Kitchen Tips for an Open and Airy Feel!

The kitchen is often our pride and joy in the home. It’s a place of community, where the family or friends alike can gather and socialize while also partaking in some cooking or munching. The kitchen is often a place people think of when the words “open” and ” clean” come to mind.

If your looking for a way to re-connect with your kitchen and alter its atmosphere so it may once again become a place that is thought of in the above paragraph, then we have some tips for you!

Since we want “open” to be the primary concept in this instance, we should think of what open means. Open would mean outward, to be seen, not behind something. Open would also be associated with flow, a word often used when describing a room in a home and a persons experience with it. In order to accomplish such things, we need to recognize what in our kitchen clashes with the aforementioned concepts!

A kitchen is generally made up of entirely boxes. containers, cupboards and things of the like! We need to establish a means of dialing down the containment aspect! We don’t need to completely erase the cupboards and those things, but we can wean our way out of them!

Thinking of the cupboards themselves, there is an obvious an aesthetically appealing manner to accomplish a new found feeling of openness!

• Remove the cupboards and replace them with shelves. By replacing the cupboards with shelves you will be able to see the entirety of what was in the cupboards, but at all times now. This will lessen the concept of control and concealment in the kitchen, drastically improving the free flow aspect.
• When transferring to this form of kitchen style, you will want to consider the types of shelves you want. You can do standard shelving units that literally just hold things on top of them, or you can add some form of alteration. If you add some kind of safety bar that extends up the shelves, this will still give you a nice feeling of security for the dishes and things that are on the shelf.  The bars will also give a stronger visual design element that may appeal to you!
• Something else to consider is the material of the shelves. Cohesion is always something to be thought of when altering the home. It’s important there is a balance in rooms, whether it be from color or material. For example if you have a wood dominant kitchen, it would be best to have wooden shelves. However if you have a mostly wooden kitchen with metal accents, then metal shelves wouldn’t be out of the question! It’s important to look at the surroundings and act accordingly!
• Finally, how are the shelves held? Will the shelves be held up with some anchors on the bottom? or will they be attached to some form of decorative column on each end? This area gives way to unique opportunities that can affect the characteristic of the kitchen drastically.

Why not go sit in the kitchen with a sketchbook and a cup of coffee and consider what your kitchen would look like without those bulky cupboards, and a refreshed feeling of flow and space! As always if you have any questions, feel free to call us and we would gladly work with you in developing a truly dream-like kitchen to match your dream home concept!