Detail and Personalization of Your Virginia Kitchen Design
Virginia and D.C. homeowners take painstaking care in putting together a kitchen that functions well and is a beauty to admire. Perhaps they engage a kitchen design professional who will be equally as committed in making sure that every cabinet, appliance, sink and notable functioning feature is absolutely perfectly chosen and placed. Yet, when you stand back and admire this grand display of designer effort, you may come to realize that somewhere there are pieces missing in this puzzle of personal effect. This is when a homeowner intervenes and, perhaps with the assistance of a professional interior decorator, begins the process of detailing and personalization of the kitchen design–to display the intimate statement of the family within.
Detailing the Cabinetry
Unlike other customizations which express the family’s tastes, this particular detail intervention should be made at the onset of the design; again, perhaps in accord with a kitchen design professional. There are three basic, or traditional, means to personalize such kitchen fixtures. One means of customization would be the use of glass or, better yet, stained glass in a select number of upper cabinet doors. This intervention may add a feeling of welcome disclosure (glass) or it may add a level of formality along with some dramatic coloration and design (stained glass). Another means of creating a personality is that of mixing styles and finishes of the cabinets themselves. Whether the bases of the cabinets portray a sharp contrast in style and finish to the upper cabinets or whether the more conservative choice of relegating the island cabinet base to be different, utilizing two different styles lends some personalization opportunities not otherwise available. Oddly enough, the third means of personalization and detail would involve the hardware of the cabinets. It’s no longer a must to make sure that all the pulls and knobs are identical or true to a conservative décor. Homeowners in Virginia are finding out that ‘mismatching’ the hardware in upper vs. lower units can extend a discreet level of custom appeal that is affordably gained.
Detailing the Walls
The popularity of wallpaper in kitchens has waned over the past two decades because, it appears, that homeowners are rejecting being ‘locked-into’ a particular theme or décor. Open walls and backsplashes offer a tremendous medium by which a homeowner may express their personal taste as well as adding a little panache in their kitchen décor. The most popular and diverse means of addressing these areas has been in the use of various types of glass applications. In particular, the usage of glass block, tile and mosaics has become the trend in tasteful introduction of luminescent color and intrigue. For those who tend toward the more ‘green’ or earthy visual, cork tiles have provided a finish medium by which homeowners are expressing their inner ‘earth child’.
Other Kitchen Details
The kitchen shouldn’t be the space of the timid when it comes to detailing as this is the virtual ‘calling card’ of the home. This is the space in which the family communicates to its perspective guests as to the inner workings of the family unit and its interests. Details in the kitchen design may be as remedial as how the edges of the countertops are finished–in wood, stainless, or a fine pencil-line bevel in the edge of a glorious granite slab. Such details do, in fact, communicate. The major and minor lighting fixtures are also a means to extend the familial theme. Rows of can lighting or fluorescent light typically communicate to a guest that this area is a work zone, while warm, brushed brass pendant lighting begs the guest to sit down and stay awhile. Granted, perception is everything and the fixtures and finishes inclined to personalize cannot replace that value imbedded within the truly unique personality of the homeowner.
