Kitchen Design - Secrets Revealed

Q & A with Jennifer Gilmer - New Kitchen Design Trends

Check out this excerpt from an interview with Jennifer that ran in a few nationally syndicated newspapers last week...

Cooking with Kitchens

Kitchen designer Jennifer Gilmer shares trends and tips for updating and improving your kitchen

September 18, 2009 8:58 AM

By Barbara Ballinger

CTW Features

Jennifer Gilmer, CKD, is an award-winning designer whose eponymous Washington, D.C. firm has designed more than 1,000 kitchens in a variety of styles and won more than 15 national awards, including the “Pinnacle of Design” for the best overall space at this year’s annual National Kitchen & Bath Association convention in Atlanta.
With kitchens remaining many homeowners’ favorite rooms to remodel, there’s a stronger chance of recouping dollars spent on this investment than several others. Here Gilmer discusses the latest trends, including how to pare the high cost of remodeling and her latest venture, Kitchen Design OnLine, which helps homeowners plan their dream kitchen wherever they live.

Question: You're used to designing fairly high-end kitchens. What are the essentials that differentiate them from lower- and mid-range kitchens?

Answer: Better quality kitchens have more character, like open shelves that float or are suspended by cables, pantry cabinets or islands designed to look like furniture, stacked cabinets almost to the ceiling with interesting moldings and thicker countertops. They also have built-in refrigerators, double side-by-side instead of stacked ovens and more specialized appliances like steam/convection ovens. Finishes are also more custom, such as milk paint, crackle and exotic woods. Backsplashes are more intricate or custom. Lighting is improved with smaller low-voltage recessed cans or an antique chandelier over an island or table.

Q: You've recently developed KitchenDesignOnline.net, where you help homeowners bridge the gap between high-end showrooms and home improvement stores by providing design plans online. How does this work?

A: I developed the idea after hearing people talk about not being able to find a good designer at the discount cabinet store where they were planning on buying cabinets. Our service offers a few levels of design from basic drawings to detailed plan views, elevations and a three-dimensional drawing.

A client fills out a questionnaire about the style they prefer, appliances, their lifestyle, number of family members, number of cooks, entertaining needs, et cetera. We also ask clients to measure and sketch their kitchen, and we have a section on our site that explains how to do this. Once that sketch is uploaded to our site, we draw the existing space and send back drawing(s) to be checked. We work on the floor plan until they’re satisfied.
Next comes elevations. The process continues until clients approve the final design. They can take it to the cabinet showroom where they’ll purchase cabinetry or use the design to shop around and choose a cabinet dealer.

For the full article, click here 

Thoughts on my own kitchen

This is my very own kitchen.  The room is an addition to the house which has floor to ceiling sliding glass doors in the family room side.  In the kitchen, I opted to not have any windows with the exception of the clear story windows above the pantry.  To be able to obtain the design, it was necessary to not have windows in the kitchen (not a good view on that side of the house as well).  

 

To make up for the lack of natural light in the kitchen, I added back painted full glass panels on the backsplash.  The color is a light yellow/green, so, when the hood and under cabinet lights are  turned on, the entire backsplash glows!  In order to get outlets on the backsplash, I added a fairly high, about 9" backsplash of the honed black absolute granite in which the black outlets were installed.  The island also has the same black granite, but, it's also surrounded with wenge butcher block.  A sliding butcher block board can slide over the sink to increase counter space when needed. 

The pantries not only store food but they also house the steam/convection oven and microwave.  When in use, the doors bifold and slide back so that the entire space can be opened and left open during food preparation.  Putting the counter inside this pantry allows me to store and use some countertop appliances in there as well.  The custom hood lines up with the ceiling beams and is very wide and spacious to accomodate the 36" gas cooktop, deep fryer and grill/griddle. 

This kitchen isn't a really large one, yet, it stores all I need and functions beautifully.  A medium sized kitchen is all that one needs, and, they are more functional since it isn't necessary to cover a lot of ground when preparing dinner and when cleaning up!

Additional pictures:

 

 

 

Making Small Kitchens Work

Small kitchens can be challenging, but, it is incredible the ways in which you can open it up more to make it seem larger or how you can pack the space with storage and appliances and still have a great looking kitchen!

Think about taking down a wall to open up the kitchen to the dining room or family room.  There is no need to push the kitchen out into the adjoining room, just simply taking the wall down and putting in a peninsula of base cabinets and countertop will make the kitchen seem much larger.  Maybe adding some floating shelves above this peninsula where dishes, serving bowls and platters can be stored would be a good idea to make up for the wall cabinet space that is lost by taking down the wall.  Use of a pot rack can conserve precious storage space in large base cabinets.  Also, consider reducing the depth of cabinets so that they can fit in lighter spaces, like behind doors or next to windows.  You can also explore sinking cabinets into walls where it's possible in order to get some additional storage.  Make sure that the cabinets have layered storage such as spice racks or canned storage on the backs of the doors.  Order extra shelves which allow for more storage since typically there is much wasted space in cabinets due to too much space between shelves.  To get more ideas visit KDOL's portfolio.

Using smaller, European appliances can help, for instance, a 24" under counter oven that has a rotisserie in it from corner to corner for cooking a large turkey will save a lot of room.  Any size cook top can go above this oven with a little design innovation with the cabinets.  For the hood, you can use a combination microwave and hood which doesn't always look the best, but certainly conserves space.  Smaller built in refrigerators are a great idea too, and, you can separate the refrigerator from the freezer by using under counter freezer drawers.  This will allow enough refrigeration space without taking up too much counter space.  Dishwashers can also be found in 18" wide and based on the design of the racks, they can accommodate a lot of dishes and glasses. 

A good designer enjoys the challenge of designing in smaller spaces.  Seek the help of a kitchen designer in your local area, or, work with a designer from the comfort of your own home at www.kitchendesignonline.net.