Kitchen Couture

June 2007 Special Sections

As you take a look around your cramped, dated kitchen, you can easily understand why it’s the most commonly remodeled room in a home. The floor and countertops are battered from years of wear-and-tear. The cabinets are pure ’70s splendor. The appliances are about as energy efficient as leaving all the windows open in January. Not to mention you can’t turn around in there without bumping into another family member. If today’s kitchen is touted as the home’s entertainment hub, then you feel like putting a sign outside that reads, “Closed Until Further Notice.”

Fortunately, high-quality, high-performing materials and appliances are reinventing the kitchen. Although aesthetics matter, they’re not the only consideration when it comes to remodeling. Remodeling firms agree that homeowners want a kitchen that functions and reaching this goal will give you a useable space for years to come. “Why do we have a kitchen in the first place?” posits Troy Sinykin, director of sales for Plekkenpol Builders, a remodeling firm in Bloomington. “Ultimately, it’s about storage and work space, and that has to be the core driver.”

Simply put, a functioning kitchen is one that suits your lifestyle and uses the space wisely. “At some point during design, we will sit down with the homeowner to discuss where [everything] will go to make sure they have enough space,” says Jolynn Johnson, owner and president of Crystal Kitchen Center in Crystal. “With one client, we moved the kitchen from one side of [the] house to [the] other.”

Remodelers will start by asking some basic questions. How many people cook? Do you clean up as you cook or leave everything for after dinner? How often do you cook? Do you have guests and family over frequently? Do children live in the house? How old are they? The onslaught of queries leads to a kitchen customized to your specific—and practical—needs.

“It comes down to realistically looking at what you need, not what you think you might want or need or hope for,” says Jim McDonald, CEO of McDonald Remodeling in Inver Grove Heights. “We tend to think of ourselves as cooking and entertaining more than what we do.”

From a design standpoint, the work triangle—the proximity of your refrigerator, sink, and stove to create an efficient work area—has been the gold standard. But with the addition of vegetable crispers separate from the main refrigerator, multiple sinks, and cooktops apart from ovens, the traditional work triangle is getting a facelift. “The work triangle is still a consideration, but it’s not the number one thing. How you use the kitchen is,” says Beth Hansen, interior design manager for Lake Country Builders in Excelsior. “It’s not necessarily a single triangle. It’s more about the work space.”

And great work space is nothing without the proper tools to support it. From ceiling to floor, leading Twin Cities remodeling firms highlight all the interesting, innovative, and industrious components that will make your kitchen a timeless classic.

Cabinets Outside the Box
Cabinets have become luxurious design statements that serve as unique storage solutions. “The cabinets are the bones of your kitchen,” Sinykin says. “Invest in something that lasts the lifetime of your home.”

The options for cabinet materials are endless. One of the most trendy wood species for cabinets is knotty alder, which has the same color as cherry. Nevertheless, cherry remains a popular choice, as do oak, maple, walnut, and beech. Homeowners often request a few clear or frosted-glass cabinet fronts to display fine china and add visual interest to the room. Painted cabinets are also making a comeback. In the last decade, homeowners were almost afraid to paint their cabinets out of fear of the stark-white, no-frills kitchen. True, most people won’t paint over beautiful hardwood species, but they’ll do so with the right materials and techniques. Hansen suggests using a smooth cabinet made of engineered wood or poplar for easier painting or enameling. “We do a lot of faux finishes with antiquing or glazing,” she says. “We also do distressing to make things look a little more aged.”

Remodelers are building cabinets at multiple heights to vary the look of the kitchen. Cabinets’ depths are changing, too. “We’re seeing cabinets at twenty-six to twenty-eight inches deep, which accommodates commercial-size ranges a lot better and gives people more counter space,” says Jeff Danberry, president of the Danberry Company in Spring Park. He also sees a movement away from the amount of upper cabinets to allow for more windows.

Alternately, homeowners are making more of base cabinets and space within the island for dishes and cookware. Pull-out shelves and waste baskets, spice racks on the back of cabinet doors, tray dividers, and tip-out fronts on sinks create additional storage options. One of Danberry’s favorite kitchen improvements is the use of plate racks on ball-bearing roller glides within the lower cabinets. “Rather than standing up like record albums, the plates are stacked as if they are in a cafeteria,” he says. “It’s easier to unload the dishwasher and put the plates away.”