bachelor or bachelorette
2) a young couple without kids
3) a family raising two or three young children
4) a family who has already raised their kids, have two off in college, one married, and one still at home in high school
5) an empty nester
There are very specific and different needs rolling forward for each of the scenarios mentioned above based on where they are in their life and what their future plans are. For example, empty nesters are not concerned about bringing the soccer team back over for lunch. Thus, there are completely different focuses. Yet, the kitchen has to function well for all five of those different scenarios.
Every kitchen has to function in a specific way, and a good designer will slightly tweak the differences that are going to make your kitchen more unique, more appropriate, and more durable. All these considerations come into play when considering the cabinet finishes or countertops you should be using or what kind of clearances you’re going to need around the island. The experienced designer will help guide you and base things on how you expect to use the space. You’re making a considerable investment. Your kitchen should be unique and best suited to work with your lifestyle. It SHOULD be and CAN be PERFECT for you!
Last year, Kitchen Designs by Ken Kelly did 125 kitchens. We remained the #1 Wood-Mode dealer in the tri-state (NY, NJ, CT) and jumped up to #7 in the country… so what we share is information based on our 30 years in business and what we do every day in the real world on a large scale. As Randy Jackson always says on American Idol… we like to “keep it real.”
