An Inspiration Point for your kitchen renovation
The kitchen is the heart of most homes and re-doing a kitchen is almost invariably the most expensive and involved home renovation there is. Why? You're talking multiple systems - electrical, plumbing, lighting - and a lot of hardware, some of it tending to push the budgetary envelope. You're not going to pick up that Viking stove, Sub-Zero fridge or even the Grohe faucet at the dollar store. And even if you're not climbing toward the top of the line, kitchen elements of reasonable quality will not be inexpensive. Moreover, the range and variety of components like cabinetry and counter tops is dazzling, but it's easy to find yourself in information overload, which can paralyze you in your selection process.
Unless you're Warren Buffet, you really have to create a budget and try to work within it - and Buffet would probably choose a budget boundary. Concrete countertops are fabulous but granite, yes, may be more affordable; there are now cool laminates, and the saving will pay for a good portion of that refrigerator. Same with cabinetry. There is a virtually infinite variety. Just remember that what is inside, the cabinetry's infra-structure - the spice section, shelves for cups, etc.- is as important as what's outside, and that the hinges, hardware and drawers have to stand up to a lot of use. A pressed wood cabinet box may serve, but you may want hardwood cabinet doors and good quality hinges, slides and pulls.
Form follows function.. If you use your kitchen as a base from which to make reservations (we're not judging), your kitchen function will call for a very different form than that of a largish family which makes and serves elaborate meals in that part of their home. For most of us, our kitchens are rooms where we create nourishment and also nurture each other emotionally
My suggestion is that you start your kitchen renovation process by finding an Inspiration Point, and that you build your vision from that center. I was with a friend in a lovely Lorain Road shop called Reincarnation - recycled everything. She found a fabulous pressed tin tile of a magical color complexity within a taupey base. She looked and that was her Ah Ha moment, as my friend Oprah would say. It will probably be placed behind the stove, but that Victorian pressed tin is where we will start. Some years back I did a kitchen for a woman who had a quality Faberge egg reproduction. We borrowed the colors of the pink and green tiles from the egg, which in its case became a central focus of the redone room. I'm doing another kitchen where the couple lives in the woods and they love wood. At this moment, I'm not sure where we will go with that, but the inspirational center of the kitchen will be the creative use of beautiful wood. In another kitchen, it was a fine collection of Le Creuset enamelware in those striking primary colors.
You need to sit, usually in some stillness, alone or with a designer to allow that inspirational heart to occupy your emerging vision. Once that happens, though, the way ahead is likely to be much more clear, and then all you need to concern yourself with is that budget, and finding the right workmen and surrendering yourself to the joy of creating the kitchen that is perfectly right for you.
jo
 Posted By: Jo On: 2010-01-05 13:13:45 |
