Kitchen Ideas To Add Beauty and Function

Years ago, the family kitchen was a “working room” only – a place that was unadorned and closed off to guests. But today, it really is the heart of the home, a place for both families and guests to congregate and spend time together.

In the South, family time and entertaining are more of a priority than in many other places in our country. And Tallahassee, though it’s in Florida, is very much a part of the South! 

Family traditions and home-cooked meals aren’t going anywhere. This means that having a well-designed and functional kitchen is extremely important.

Your kitchen should be the heart of your home where everyone loves to congregate and you love to spend time.

If your kitchen isn’t making it easy for you to host guests and visit with family while you cook, it might be time to remodel it. Read on for four kitchen ideas that will give you some remodeling inspiration.

For the Floor: Go Natural

Wood and tile materials in natural colors for flooring are increasingly popular. They wear well and look great.

Plus, since so many kitchens are open to the rest of the house, using wood or tile on the flooring in the kitchen and throughout the house gives the area a natural flow. 

Wood Floors

Hardwood kitchen flooring is beautiful and durable, adding warmth and interest to your space. It is also very desirable and will increase your home’s resale value.

You can use solid wood or engineered flooring, depending on your priorities for your space.

Solid wood flooring can be sanded down and refinished many times–a good choice if you want to be able to change the color and look of the floor in the future. Engineered wood flooring is durable and more moisture-resistant, so it may be a better choice for a family with young children.

LVP Flooring

If you want the look of wood without any of the upkeep, or if you have pets who might scratch up real wood floors, luxury vinyl planks (LVP) might be a great choice for you. Made of compressed vinyl that is formed into planks, LVP mimics the look of real wood while being durable and incredibly easy to care for.

Tile Floors

Using tile floors in your kitchen is another way to take advantage of natural materials. Tile is beautiful and incredibly durable. It will last forever without needing to be refinished or replaced.

One benefit of using tile flooring in your kitchen is that if you have a patio or deck off of your kitchen, the flooring can continue outside, making it feel like one connected space.

Tile flooring is cool in the summer–something we need in Tallahassee–and works really well with a radiant heat system to keep you toasty in the winter.

They are great for people with allergies as they don’t trap dust and allergens and are easy to clean. 

For Appliances: Stay with Stainless

Designers are always looking for the next kitchen appliance color. The trend right now is toward bold colors: royal blue with gold fixtures, dark green, and even burnt orange.

These appliances are beautiful and eye-catching, but lean toward too trendy. Unless you want to be replacing your appliances every few years, classic might be best.

You can always repaint your kitchen if you want a change or need to add an infusion of color, but bold kitchen appliances are much more of a commitment. 

Stainless steel is a great choice. It will continue to look good through the years. It is also very durable and resists rust, heat, and scratches. It’s easy to clean and because it has a non-porous surface, it resists germs and bacteria.

Stainless steel blends in and complements many different styles from modern to traditional and everything in between. It looks stunning and sleek and it will never go out of style.

For Shelving: Open Things Up

Open shelving in the kitchen is a popular trend that has staying power. It creates an open, airy feel to the space, which is particularly nice if you have a smaller kitchen. It visually breaks up the monotony of cabinet after cabinet in a large kitchen. Plus, it’s a great way to show off attractive or unusual items, like that French press you never actually use!

Some people who love the look of open shelving nix the idea right away for their own kitchen. They are concerned that it will look cluttered or won’t give them adequate storage space. But open shelving can give you plenty of storage and look great at the same time. You can store your dinnerware and glasses on open shelves, along with pretty mixing bowls and serving dishes. Mix in a few plants, books, art, or other lovely items, and move the less attractive kitchenware to the lower cabinets.

Decanting pantry items into large glass canisters is an easy way to give your shelves texture and color while still keeping items you need close at hand. And there are plenty of other ways to get creative if you need extra storage. Consider giving open shelving a try in your kitchen and see if you love it!

For Ambiance: Focus on Lighting

Consider LED lighting solutions for the kitchen. LED lights are the most energy-efficient lights out there, and there are more and more possibilities all the time in terms of design. In the kitchen (and in every room of your house), you want to have at least three types of lighting: task, ambient, and accent. You can use LED lights for all three of these, and they often give off a much more natural and pleasing light than CFLs.

Task Lighting

Task lighting is bright lighting that is focused on your workspace and helps you do the work the kitchen is there for: preparing food and cleaning up. You can add task lighting in the form of hanging pendants over your kitchen island, under the cabinet lighting that shines down on your countertop workspace, and a light over your kitchen sink.

Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting is also called general lighting, and it provides even light throughout the room. This is the overhead light that you switch on when you walk into the room. In the kitchen, ambient lighting can be recessed (can) lights, track lights, or flush mount lights on the ceiling. LED lighting provides good ambient light that is bright and effective.

Accent Lighting

This soft lighting is perfect for setting a calm mood, for giving your room a gentle glow at night, and for highlighting features of the space. Accent lighting could include cove lights, which are installed around the top of the room on top of cabinets or ledges and shine up at the ceiling. Lighting the insides of cabinets or using small lamps are other ways to bring accent lighting into your kitchen.

In the perfectly-lit kitchen, the three types of lighting are layered so that any kind of light from dim and soft for a dinner party to bright and clear for working are available. And LED lights in the form of pendants, chandeliers, track lights, and more, are perfect for all of these functions.

Learn More

There are so many options and ideas available to help you make your kitchen the highlight of your home. Let us help you come up with smart solutions for your individual space, so it will be perfect for your next get-together or family event. You can visit our showroom to see even more clever kitchen solutions. If you’re ready to talk about a kitchen remodeling project for your Tallahassee area home, contact us today. We look forward to meeting with you!