Expert Contributor
Current Trends in Kitchen Design By Jim Long, S&J Properties, General Contractor, Resident since 1991
D
ecades ago, the kitchen was hidden in the back of the house. It was a place where meals were prepared, and dirty dishes were washed. Fast forward to 2018 and the kitchen has a much different role. Today the kitchen is the focal point of the home, the place that brings everyone together, the kitchen is paraded in all its beauty and warmth at the very center of the house. Technology advances and changing social dynamics have contributed greatly to the rise of the modern kitchen. There is a far bigger focus on open concept homes that revolve around the kitchen, so everyone can be together. As with any modern design trend, clean and simple styles have become favorites for homeowners with natural light becoming an essential aspect of the overall look and function of the kitchen space. Technology has entered the kitchen in full force and not just in the form of fancy gadgets and appliances. Today, you can have a kitchen with technology integrated into every function and appliance from the faucets to the fridge to the lighting. This is what we call a smart kitchen. Smart kitchens are an evolving
aspect of design. In fact, a lot of kitchens today are built smart from the ground up. For older kitchens, sensors, smart gadgets and other devices can be added to for convenience to the homeowner. Easy add-ons are motion sense equipped kitchen faucets that can sense the presence of hands underneath and will come on automatically or try a one-touch feature. Refrigerators that can alert you when your grocery items are running low or a coffee maker programmed to have your coffee ready when you wake up. There is also a gadget that monitors your eggs, telling you which ones are almost going bad. Do not forget to update your lighting system allowing you to control all the lights from your smartphone or tablet. White is still a big favorite for kitchen cabinets; homeowners love it for its clean look, which is especially beneficial in a space that tends to get cluttered. White cabinets are simply beautiful and timeless and can be used in almost any kind of kitchen style. We expect white to remain a popular cabinet color probably for years to come. To break up the all-white kitchen expect to see islands in
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