Kitchen & Bathroom,Wardrobe & Closet Design Plans

The french are famous for their stylish food and it’s therefore no surprise that many people want a french-style kitchen in their own home.

For a rustic design with timeless style, go French.

French kitchens are a mixture of country style rustic and traditional kitchen design which can be a difficult image to get right if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Here are a few tips to keep you on track:

• The majority of french kitchens have a table which is used for both food preparation and sitting around to eat.

• Cupboards, tables, chairs and any other furniture should be wooden and very simple designs. A french kitchen has no place for metallic objects, other than pots and pans.

• A stone tiled floor immediately creates a french kitchen feel, but if you prefer something warmer there are alternatives. However, lino and similar products are not viable options if you want to remain authentic in your design.

• You might consider painting the walls a warm colour and using stencils to create a Fromagerie feel. If you’d prefer to remain more neutral, white walls are perfectly fine and will work well against the wooden furniture. However, to avoid your kitchen walls looking sparce, you can buy metallic french wall signs which look great and are normally inexpensive.

• Storage in a french kitchen is designed to be funcitional. Cooking utensils are normally on display and within easy reach for the convenience of the chef. Open shelving might be considered or hanging pots and pans overhead on carefully placed hooks.

Traditional Italian Kitchens

If you think we have an obsession for Italian made kitchens, you could be forgiven one of these days. For this is our third feature on the Italian style of kitchen making. We have already done the Tuscan and the Modern. So what is left now? The traditional…

Kitchen designs are from European Cabinets

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Retro Kitchen Design Sets and Ideas

It is fun to once in a while look back and see what was considered cool and trendy during the past. In this post we take a look at the kitchens of yesteryear – those from 1920s to 1960s.

Kitchens then used bold colors like yellow, blue and jadeite green with checkerboard floors and vivid patterns. Also prominent were the painted cabinets, glass knobs, vintage linens and conspicuous electrical appliances that were meant to be used for long periods. In those days, the throwaway mentality was unheard of and people preferred to repair and re-use rather than replace.

Finding retro kitchens on the web is not an easy task. We could always use more help. If you come across any retro kitchen that you think need to be featured here, please mention them in the comments. Also we run a steady stream of cool posts like this at Home Designing and if you like to be notified when we have more such inspiring posts, please subscribe to our feed or newsletter!

Rare as they come, there are actually a few terrific websites out there that are dedicated to documenting and digitizing past kitchens. Antique Home Styles is one such website and we would highly recommend them if you are on the look out for such kitchens. Here are a few snaps from their collection:

Stylish Contemporary Kitchens

Bauformat is based in Germany and offers fantastic solutions suiting individual budgets and floor plans. We noticed many not-so-common-hues used in the kitchens from their catalogs. They offer four ranges at Bauformat – Cube, Cucina Purista, Trend and Country.

The company’s technical know-how on kitchen designs becomes evident when you look closely at their designs. If you consider kitchen to be an integral part of your living space, you might as well want to take a look at the pictures below which are from their current kitchen-range.

23 (Very) Beautiful French Kitchens

Here are a set of very beautiful kitchens from French kitchen maker Perene. Perene’s portfolio is impressive with a set of luxury kitchens targeted at the high-end market and to those who do not mind giving an extra dollar for quality. Though majority of their designs can be classifed as ‘modern’, each kitchen is not without its own twist of style. Fancy decor, custom wall art and other curios lend each design its own flavour.

Hats off to the designer here…and yeah, the photographer too!

Choosing a style for your new kitchen and selecting from the endless options of materials available can be daunting. What materials suite your style? Are Vanilla Bean Glaze cabinets with Antique Copper hardware the perfect fit for your country kitchen? Searching for a streamlined stainless steel faucet to coordinate with your contemporary kitchen? Hoping to design a traditional kitchen around granite counter tops? Perhaps soft metallic blinds will blend with the sleek materials in your modern kitchen.

Choosing your style, as well as materials, is an important venture. On average, consumers who are remodeling their kitchen spend about 16 percent of their budget on labor; the remaining is spent on materials. Exciting advances in materials at every budget level are available which are beautiful, practical, durable, and environmentally responsible.

Traditional
Architectural details such as crown molding, raised wood paneling and rich, deep colors abound in the traditional kitchen.

Italian kitchen design involves creating a work friendly environment that’s equally as welcoming as it is effective. Italian kitchens therefore shouldn’t compromise on style or functionality. Whether you’re creating a modern kitchen design or a country kitchen design, the same set of rules apply for Italian kitchens.

Italian kitchens – style and functionality

A well crafted Italian kitchen design will be everything you’d expect from a nation synonymous with style – sleek surfaces and sharp features, built into a beautifully lit environment. Italian kitchen designs are immediately recognisable because of these features and it’s essential you stay true to them.

Contemporary Italian kitchens are primarily designed to be eye catching and ultra stylish, but that doesn’t mean they compromise on functionality and the basics of kitchen design. More traditional Italian kitchens have a rustic charm and are normally formed with warmer tones and materials but the same rules apply.

If you want a kitchen in your home based on the Italian principles of design, then it’s a good idea to start by thinking about what you use your kitchen for. By doing this you can determine the things you really need and start to eliminate the things you don’t.

Italian kitchen design is all about achieving tasteful lines so getting the right fittings is also essential. Therefore, it’s a good idea to consult with a number of companies to ensure you get the precise look you’re after.

By embracing these two simple ideas you can give yourself the best chance of achieving a bespoke, contemporary, Italian kitchen design.

We have more information on Italian kitchen design in the articles below and can also divert you to a number of the leading suppliers and manufacturers of Italian kitchens.

Jackson Kitchen Designs offers a wide variety of leading brands to accommodate the style and budget of our customers.

Jackson Kitchen Designs is a member of NKBA, the industry’s most respected organization.

Jackson Kitchen Designs provides service to Southern NH, the Merrimack Valley, Greater Lowell and North Shore Area including such towns as No. Andover, Andover, Methuen, Boxford,
Georgetown, Middleton, North Reading, Reading, Haverhill, Bradford, Topsfield, Ipswich, Newbury, Newburyport, Hamilton, Wenham, and Marblehead.

Fitted Kitchen Design Advice

If you’re planning a fitted kitchen design and aren’t completely sure about what to choose then here are some really useful things to keep in mind.

Firstly, start by writing down what you want from your kitchen. For example, do you do a lot of cooking? If so, what appliances do you use the most and how would it most suit you to have things arranged? There’s no point having an excellent looking fitted kitchen if it doesn’t suit your needs.

Once you’ve decided the things you need in your ideal kitchen and where you’d like everything to be located you can then start to think about the theme. The theme will dictate what kind of fitted furniture you have installed. For instance if you go for a contemporary theme, then you’ll probably have more sleek finishes that create a very clean image. A country kitchen design on the other hand will be much more homely and employ wooden surfaces and cupboards.

By taking these things into consideration you’ll be in a much better position for when you eventually look around for your new kitchen. It also means that you won’t be easily persuaded by salespeople to accept the first suggestion they come up with.

Remember, a fitted kitchen design shouldn’t just be easy on the eye; it should also be functional and allow you to go about your day to day lives that little bit easier. It’s amazing just how many people get this wrong and end up with a kitchen that they never want to use because things haven’t been thought out properly. Doing your homework early on in a design can have a monumental effect on the success of your fitted kitchen.

Toby Beckett is a kitchen design guru who publishes his thoughts, opinions and advice on kitchen design at the KBC Kitchen Design Site.