After sharing my own kitchen remodel recently here, I started thinking about how I’ve had clients and even readers who have read my posts and think just because I’ve said something in one post about the design of a particular element or space, that it should apply everywhere.
I don’t mean to suggest that one single answer to a design question will apply to every situation.
Take a look at this post. Look at how there are so many questions below with different scenarios about how to run your wood floor. Then, in this post about which direction to run your tile floor, there are even more unique situations. Each project really has it’s own set of givens or parameters, and each problem or scenario should be answered with those parameters in mind.
While I have my design background and education to guide my recommendations, I realize that my solutions are not a one size fits all. What works for one client with their particular home, function, style, and budget, may not work for another. The parameters change in every situation, therefore, the solution changes.
Design is like that. And that is really what I hope to impart here on my blog. That’s what makes design so fluid, creative, and interesting.
Now, I do make recommendations and write posts about solutions that work in most or many similar cases. That doesn’t mean every situation, but sometimes I do feel that a solution is so common, so over reaching, so effective in most circumstances, that I make statements of opinion.
Statements like these:
Taking your kitchen cabinets to the ceiling can result in a space that appears taller, more open, larger and more expansive.
End your kitchen backsplash with it aligning at the upper cabinets, not at the countertop, for a neat transition of materials.
An oddly shaped kitchen island is not a good thing.
And in this post about pantries. In it, I mentioned how I wanted a unique door on my “future pantry” that was going to be relocated when I did my kitchen remodel. One of the things I love so much about my remodeled kitchen is my new walk-in pantry. Honestly, it’s not so much that it’s a walk-in, but that it is now in my kitchen and not inconveniently located down the hall. It’s that it has more storage and space than my tiny previous pantry did.
It doesn’t mean that I prefer a walk-in pantry in every situation.
As a matter of fact, many times I’ve redone pantries to be housed in cabinetry and in fact, they produced much more storage than they could have as a walk-in. Why? Because the layout of the kitchen and the architectural features rendered the storage better used in this way. The parameters changed and therefore the solution did.
Just to illustrate, here was a pantry that had a closet with doors, however it was so shallow, you couldn’t really walk into it. It had been built to appear that way, but as it was, it just didn’t utilize the cubic space in that area to it’s fullest advantage.
Kitchen Pantry - Before Remodel
Kitchen Pantry - Demolished
So, we ripped it out. You can see all the possibilities now for storage, can’t you?
Here’s how it was completed. There were even spice racks built in on the back of the doors to get more storage out of this space.
Spice racks built on backs of cabinet doors - custom cabinetry
Kitchen Pantry - Remodeled with new cabinetry for better storage
If the layout in my kitchen had been conducive to this style of pantry, I would have gone this direction. My pantry, however, was best laid out as a walk-in, with the door as a kind of visual feature in the kitchen.
In no way is a design solution applicable in every single instance. (Well, maybe the oddly shaped kitchen islands one. :-) However, there are so many times where one solution works so well in so many situations, that it deserves to be mentioned......with proof attached.
My blog is full of opinions and solutions. They are intended to be helpful for people remodeling or designing interiors who might be looking for some advice for their similar situation.
Hmm, I think I have enough to fill a book. :-)
I’ve been getting some questions coming in with homes that have travertine tile and even though I’ve posted so much about how to update your look if you have that flooring, people still need personalized answers.
Today I’m sharing two examples of questions that I recently reviewed. If you have this material in your home, this post might help you with an update too…….