Kitchen Obsession: Great Out-Of-The-Box Kitchen Inspirations

I would LOVE to renovate my kitchen- both my husband and I love to cook –(actually Kevin is the cook and I play cook on his off days)  In our house we have a formal living room, formal dining room, formal foyer and kitchen - that makes up the first floor.  We are really BIG on family dinners and try to have a sit down dinner with our kids every night.  We eat in our formal dining room and we play games like: high/low, what's the best “high” part of your day and the “low” the worst part of your day.  This is the only way we get more than a grunt from our kids about their day.  This also involves them in our day and shows them that grown ups have great parts and not so great parts of their life too.  I feel we are really missing the casual eat in and family room part of the kitchen of my dreams.  I do love the look of my eclectic, totally out of the box kitchen but we need to take it up a notch in functionality.

I am constantly scouring images in magazines and on the web for interesting kitchens.  Spaces that are done differently, kitchens that wouldn't date as quickly, kitchens that maximize drama and functionality.  I want a space with a ton of personality (our house has a ton of character- that's code for old piece of crap!)

I want warm, friendly, personalized, sunny, happy and carefree.

Metropolitan home
Like most kitchens ours is the heart of our home and needs to help keep our super busy lives organized and clutter free - everything needs a place.

Sun is so important to me- i want to open the back of the house up to our Awesome backyard that no one uses and that visitors don’t even realize is there.  I want a wall of windows in the kitchen - the morning sun!




MS Living

Apartment therapy

House Beautiful

Coastal living



Jill Kantelberg/ Angus Fergusson



Jonathan tuckey

Richard powers

www.decoriz.com

Desire to inspire

Gianetti designs




www.junkinescapeds.com

Some of these kitchens are quirkier than others, but all challenge the way to think about kitchens.  The hardest thing to juggle when your wanting out of the box is resale value.  Do you do it for yourself and hope in 10 years someone else will appreciate your vision?  In 10 years will that new person rip out any kitchen you put in place anyway.  Hummmmm, what to do?  Everytime I think I’ve found the perfect idea, I find a new picture of something more interesting.  in the end I’m so fickle I might just have my current kitchen forever.  If I were my client, I would have to fire myself.

Kitchens With Character

Let’s generalize here for a minute and look back:
In the 1990’s kitchens had honey wood cabinets, full overlay doors, highly speckled – probably green granite, undermount stainless sink, tumbled stone back splash, ceramic 12 x 12 tile floors and black, white or some stainless appliances.
Since the end of the 90’s the HOOD has arrived, the kitchen of the 2000’s have the big mantle hood, white cabinets (inset doors if high end) or painted cream with glazing, stainless commercial looking appliances, Carrara marble or absolute black-honed granite, different color cabinetry for the island- counter top too, porcelain farm sink, subway tile back splash, picture framed tile motif behind range, wood or limestone floor.
How crazy is it that the most expensive room in the house is so easy to date.  I have done kitchens for clients on the cheap for $20,000 and high end kitchens for $300,000.00 and both can just as easily look completely dated in 10 years or less.  I do love a white kitchen (Christopher Peacock and the movie “Something's Gotta Give” have totally changed what kitchens look like) and I must say my heart skips a beat for a custom mahogany kitchen with inset doors.  A French range can stop me in my tracks and make me giddy with happiness.  But these things are obscenely expensive.  I’m also sick of all kitchens looking the same, I need to see some character in future kitchens.  Below I have compiled a group of kitchen photos that are slightly different, it’s not that they don’t have any of the standard things mentioned above but they have a special feeling that makes them unique.  Please note that I am in New England so most kitchens are traditional although I have done and truly LOVE contemporary Kitchens - these photos are not.
























Now let’s talk about things I think are really great and in my world necessary:  Double sinks and double dishwashers- in our family we all cook, my husband is the main chef but I do love to get in there and tinker actually more than tinker, my kids are also cooks in their own right- so double sinks is a must.  For anyone who entertains often the double dishwasher is a great luxury/necessity.  (I have neither)

My kitchen is not in anyway ideal- we had a week to put together a kitchen to move into the house.  I didn't want to spend much due to only having a week to plan so we went to IKEA for their stainless cabinets.  I thought within a couple years I would redo the kitchen and have something I loved- 4 years later and we have no plans to redo.  The bummer is that not only do kitchens look dated but they also look shop worn so easily (anyone with chipped dented cabinets knows what I mean).  As much as the stainless cabinets I have are cheap and a pain in the butt to clean (finger prints!- think stainless fridge) They are almost indestructible, they don’t dent, chip, crack- if they were hammered stainless so you didn't see the finger prints I would never look back.

Ok the French stove is something I lust after (sorry honey, you turn 40 and it’s the French range that does it for you!)  But look at the matching cabinets- my heart be still!!!  Indestructible, smudge proof and classically freaking fabulous!  (Although I need to sell my house to afford them)


I wish I knew who made these stainless cabinets (above)- so classic.


Great towel bars (below)- check out the French range in the back ground- my heart: thump thump thump!!!

Things I like:  Pantry's, corner angled drawers, cement- Lava stone and wood counters, accessorizing with paintings- sconces and lamps, wood floors, radiant heat, French ranges, indestructible cabinets, timeless design, inset cabinet doors/drawers, big drawers for lower cabinets- not doors, tons of storage, as few as possible upper cabinets, seeing all food at one glance, seeing all dishes at one glance, Fabric  or bamboo/textured window treatments, Deep window sills for herb gardens, mirrored back splash for pantry’s, Under cabinet lighting, Hanging lights, un-lacquered brass hardware, kitchens to coordinate with the age and architecture of the house, character, personality, quality and the final must: a bar with stools for people to chat while you work.
Things I don’t like:  Open shelves (your dishes are constantly dusty and greasy), cabinets that don’t go to the ceiling (all I can imagine when I see that is dust bunnies the size of golden retrievers and people always try to put stuff up there- think fake ivy from the 1980’s Yuck!), tons of recessed lights- I feel like I have spaceship beams on my head, Tile floors (ice cold and too hard), Clear refrigerators (seriously if your fridge is always that clean and organized- you have too much time on your hands and you need to volunteer or get a job!), dido for clear cabinets unless your dishes are perfectly matched or for glass wear- don’t set your self up for constant maintenance if your not the type.
So what isn't going to date??? that’s the big question!  What’s next in kitchen trends?  I have always been a fan of the eclectic look but I am even sick of that due to companies like restoration Hardware mass producing items that you used to only find at antique shops.  What’s unique and desirable that can’t be mass produced and isn’t obscenely expensive- maybe that’s a whole blog post in it self. Finally, here is my quirky crazy kitchen or at least parts of it and me, photo taken from a photo shoot for Country Home magazine (it’s not usually styled for the country look- usually more eclectic):

White Ceiling Beware!

Some call it the ceiling, and some the fifth wall.  Thinking about the ceiling as a fifth wall encourages you to consider it in a decorative way.  Why not?  Who else is sick of boring ceiling white?  Oh me, me, me!  This is not a new concept, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel from 1508-1512. 

Now that may, of course, be too much for some people to tackle.  Let’s look at a simpler variety of ceiling paint.

My friend Carol has a deeper version of this sky in her kitchen and no one walks into that room without gasping in appreciation at the gorgeous and fun ceiling.  Yet still some may still want an even simpler approach- say a solid color.

(Melissa Gulley Style)
Above is actually a picture of the family room in my last house.  Let me tell you, the ceiling made the room so warm and fun - it changed the feeling of the room entirely.

(apartment therapy blog)

The above all white rooms get a huge boost of character with the red and orange ceilings.

(Sherrill Canet)

Dining spaces, like the two pictures above, are a great place to play with color on the ceiling.  People are so absorbed in what’s happening at eye level while eating, that this can provide just a pop of the unexpected.  It pulls the eye up so one can appreciate the entire space.

 

(House Beautiful)                                                      (Inspiration for Decoration Blog)

Often people want the feeling of outdoors- a blue sky has a wonderful effect on people’s moods, so why not steal a little of that for the indoors?

(making arrangements blog)                                         (Melissa Gulley Style)

This incredible porch (below) is from the amazingly talented Amanda Nesbit.  We have all seen the aqua painted ceilings in porches - well, Mrs. Nesbit took it up a notch with this fabulous purple.  Do you know why porch ceilings were painted blue like the sky?  I didn't either, until my contractor and old house buff told me.  It was to fool the spiders into thinking it was the sky so they wouldn't settle there.  Hmmmmm, not sure spiders can even see color?