Archives for June 2017

Do you have a kitchen the size of a postage stamp? Is your long galley kitchen hideous and impractical no matter how you rearrange it?

Perhaps it’s time for a remodel.

Use these five narrow kitchen ideas to transform your kitchen into a functional, livable space.

1: Use Bright Colors

Do you want your tiny kitchen to look big, bold and inviting?

Opt for bright colors. Lighter hues are more inviting than cool, darker ones. Also, the brighter your kitchen, the more open and spacious it will look.

Here are some creative narrow kitchen ideas to brighten your kitchen:

• Make room for a skylight.
• Add a window on opposite sides of the kitchen.
• Use glossy countertops.

The skylight brings natural light in from above, while the windows let the sunlight beam through the kitchen. This creates natural brightness. To complete the transformation, choose bright colors for your walls and cabinets. Check out these bright designs for inspiration.

2. Use Compact Appliances

Just because your kitchen is small doesn’t mean you should sacrifice floor space for food storage. A standard-size fridge looks out of place in a galley kitchen anyway.

Consider a compact fridge and freezer. This is perhaps one of our most straight-forward narrow kitchen ideas, but it’s also the most practical.

If you’re building a custom kitchen, go with a futuristic solution like this stackable fridge. Technology may even allow for a stackable fridge/freezer combo.

For a traditional, compact solution, choose a side-by-side apartment-style fridge/freezer. These appliances aren’t as tall as standard refrigerators, but they’re still roomy.

A cheaper alternative is to purchase a stand-alone mini fridge and mini freezer.

Arrange them side by side beneath a countertop, and suddenly you have ample floor space! You also have plenty of room to store your groceries.

3. Get Rid Of The Dining Table

What’s the clunkiest piece of furniture in your small kitchen?

It’s the traditional dining table. A stand-alone table isn’t functional in a narrow kitchen. Place it in the center of the room, and all your floor space disappears.

Put it along one wall, and you sacrifice one side of the table where your guests could otherwise sit.

Maximize your space by merging the counter with the tabletop. swap both out in favor of an island. Here’s what you can do with an island in a small kitchen:

• Use it as a food prep area or space to eat.
• Ditch regular chairs for bar stools that fit under the island.
• Expand storage space with built-in cabinets under the island.

4. Use Hooks And Cabinets

Are you frustrated with how few cabinets fit into your galley kitchen?

Install hooks for your pots and pans. As long as you keep a clean, dust-free kitchen, there’s no reason why your cooking utensils can’t be exposed.

Also, this suggests that good food is regularly made in your kitchen.

5. Add Counters Around The Perimeter

If you can’t sacrifice the traditional dining table but you’re dying for more counter space, simply put counters around the perimeter of your kitchen.

Opt for narrow surfaces, so that floor space is still available. Small everyday appliances can live at the counter’s corners, leaving ample space for food prep.

It’s time to bring your tiny kitchen to its full potential. Do you need help coming up with more narrow kitchen ideas?
Book a free consultation with us to kickstart your kitchen’s transformation.

Are you thinking of remodeling your kitchen? Maybe you just want to add more personality with a new backsplash?

You aren’t alone. Kitchens are one of the most popular rooms to get remodeled — and with good reason. They’re a focal room in any home, with tons of time spent cooking and socializing in their space.

Use our handy guide of these nine kitchen tile backsplash ideas to upgrade your kitchen in a unique and fun way.

Let’s dive into this comprehensive list of chic easy ways to add personality to your kitchen with a beautiful backsplash!

9 Trending Kitchen Tile Backsplash Ideas

These ideas are creative ways to add flare to your kitchen without all the fuss. Each distinctive backsplash idea is modern and exciting to give the room a twist.

Reclaimed Wood

Go eco-friendly and warm by bringing the outdoors into your kitchen with a reclaimed wood backsplash. Tiles made from reclaimed wood have a rustic appeal that can soften sterile decor.

Light Tiles and Dark Grout

Take basic light-colored tiles to next level decor by adding dark grout. The contrast can add a funky twist to an otherwise traditional backsplash.

Faux Finish

Use tiles that mock other, more expensive materials for a classy look on the cheap. For example, rough hewn terracotta tiles can mock an industrial brick look for less.

Reflective

Mirrored tiles can reflect light and brighten up an otherwise dark space. They add a glitzy look reminiscent of a disco ball.

Metal Tiles

From embossed tin tiles to sleek stainless steel, metal tiles can add a je ne sais pas to any kitchen backsplash. They can be used to create beautiful mosaics or to establish a refined polished look.

Pop of Color

In a kitchen with mostly neutral colors, a vibrant tile backsplash can add the perfect pop of color. Turquoise, yellow, or orange are some of our favorite picks to add that burst of bright.

Dark Dramatic

In stark contrast to our previous suggestion, a dark tile can add striking drama to a light decor. Cabinets and countertops that are nearer to white in hew can be offset with a moody somber colored tile backsplash.

Groovy Patterns

Add contemporary edge with a funkily patterned tile backsplash. Endless possibilities mean any furnishings can be enhanced by an interesting design. Checkered, striped, chevron… anything goes!

Simply Understated

Sometimes less is more. In a room that has a lot of focal points, a simple basic tile can be the perfect accent. Basic white with a clean grout can be the perfect understated emphasis for other design elements in the kitchen.

Ready, Set, Remodel!

More and more people are investing in remodeling their homes as home improvement spending sets to reach a record high this year.

Are you one of them? If you do it right, remodeling your kitchen with gorgeous decor can help add great value to your home.

Use these kitchen tile backsplash ideas to help you make great design decisions in your kitchen! Better yet, visit our showroom today and get more great remodeling ideas to perfectly suit your tastes.

Are you ready to redo your kitchen? Of course, you are! Even minor kitchen renovations can yield up to 83% ROI when you sell your house. In other words, the value of your home increases by $183 for every $100 you spend. And, in the meantime, you can enjoy the comforts of a new kitchen!

If you’re considering adding a kitchen island with seating, you aren’t alone. One look at celebrity kitchens and you can see that this way to add comfort and functionality is here to stay.

7 Amazing Ideas for a Kitchen Island with Seating

Check out these ideas for kitchen islands with seating to help spark your next kitchen remodeling project.

1. Seating On More Than One Side

If you enjoy entertaining or have a large family, a kitchen island with seating on two or three sides might be for you.

Instead of sitting in a line, people can sit at a right angle or across from each other. This doesn’t only make the conversation flow better. It makes it easier to pass food and refill wine glasses!

2. Integrated Table

A recent trend uses the side of the island where you’d commonly put stools to create the back of a table-height bench. You’d then use the bench for seating on one side of a table. The result is a distinct booth-like seating area that is cozy yet integrated with the island.

This design can be used in any size kitchen. But it’s ideal for kitchens with enough space for an island or table but not both.

If you’re fortunate enough to have an L-shaped kitchen island, you can use two sides for bench backrests for booth-like seating.

3. More than a Breakfast Bar

Instead of creating a breakfast bar, why not add deep and versatility to the seating part of your kitchen island?

A “breakfast bar” is a surface deep enough for a cup of coffee and plate of fruit and toast but not a complete place setting and serving dishes.

The deeper you make your kitchen island with seating, the more room and comfort you provide to family and guests.

4. Seating Above Counter Level

If don’t have the room for a deep island, create a well-defined place for people to sit by adding a bar-height surface. An advantage of this design idea is that you can overlap the bar-height and counter-height surfaces by 6-12 inches.

That gives guests more room to eat and drink without using more floor space. And on the food prep side of the counter, you get bonus open storage space under the overhang!

5. Seating Below Counter Level

Another way to create a distinct seating area is to have a surface that is below counter level. This works well with wide islands. For example, By lowering one end of the island, you create table-height seating.

This is a popular design for young families. Everyone can stay connected and help each other when homework, play, and meal prep happen at the same time.

6. Two Zones

Most kitchen islands have seating that puts people across from the food prep area. If you’d rather not have all eyes on your slicing and dicing techniques, create a kitchen island with two zones.

With this design idea, 1/4 of the wall space facing the island is free of appliances and food prep surfaces. At the end away from where food is prepared, there is seating on two adjacent sides. This creates the visual effect of two zones on the island.

7. Storage

If you have room for a deep kitchen island with seating, consider adding cabinets on the side with seats.

Besides giving you more storage, it can make that side of the island more visually interesting when viewed from other parts of the room. The trick is to keep the cabinetry simple and use hardware that won’t snag pant legs.

Wrapping Up

For more great ideas for remodeling your home, check our online gallery or visit us in the San Diego area. We’re here to help you envision your best home!

If there’s one area of the house we take for granted, it’s the kitchen pantry, even though it’s vital for storage and sometimes even food prep and it gets a lot of foot traffic.

In fact, studies show we spend twice as much time in the kitchen than any other part of the home — 72 minutes a day.

Kitchen Pantry Ideas

So why not upgrade the pantry and add a little style? These seven style tips will not only ensure your kitchen will look better, it’ll also make the pantry more organized in the process.

1. Use Your Space.

A pantry is anywhere you store food, appliances, or kitchenware. Any dead space qualifies: crawlspaces, hallways, cabinet spaces, anywhere cool and dry.

Coming up with kitchen pantry ideas means rethinking what a pantry is. It’s not just a food closet! If it’s close to a countertop, it can be a pantry. Use that space to make a statement.

2. Light It Up.

When we think about pantry lighting at all, we tend to light them like closets. Save space and boost your style by using recessed lighting, preferably something that’ll make it feel warm and inviting.

If you have a large room, there’s no limit to how grandiose you can go. Just make sure your lighting is both powerful and long-lasting.

3. Shelf and Storage.

Depending on the size of your pantry, you can make the shelving as impressive as your kitchen countertops. Go floor-to-ceiling, install a secondary prep area or workstation, and find a stylish mobile ladder to get to it all.

Remember not to go deeper than 12″ on most shelving, though.

4. Organization as Style.

Disorderliness is never stylish. Use clear containers for loose dry foodstuffs and label each one. Use tension rods, wicker baskets, or pull-out storage units to save space. The visual impact is immediate.

Whatever you do, group various kinds of foods together and rotate everything so that the new stuff stays separate from the old.

5. What About the Doors?

No one thinks of the pantry doors when coming up with kitchen pantry ideas, but we should. They’re not only the biggest space savers, they’re the part your guests will see most often.

Doors that swing out are always best, but sliding doors are more stylish and functional at once. And nothing says you can’t use swinging doors to hide more shelves or racks.

6. Reclaim Your Pantry!

Speaking of doors, reclaimed and repurposed materials are one of the hottest eco-friendly kitchen trends right now, and your pantry door is a great place to experiment with them. Make a statement by using repurposed wood for both doors and shelving.

If you’re into glass cabinets, reclaimed glass works in a pinch for pantry and pantry cabinet doors as well.

7. Make It Useful.

Using every bit of pantry space will also make a statement when done right. One hot kitchen trend is a blackboard on the pantry door for grocery lists. Find dead space around your fridge for easy access vegetable bins. And pull-out racks can give you several pantries, all over your kitchen.

It’s easy to transform your pantry once you stop thinking of it as a closed-off area of your kitchen.

Invite it into your home as a separate room with its own sense of style and its own character, and watch how much easier your kitchen becomes to spend time in.

You’ll cut down on prep time and impress visitors to boot!

And, if you need help implementing any of these ideas, we’re only a call or email away!

Is your kitchen suffering from a bad case of the 90s? Upgrade your kitchen to the 21st century!

A sleek, elegant kitchen can be the crown jewel of a home. It can make a home more inviting for parties and events while also providing a comfortable space for kids to do homework or everyday lounging.

Looking to for inspiration but don’t know where to start? We’ve compiled a list of nine stunning modern kitchen cabinets to spark your kitchen renovation dreams.

1. Dark Veneer Wood Cabinets

This sheik and textured decor will give dimension to your kitchen remodel. Veneer wood cabinets have become very popular over recent years for their natural feel and warmth. They go well with a minimalist style that can give your kitchen a simple yet lavish appeal.

2. Colorful Kitchen Cabinets

Modern doesn’t mean you have to omit all color. Be bold and step away from the standard black and white.

Some inviting kitchen color schemes include pastels like a light blue or yellow. Adding a little color can make kitchens seem a little brighter in natural light and elicit a more homey feel.

3. Glass Cabinets

Glass cabinets open up your kitchen and can give it more of an old-world appearance. It combines the aesthetic benefits of an open shelf style without the perils of those free standing dishes getting covered in dust or simply being knocked to the ground.

4. Stainless Steel Cabinets

For a more future-esque sleek appearance for modern kitchen cabinets, the stainless steel approach is on point.

Simple, shiny, and bound to catch the eye of any and all house guests, stainless steel cabinets are perfect for giving your kitchen remodel a clean and polished look.

5. Two-Color Contrast Cabinets

If you want your kitchen remodel to pop, a bold color contrast is an excellent design choice. Pair an immaculate white with a dark yet loud blue for a look that can’t be ignored.

6. Modern Classic White

The classics are classic for a reason. Clean and crisp, white cabinets will never go out of style. Plus they go with any countertop from granite to polished wood veneers.

7. Cabinets Without Handles

Handle-free cabinets perfectly feed into a minimalist kitchen design. Cutting out the knobs and handles will help clean up any extra clutter taking away from the spacious and clean feel you’re going for in your kitchen.

8. Modular and Geometric Cabinets

Who says all your cabinets need to be the same shape and size. Incorporating geometric shelving and cabinetry of different shapes and sizes can open up a world of decor possibilities for your kitchen remodel.

9. Open Shelving

Perhaps a good solution for opening up kitchen space is to omit cabinets altogether. Open shelving is a simple way to give your kitchen more room to breathe.

Picking the Best Modern Kitchen Cabinets For Your Home

There are thousands of ways to remodel your kitchen into the perfect space for your home. The most important factor is to draw your inspiration from things that speak to your personality and interests.

Want more ideas? Reach out to us for a free consultation to help make your dream kitchen a reality today!