Kitchen design: Make a statement with cabinetry

Zurich Homes was honored to be featured in a recent Tennessean article, “Kitchen design: Make a statement with cabinetry”, alongside Brentwood cabinets:

Today’s kitchen far transcends the space that was once a functional area used only for cooking.

Instead of just housing a stove, sink and refrigerator, kitchen designs today make the room the epicenter of all activity and entertaining, and often the most coveted space in the house.

At some point, designers realized that everyone congregates in the kitchen anyway, so why not pack it full of beautiful elements that in many cases are functional, but are also fabulous.

One of the best ways to make a statement in the kitchen is with cabinetry, and the choices go way beyond simply a light or dark.

Cabinetry accents include everything from floating shelves, range hoods and painted versus stained cabinets, to hardware, glass fronts, island options and dual color combinations. Modern, clean lines are in Rob Belville, owner of Brentwood Cabinets in Brentwood, says although cabinetry trends do tend to be cyclical, they don’t make drastic changes as often as some other home trends such as flooring or paint colors.

“We hear from people asking us if painted cabinetry is still what everyone is doing,” Belville said. “We have been doing them for 10 years and as of today, it’s still a trend. We are also introducing some light-colored stains and are ultimately seeing a bit more of a modern, clean and simple look.”

He said if you are choosing painted cabinets, white is still the primary trend, although some soft blues, greens and grays are also popular.

Nikki Zuercher is vice president at Zurich Homes overseeing design and client management. She says when considering a kitchen design, she and her clients talk first about cabinet layout, then colors.

“On the layout side, we are seeing a lot of huge, oversized islands,” she said. “People aren’t hanging out in the dining room, they are in the kitchen, so people want dedicated space for that. We’ve even done a couple lately where in lieu of a breakfast nook area, we are making a huge island that can accommodate eight barstools.”

As far as functionality of cabinet space, Belville said his top two requests are soft-close drawers and doors and pull-out trash cans hidden behind a cabinet door.

Other cabinet trends both Belville and Zurich are seeing include glass-front accent cabinets, statement range hoods and hardware finishes.

“Hardware is something that cycles much faster than the rest of the cabinet,” he said. “It’s easy for someone to say they are tired of their oil-rubbed bronze hardware, so they can update their kitchen easily by adding a matte black or satin bronze finish. That alone can change the feel of your cabinets.”

Belville said overall, he is seeing clients steering more toward trends that are cleaner and more modern. He is doing less varying height cabinets and more clean lines.

With range hoods, he said something that was once just functional is now a statement style piece in the kitchen.

“Range hoods become the center focal point of the kitchen wall, so people are putting a ton of thought into them,” he added. “The trends are metal hoods and free-standing chimney-style hoods.”

Zuercher added that she’s also seeing ship-lap range hoods becoming a trend and that her clientele is often willing to spend money to make that element a major wow moment in the kitchen.

Kitchen trends, like many other areas of the home, tend to emerge from Pinterest. As Zuercher sits down with a client to begin the design process, she often asks them to go on to Pinterest and do a kitchen idea board.

“The majority of our work is very custom, so our clients want to design everything and really be in the details,” she said. “So, we love to start with a Pinterest board and go through everything they like and talk about how it was executed. It’s a super powerful tool for us.”