Kelly's New Kitchen - It's Personal, Smart, and Flexible

Kelly's kitchen (see Kelly's picture on the right sidebar and wave!) was just finished a couple of months ago after a year of planning and 2 months of renovation! While our images quickly show the overall design of the kitchen, there are MANY features, both aesthetic and functional, that bear dissecting and sharing with our readers. 

Design is often the art of nuance, and this kitchen is all about nuance!! You'll see how soon - this is the start of our series! In each post, we will provide important tips, insight on how a designer thinks, the collaborative process and product information.

When you design a small kitchen, in this case, close to 200 sq ft, (small for the suburbs, huge for Manhattan-and we have (separate) personal living experience in no less than 6 Manhattan kitchens) every decision, no matter how small, is critical! With no additional dining space in the home and needing to accommodate a wide range of activities, it's a design that is either pass or fail once kitchen living begins post-renovation.

Kelly's new kitchen reflects the choices and compromises of real life needs and desires of a young family in their first home. It's a mix of DIY, designing around architectural elements we chose to keep in place and others that we chose to remove and replace. It's about designing with the end always in sight, including the surprisingly important decorative layer.

The kitchen (as many do) needed to serve these purposes:

  • A social kitchen - comfortable to be in for long periods of time
  • Able to accommodate as many people as reasonably possible
  • Appear as spacious as possible while balancing storage needs
  • Allow for a decorative layer including "real" artwork and treasured artifacts
  • Capable of change, which we will talk about in depth later, possibly the most exciting aspect of this kitchen renovation
  • To add an enhanced dimension of efficiency and function to the cooking process
  • Accommodate multi-functional activities (more about that later)
  • Reflect a highly personal design aesthetic overall

We are fortunate to have wonderful partners who donated their products and who had the foresight to see that this kitchen design would provide intelligent and interesting solutions to common design issues. We're proud of how it all came together, and as mother and daughter, we didn't even have a whole lot of drama during the process! Ok, we each took turns with some creative techniques of persuasion...true enough! I may or may not have coached Kelly on how to present controversial design ideas to her husband, a "trust but verify" kind of guy. ;)

So, thank you to our partners:

Next up, Kelly talks appliances - what was selected and why, where they should be best positioned, features, design integration, and more. Here's our nuclear family-the only one missing is baby Annabelle.

Decorate - A Book by Holly Becker of Decor8 Blog

BUY THE BOOKBUY THE BOOK!Decorate, a new book by Holly Becker of the iconic blog, Decor8, is an ambitious book (that's the word that comes to mind). There is an enormous number of images for maximum visual delight, clearly and well written text as well as the ability to quickly drill down to the essence of each chapter and core message via quotes, lists, tips, shaded content boxes and other visual aids.

I love this kind of reference material. Give me the option to read or to look quickly for information. To me, this is a useful format, or mix of formats.

I am privileged to have been quoted in the kitchen section of this book in numerous places. It is an honor to me that Holly Becker sought out my insight on the topic of kitchen design. That said, while Holly Becker is a respected and treasured blogging buddy/colleague/friend since early 2007, I have declined to review books by other design industry peers, some of whom had been colleagues of mine (past tense-unfortunately, declining to review a book costs relationships) for many years. It's lovely that I am quoted in this book, but if I did not find the book to have real value in terms of solid and quality design information, I would pass it by and not review it.

In the kitchens section, on page 148, the introductory paragraph is such an inspiring yet succinct, description of what the role of the kitchen can be in our lives. To get this philosophy right, puts anyone on the right track who is planning a kitchen renovation. 

There are countless references to personalizing the kitchen in Decorate that are truly creative. It takes some thought to be creative, which means it takes quality time. More often than not, the content that I see around the web or elsewhere which focuses on creative solutions for kitchen storage, design, whatever it is, is sorely lacking in creative thinking.

The suggestions, tips, ideas on personalizing the kitchen in Decorate, are both enlightening and fresh and are accessible to nearly everyone (perhaps with the exception of the Michael S. Smith sink for Kallista) ;) 

The sections of the kitchen chapter are sort of divided into how we live - Casual Eating, Cook's Kitchen, Built-in Storage, Urban Kitchen and others. I find that the text teaches by describing various lifestyle scenarios which helps the reader to visualize a look more completely. But, it goes even further, describing the feelings that certain creative ideas may elicit, such as mismatching china, how to design in comfort and other creative ideas. At the end of the day, when you stand at the doorway to your kitchen, it's lovely to feel the way you had hoped you would feel at the start of the process, when finally surveying the result of all that work. 

Most of the kitchens in the book are white and modern, but with personal touches, which is the point of the book. You will not find cookie cutter kitchens from manufacturers' brochures here. These are each a personal expression and illustrations of that classic design conflict of function vs. aesthetics that each of us has to reconcile for ourselves - hopefully under the guidance of a kitchen design professional who is understanding of the client's needs and desires.

I'm also thrilled that the social kitchen, a concept that I've talked about for some years, has a special section as well. The advice is there for the taking, without scolding or demanding or even nudging. It's positive and enthusiastic voice is the voice of the Holly I know and many of us are familiar with. The rest of the book? It's awesome. Decorate.

Martha Stewart's Morning Living Program - 10 Tips To A Great Kitchen Design

Well, we covered a lot of territory in the chat on kitchens with Brian Kelsey (Kelsey On The House) host of Martha Stewart's Morning Living radio show on SiriusXM in which I was the guest. I know, since Brian is a lover of all things "home improvement" we could have kept the conversation going for a long time!

Here is a wrap up of ten tips for a great kitchen design:

1. How long will you be in your home? The answer to this question will guide you toward budget, style and issues of function. If you will be in your home less than 5 years - think in terms of resale and be conservative in your selections. Longer than 5 years, put more of "yourself" into the kitchen design to create a kitchen that works for you.

2. Speaking of personal design, that is surely where we are headed in recent years. Do the hard work up front to determine what is a habit and what is something you really desire in the kitchen. For example - do you want the dishwasher on the adjacent wall of kitchen because you are used to it or because you really like to use it in that position? Beware of kneejerk reactions - think carefully!

3. What is timeless? I think it is safe to say that classic wood species such as cherry, maple, and other, somewhat "quiet" grained woods in brown stained finishes are truly timeless, as they communicate a classic furniture quality. Whites as well are classic for kitchen cabinetry - who doesn't love a white kitchen?

4. How to get value? Value is received, as above, in a timeless design, in timeless products and components, in quality products which will last over time. It is a sustainable way of thinking as well.

5. What are cool products? Having been to many design shows, I can tell you that sinks with glass worktop covers to conceal the sink from an open kitchen are hot! Hardware in warm finishes and hardware that is more bulky in nature (more bang for the buck) works well in today's kitchens, and of course, hardware is the jewelry of the kitchen! A warm/modern look for the kitchen is what many people are thinking about now.

6. Appliances! Appliances are becoming increasingly concealed as the kitchen floorplan is becoming more open to surrounding rooms. Even ovens are being seen behind closed doors. Panels on appliances do the trick to disguise the function behind the cabinetry facade.

7. Social Network - The kitchen is the social hub of the house and we are seeing larger, multifunctional islands being designed into the kitchen. Easy to communicate with others and great for assisting the chef or a spot to use for entertaining purposes such as arranging wine and wine glasses on one end, islands serve endless social functions. 

8. Where to start? With so many activities happening in our kitchens, write a list of all the activities you see going on in your kitchen. What is your lifestyle? How much importance and use will certain activities take on in the kitchen? Be realistic about your lifestyle and a functional kitchen design will follow!

9. Healthy Kitchen Design - Appliances today have healthy features! Grills, steamers, steam cooking in ovens, rotisseries, filtered water in our taps, fresher refrigerator storage, induction cooking - these are some examples of how appliances can truly work to produce and enhance a more healthy lifestyle.

10. Take your time! The kitchen was not built in a day! The more time you can shed old habits and hone in on what is really important to your family "now", the better your kitchen will be aligned to the real "you." 

Below, a preliminary floorplan for an open kitchen. Cozy, social, ahhhhh!