Top Ten Trends in Kitchen Design

On Monday night for my Materials and Resources class (INTD 60), we visited Kitchens of Diablo in Danville, CA. The showroom was beautiful — showing a lot of variety in designs from the modern kitchen with clean lines to the traditional kitchen with grand embellishments and wood detailing. Shelley Lober (the owner) graciously hosted us and provided a lot rich information, showcasing her depth of knowledge in the field. I learned a lot about the trends in Kitchen Design.

So... I bring to you the TOP TEN TRENDS IN KITCHEN DESIGN as told by Rashida.

1. Traditional kitchens are a thing of the past. Go contemporary!

People are now into clean, sleek lines and easy to clean surfaces. All of the extra embellishments and ornate wood carvings are phasing out. This extends to the hardware, cabinetry, and counter-tops. Of course, you have to know your client. Given the location of Kitchens of Diablo, their clientele is not the "trendy" type so they have to cater to their audience.

Too ornate and too much wood detailing. Beautiful but not trendy.

Traditional in every sense of the word.

Contemporary kitchen. Some contemporary kitchens go a little too far into the space age (or the 70's...think Austin Powers). This is a livable contemporary space.

2. Parlez-vous français? Non! French Country kitchens are so passé!

Again, they are too ornate and often times use glazing.

Can you spot the glazing?

I guess the french like this mint color or something

3. Glazed cabinets? Not anymore.

The rustic, worn, distressed look of cabinets are staying where they belong... in an antique shop. Good thing we didn't apply the optional glaze coat on our cabinets in our master bathroom remodel.

These cabinets definitely look old. I thing this look gives too many extra features that aren't needed for a kitchen.

The glazing kind of makes the cabinets look fake.

4. Bullnose counter-tops are also old news!

Variations of straight edges are more popular for counter-tops  If you absolutely must have a rounded corner, go with an O'Gee or Pencil nosing.

Bullnose corner! Don't do it!

Other corner types. Try them out!

5. Gray, gray everywhere!

Paint is going gray. Cabinets are being stained and/or painted gray. Flooring is becoming more gray. DuraSupreme (a prominent cabinet provider) has their line of gray cabinets. Do you? (This trend is so prominent right now and I am so glad! I love gray!)

Stunning!

If you can't go with a full gray cabinet, there are other options. Cabinet manufacturers are now coming out with a color called blue corn (left). So instead of the coffees, chocolates, or espressos in cabinets, the trend is to see cabinets that have a tint of gray in the stain.

6. Soft-close drawers are replacing the standard drawers.

Sick of your kids slamming cabinet doors shut? Well this can be prevented with new drawer technology. At a certain point away from the cabinet, the drawers glide shut instead of slamming shut. BluMotion developed this soft-close technology.

7. Lower cabinetry and drawers should not be repetitious like the upper cabinetry.

Lower cabinets should not repeat a consistent pattern around the kitchen. Instead, there should be various sized drawers and/or cabinets.

Don't do this. The lower cabinetry is a series of drawer cabinet, drawer, cabinet, drawer...

These are updated cabinets, but still repetitive.

There are full banks of drawers and full banks of cabinets. Beautiful!

Breaking repetition is not just for aesthetic purposes, but for practicality and functionality as well. Which brings me to #8...


8. Lower cabinets are being replaced with drawers.
Drawers are much more functional than cabinets for the lower levels. Gone are the days of laying on the floor trying to find that one pot cover that is stuffed all the way in the back of your cabinet. Get off the floor with your dignity in tact!

These are alright, but that means it's a two-step process. You have to open the cabinet doors first, then pull out the drawers.

The center island is full of drawers!

9. No more visible frames. Use full-overlay cabinets.
People no longer like to see the support of cabinets. They just want to see the drawers and the doors, creating clean lines.

Huge drawers with no visible frame.

And finally, the best for last...

10. Touch cabinets!
This is by far the coolest thing that I have seen. BluMotion created a cabinet that opens with a light touch anywhere on the cabinet. For all you techies out there, these touch cabinets are a must have! For creatives out there who are trying to get their techie significant other to get involved in the design of their new kitchen, show them this and they'll happily get involved. It is a little pricey right now ($1700 just for two mechanisms), but once the price comes down, I am sure they will be all the rage.

So with all that said, I think I found my dream kitchen in the display room of Kitchens of Diablo.

It has darker brownish-gray wood with full overlay cabinets/drawers. Horizontal clean lines with the hardware.  Soft-close drawers with two BluMotion touch cabinets. An island with cool grayish-blue cabinetry. And a really funky glass counter-top for the island.

Not to mention there are many drawers for pots/pans, baking sheets, garbage cans, and even a counter-top garage for small, portable appliances. But one of the best parts is my new love, porcelain wood tile. It looks like wood, but way easier to maintain (more on this later).

Dream big everyone!

{Rashida}