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.” Welcoming Islands
If space allows, kitchen islands are seen as a mandatory element of remodels. Not only do they provide additional storage for pots and pans, recyclables, dishwashers, beverage refrigerators, and microwaves, but they also serve as your kitchen’s command center. Here, meals are prepared, homework is completed, and friends gather.

Don’t expect to see many standard rectangular islands. Multiple island heights create a natural separation between cook and guest. Islands curve at either end to create more robust space for gathering. Quality craftsmanship is evident in the use of rich woods and high-end countertop materials. “They look more like furniture and less like cabinets,” Danberry says. “You’d swear that some of these islands were a desk out of the White House.”

Although installing a cooktop on your island might sound handy, make sure to consult with your remodeler first. Traditional hoods on the island could potentially create a visual barrier, and down-draft vents need a considerable amount of make-up air (air that is brought in from the outside via a mechanical system linked to the furnace) to work appropriately. And although the cook’s side of the island might sit at a lower elevation than the other side where the guests are, consider whether you want a dirty cooktop at the same place where you eat, Danberry suggests.

Smart Appliances
From cars to BlackBerries, convenience drives the American lifestyle. It’s the same in kitchens, specifically with appliances. “More appliances are manipulated [specialized] such as built-in coffeemakers and convection ovens,” says Todd Polifka, sales director at Vision Remodeling in Little Canada. “They speak to people’s urgency and lack of time. The cooking process is much shorter now.”

Technology enables such convenience in the kitchen. Rather than employing the simple bake and broil settings, new ovens have a dozen or more cooking controls, including built-in steaming capabilities. Refrigerators feature built-in computers with Internet capacity and digital recipe storage. No longer relegated to the countertop or mounted underneath upper cabinets, microwaves now slide out from lower cabinets at the push of a button. Cooktops use induction, a swift, highly energy-efficient form of cooking that heats only the pot or pan rather than the rest of the cooktop. Commercial-grade appliances are still popular for those who want to cook like the professionals while other remodels implement more modestly sized appliances from European manufacturers such as Miele. For those who don’t want to make a strong design statement with large stainless steel appliances, cabinet fronts are still a popular option to make refrigerators and dishwashers seamlessly blend into the rest of the kitchen.

The convenience factor is evident in the amount of appliances as well. Separate beverage chillers, warming drawers, independent ice makers, pizza ovens, dishwasher drawers designed to do small loads, and wine refrigerators are all common additions to high-end kitchen remodels.

Appliances are designed to partner with your cabinets and countertops. Whereas some cabinets are becoming deeper to accommodate larger appliances, some of these appliances are losing depth and gaining width instead. For example, McDonald points to refrigerators—usually twenty-eight to thirty inches deep—that are twenty-four inches deep to accommodate standard-depth countertops (twenty-five inches). “To make up the cubic feet of space needed, refrigerators are wider,” he says. “In deep refrigerators, everything is stored behind something else. Who knows what’s living back there. With wide refrigerators, you get to see everything in there.” These wider refrigerators tend to place the refrigerator on top and the freezer on the bottom, rather than situate the units side by side.

Another prominent feature in this and other types of refrigeration units is French doors—another space saver because two shorter doors open up rather than one large door, which eliminates the blockage of passageways.

Hit Counters
Countertops are a highly worked surface, and the material used on them should reflect as much. Remodelers report that the most common types of materials used in countertops are granite and engineered stone products such as Cambria or Silestone. Other products, including solid surfaces (such as Corian), wood/butcher block, and concrete, are also used, just less frequently.

Because some of it is manufactured in Minnesota, granite remains a popular choice for kitchen countertops because it doesn’t cost much to ship it. Its availability in multiple grains and colors, as well as its durability, also appeals to consumers. If you want a more uniform look to your countertops, then quartz-based products are the way to go, recommends Johnson. “Because quartz is manmade, it’s the same color every time,” she says. “You don’t have to worry about mineral streaks as you would with granite.”One product that is overlooked is laminate, perhaps because of its past reputation as a cheap, flimsy material. However, advances in the product have created a harder surface that simulates the look of granite, Sinykin believes. Plus, it’s a favorable alternative to those on a budget.

Whatever you choose, don’t be afraid to mix and match styles, colors, and materials. “There’s nothing to say that your island countertop needs to be the same color as the rest of your kitchen,” McDonald says. “Let’s change it up a bit and provide more interest.”

Beneath Your Feet
Thanks to their beauty and timelessness, hardwood floors continue to be the most popular choice for kitchens. The sky’s the limit on species: santos mahogany, hickory, red birch, maple, walnut, and Brazilian or Australian cherry, to name a handful. Avoid softer woods such as pine or American cherry, which are more prone to nicks and scratches. Danberry also recommends that homeowners stay away from wide-plank floors because they can gap and cup as the seasons change.

One of the most popular flooring products today is bamboo, likely because of its exotic nature and sustainability. Bamboo, which is actually a grass, is harvested every four to five years. Certain hardwood species, on the other hand, can take a century or more to replenish. Another trendy flooring material is cork. “Cork is durable, soft, and long lasting,” Polifka says. “That’s the best product to put in your kitchen. It’s easier on you physically.”

To create a rustic look, consider slate, travertine, or another stone for your kitchen floor. The disadvantages to stone are maintenance and discomfort. However, those can be rectified by installing precisely cut stones with tight grouting and using rugs to cushion your feet.

Lighting the Way
Often a place where homeowners cut the budget, lighting deserves just as much attention as the other elements in your kitchen. “You can have all the luxurious items you want, but if you can’t function in that space with the proper lighting, it won’t matter,” Polifka says.

Although the idea of under-cabinet lighting is not new, the technology behind it is. Brighter, whiter Xenon lights are used in favor of fluorescent. Xenon bulbs are also a good source for lighting your glassware displays in glass-front cabinets as they don’t generate a lot of heat. Rope lights above the cabinets provide soft, indirect lighting. Pendant lights remain the best choice to light the kitchen island, although, many homeowners are mixing up the heights and styles of these. Recessed lighting can create a combination of task and accent lighting for the entire kitchen.

As long as your lighting choices work for the space, don’t be afraid to experiment. “Lighting is the area of the kitchen where you can express yourself and add some whimsy,” McDonald says.

Washing Up
Sinks now come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, depths, and materials. Don’t feel like you need to find a sink with two perfectly square compartments either. Many sinks feature one large and one small basin or even three separate wells to help you better separate your dishes. These days, you can find sinks that come with a metal rack that pulls over one of the basins and acts as a strainer. Stainless steel sinks are often chosen for their clean look and strength, but materials such as ceramic, granite, copper, and even wood are increasingly used in sinks for a unique design element.

High-end kitchen remodels usually feature a separate prep sink, most likely in the island. Pot fillers, which are faucets installed on the wall behind a cooktop for the sole purpose of filling pots and pans, also add a convenient and luxurious element to any kitchen remodel.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink
Accent pieces can give your kitchen a wow factor. One prevalent trend is elegant backsplashes usually behind a cooktop or range. Some homeowners will use Cambria or granite as a backsplash, but a more popular option is a tiled mosaic. “With glass, metal, and handmade tiles, you can get all these great custom-design looks and colors,” Johnson says.

Custom cooktop hoods are another way to introduce high design into your kitchen. “The options are endless,” McDonald says. “You can have fun with stainless steel, wood, stone, concrete, or copper. You can have a rounded hood.”

Homeowners who entertain frequently are building butler’s pantries into the kitchen remodel. This small room off the kitchen has been traditionally used for storing fine china and linens, but it is being used more frequently as secondary spaces for food preparation complete with sink, cooktop, and dishwasher.

If you spend the time planning, each of these kitchen components will create a design that is not only appropriate to your lifestyle but to the rest of the home as well. McDonald’s litmus test for a kitchen is whether it can stand up to the ages. “Think of grandma’s hutch from sixty years ago. It still looks good today,” he says. “We’re turning our kitchens into that type of classic design.”