Don't Get Boxed In

When it comes to your kitchen, make sure you know what you want it to look like, how you want the room to flow and how you want your workspace to fit your needs.

You can get some great ideas from pouring through magazine articles and photographs, clipping out trendy advertisements and downloading cabinet brochures and images from thousands of websites. Once you've decided on your kitchen design it's time to pick the biggest component to your kitchen — the cabinetry.

Cabinets are the key ingredient to any great kitchen. They not only influence the look and feel of the heart of your home, but they are the sole support of your countertops, backsplashes and appliances and keeper of all your kitchen gadgets and edibles.

No matter what style you choose, you should never sacrifice function. Even if you don't enjoy cooking, your prep and food storage areas have to work.

Despite Trends - Cabinetry Remains Hardworking And Beautiful.

Although trends vary from region to region and across homeowner preferences there are always some key patterns that consumers follow each year.

Right now architects and designers across the country are seeing a growth in colors, thanks to the use of painted cabinets. The trend from whites and heavy distressed has moved to a more painted finish and the whites have been replaced by sage green, chiffon yellow, French crème and softer earth tones.

Oak, cherry and maple remain the most popular woods, but exotic woods like quarter-sawn white oak, Canadian Red Birch, Old French White Oak and knotty chestnut are becoming particularly popular in the high-end market, where homeowners want a unique design and look.

Today's trend is for cabinetry to resemble furniture, creating a seamless blend between the kitchen and dining room and/or the great room. Many major appliances are covered in wood to complete the blend of color and grain. Cabinets are no longer pushed to the outer walls but are instead becoming an integral part of the overall design, flow and decor of the entire open living space.

Some other popular design features consist of using textured glass instead of standard glass on the cabinet doors, adding stylized toe kicks that resemble detailed moulding and barely visible hardware.

No matter what trend is in, there is always a wide range of options to choose from. If you can't settle on one style then talk to your designer about mixing-and-matching.

	If you want your cabinets to have the appearance of fine furniture you must coast-line your upper cabinets. Coast-lining means staggering the heights of the upper cabinets. Our designers also recommend adding moulding to the tops of the cabinets and mixing it up with glass door fronts.