ShareThisInterior designer Kenneth Brown, host of HGTV's "reDesign," believes that kitchens should "fit what you need in how you use your kitchen. Some people are happy with a hot plate and a mini-fridge; others are gourmet cooks and make meals for 100 people a month."
Here are some tips on creating a workable and beautiful kitchen:
-- Streamline everything.
Make sure you have enough room for storage so there's no clutter on the countertops. If you want to take the clean look a step further, install all the electrical outlets underneath the upper cabinets so you don't have visible outlets cluttering up the backsplash.
-- Create family space.
There should be a safe place for kids to hang out or do homework, and a spot for a computer.
-- Let the kitchen reflect your personality.
One of Brown's favorite projects was the redesign of a kitchen on a very tight budget. He took the doors off the cabinets to expose freshly painted shelves as an alternative to installing new cabinetry.
-- Make tough choices.
There are so many products available now, from cabinet finishes to hardware, that making a choice can seem paralyzing. "That's the biggest problem every homeowner faces," says Brown. "You have to learn to edit and just accept that you're going to stick with one element that's the main feature."
-- Function should always come first.
Brown says his biggest design mistake ever was when he honed Carrara marble for kitchen countertops. "When you hone marble, you're stripping off its finish to give it more of a flat, matte look," he explains. "But you're also stripping off the layer that keeps things from soaking into it." As soon as one wet glass touched the countertop, it was "marked for life." He was good friends with the homeowners, and replaced the countertop with a glossier, much more functional, intact Carrara marble.
Courtesy Kathy McCleary on HGTV.com.
(For thousands of other ideas, visit www.hgtv.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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