Traditional Kitchens: How Do You Design Them?

Traditional kitchens tend to emphasize formality, and they are also highly structured. Their timeless features, which create feelings of nostalgia, often include brass fixtures and hardware, granite or marble counter tops, classic furniture styles, cabinet doors with detailed panels, and often—a crystal chandelier.

Remodeling your kitchen

If you plan to remodel your kitchen in the traditional style, be sure to write down its exact dimensions from wall to wall, along with doorways, doors, windows, and anything else that is structural. At this time, you should also decide if you are going to remove a wall and expand your kitchen into another room. Since you are aiming for symmetry and balance, determine if any doors or windows should be replaced or removed. As you aim for visual impact while making certain that your kitchen will function well at the same time, select a focal point (such as a new range) and be sure that it is clearly visible from the entrance that is used most often when entering the kitchen. Your focal point should also be flanked by matching cabinets to maintain the symmetry of your design.

To carry out the design, you will want to choose appliances that complement the overall design instead of the stark, stainless steel variety. Along with being efficient, today’s appliances are configured to fit behind cupboard doors and beneath cupboards to maintain the traditional theme. This means that you can position your refrigerator so that it does not interfere with your plan, perhaps by hiding it within cabinet panels.

The sink generally overlooks the garden, and the windows will be wide with deep granite- or marble-topped window ledges. Make sure that your storage areas will be convenient to use, because your plan should be convenient as well as impressive. Also, in a traditional kitchen, a preparation island is favored over a peninsula because it is more symmetric and more in keeping with the theme. Above all, your kitchen should be highly detailed, and it will probably be relatively expensive but very worthwhile to create.

Natural light is also an essential element of your design, and traditional kitchens make extensive use of sunlight, along with appropriate artificial lighting. They also serve as centers of family interaction and activity, as they did in the past, while fostering a sense of comfort, stability, and general well-being that most of us associate with the word “home.”

Modern kitchens

Those who opt for a modern kitchen usually choose between two design paths. One aims to create an overall theme based on modern art and another selects the most technologically advance features and appliances on the market. With the artistic approach, the focus will be on clean lines, the kitchen will be devoid of any type of decoration or knick-knack, and the appliances will be color-coordinated. With the technological approach the appliances will be computerized, and they may include a computer where portable devices can be recharged. (To balance these two choices, you can always consult with a qualified modern designer.)

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 3:06 am and is filed under Kitchen Cabinets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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