Modern Kitchen | Kitchen Design Photos | Kitchen Design Software | Kitchen Design

Kitchen Furniture Designs

2010-03-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Kitchen Decoration

2010-03-25T07:54:00.003-07:00

Whether you’re moving into a new house or apartment or just undertaking spring cleaning, one of the spots that often needs the most attention is the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Things get spilled unnoticed or simply never get cleaned up, dust gathers and a sticky, smelly mess is left for the next inhabitant (or the next person brave enough to clear off the shelves and see what lies under the canned goods).

A simple solution for keeping shelves and drawers clean in kitchens and bathrooms is installing shelf liners. A shelf liner can be as simple as a paper towel tossed in the bottom of a drawer (handy because it’s absorbent, cheap and easy to replace, but not really attractive and it doesn’t stick to the shelf) or as fancy as printed, adhesive-backed paper that coordinates with the colors in your room (a much better, if slightly more expensive and labor-intensive choice). You can buy rolls of liner that grips but is non-adhesive, making a non-slip surface for pots and pans, or a similar product designed to allow things like plates and glasses to slide without bunching up the liner.

Non-adhesive liners are great to use on bare wood, painted wood, stained but unvarnished wood, Formica, metal and glass. Use these in places where you might want to remove the liners, or where sticking something to the surface might damage the surface.

These liners should not be used on lacquered or urethaned surfaces, because there are chemicals in the liner that can bond to such surfaces, pulling up the finish when you try to remove them. These liners are easy to clean with soapy water and can be put in the clothes dryer to remove wrinkles (set on medium heat for about 10 minutes, or follow the directions on the package).

The advantage of non-adhesive liners is that they are more durable, easily removable to clean under and can provide a more stable surface for your dishes to sit on. They are more expensive than paper adhesive liners and cannot be used on all surfaces. They are not available in many colors (usually you can find beige, green, light blue and gray) and sometimes do not stay where you want them to when you remove items from the shelf. They also have holes in them, so if you want to line your shelves for ease of cleaning these are not your best bet.

The standard product most people think of when they think of lining shelves is peel and stick
adhesive shelf liner. This product comes on rolls of three to six yards, is available in many different colors and styles (including clear), can be purchased almost anywhere, can be used on the same types of surfaces as the non-adhesive as well as those that non-adhesive cannot be used on (polyurethaned and lacquered surfaces) and is much cheaper than the non-adhesive product. It is a little more difficult to install and remove but it is very easy to clean with a damp sponge.

To install whatever type of shelf liners you are using, you will need to cut the pieces down to size. You can either measure all the shelves and drawers you would like to line and do the math to figure out how many yards of lining you need, or just buy a bunch, lay it in the drawer or on the shelf and trim to fit snuggly. Do all your cutting of adhesive shelf liner before taking off the peel and stick backing, and be sure to double check that you have the right sized piece before taking off the backing. Start in the back of the drawer or shelf and press the lining into the corners, smoothing down and out as you move forward. If there is any excess you can trim it because it will be at the front of the shelf.

This is a rather time consuming process. It may take a whole afternoon to line the shelves and drawers of a kitchen. But the ease of cleaning the liners will provide is well worth it.

There are all sorts of ways you can use shelf liners of both types other than the ways they were intended to be used. For example, the non-adhesive, non-skid products can be used to hold many things in place, from the contents of your trunk to the things in your cooler. They can be used to line pet kennels for transporting animals to the veterinarian or be sewn onto the bottom of a toddler’s socks, making him less likely to fall over. This product grips, so you can keep a piece on hand to help you open bottles and jars. You can put it under your car floor mats or line the bottom of your boat with it. It can be used as a coaster to keep your shampoo bottles from slipping in the shower, and could even line the shower to make a non-slip (but removable) surface for children’s bath time. It can keep a cake or plate of deviled eggs from sliding in the back seat of the car during transport, or stabilize a wobbly sewing machine (or keep the presser foot in place on the floor where you want it).

Adhesive shelf liner can be used to cover light switch covers, making them easier to clean and coordinate with your room décor. The clear liner could be used on the outside of cabinet doors to make them easier to clean, or on the inside of doors, for instance to tack a list of emergency numbers into the cabinet near the phone. It could be used in lieu of a lint roller, to cover books or even on individual pages of a cookbook you use often to keep ingredients off the pages. Different colored paper can be used to quickly change the décor in a child’s bedroom, when she suddenly decides she doesn’t like lavender anymore and would prefer dark green, for instance (it’s cheaper and faster than paint). And if you ever need to remove the adhesive liner you can use a hair dryer to soften the adhesive and just peel the liner away (use an adhesive remover, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover or even WD-40 to remove any excess adhesive. Test a spot before applying any of these to a whole shelf.)

Kitchen Designs

2010-03-25T07:54:00.001-07:00

When decorating the kitchen, wallpaper borders are an essential element in setting the atmosphere of the room. The pattern of wallpaper that you use to complete your room will depend on your personal style. Whether your style is cozy, fun, formal, or luxurious, if you are creative about the way you use and install these wallpapers, your room will be a one of a kind creation.

The first thing you can do to make your wallpaper border unique is to combine your wallpaper borders. You can hang two or three coordinating wallpaper borders together. You might even consider using borders that contrast with each other. For example, you can start with realistic wallpaper that depicts items on a shelf or hanging pots and pans. Directly below that you can put a thin wood trim that would cause one to think there is actually a shelf there, and then below that, you can put up sculpted ivy wallpaper that butts against the faux shelf.

There is no rule that says you have to hang your wallpaper around the top of the room against the ceiling. It is your kitchen. You make the rules! You can use one or more patterns of wallpaper border to create a frame on a large wall which you can hang a collage, a large framed picture, or a grouping of pictures. You can also hang wallpaper at different heights. You may have seen wallpaper used at chair rail height around the room, with or without molding
, but you can also use it around the baseboard of the room. The wallpaper does not have to be “kitchen” wallpaper either. You can install a picket fence
design, or underwater scene that you would typically see in a child’s bedroom. These children’s room borders may be as wide as three or four feet. Doing such unexpected things with wallpaper border will help to make your room stand out from the crowd.

Do you hate wallpaper borders that repeat the same picture all the way around the room? Have your border tell a story. Use a combination of wallpaper cutouts and hand painted words to create a unique border that welcomes your friends and tells them to make themselves comfortable. Another option is to not have the wallpaper go all around the room. Cut the wallpaper border apart and use it in sections and groupings to decorate over windows and doorways and appliances. You can choose to use the border on an accent wall only. You can also put borders that feature seed packets or fruit in picture frames and hang them on the wall. When you are choosing your wallpaper rolls, remember to think creatively about the different ways you can use them.

Do not forget, room borders do not need to be wallpaper. You can choose to create a stenciled design, or to decoupage pictures onto your wall where you would typically put wallpaper. You can paint directly on the wall, or you can paint on strips of canvas and have that installed with heavy-duty wallpaper paste, which you can take down and save at any time. In addition, stamps and rub on designs may also be used to accent your room. Using any of these ideas alone or together will be sure to make your kitchen design truly unique.

Modern Furniture

2010-03-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Kitchen is one of the most important parts of your house. There are lots of kitchen decorating ideas which can be very interesting but you need to choose the decorating ideas carefully because once your kitchen is decorated you would not get a second chance to make it right. You can also some personal touches to the design so that the kitchen looks a more inviting as well as a warm place. Today kitchens are not only for cooking and eating, it sometimes become a place for great gathering as well as entertainment.

Everybody wants their kitchen to look good and hence they search for the best kitchen decorating ideas. You can keep your kitchen open; you can connect it to your living room separating the two with some counters or a bar. You might be thinking that you need to spend a lot to decorate your kitchen, but this idea has changed over the time. Now you do not require investing a huge amount to decorate your kitchen. You just need to give a little more time to your kitchen decor.

Designing the Parts

The kitchen has different parts and when you are decorating the kitchen you need to look equally to all the parts of the kitchen. The kitchen decorating ideas will include the walls, the floors, the counters, cabinets, appliances and the backsplashes. All these make up the kitchen a complete place and hence you cannot afford to miss any of them from your decor ideas.

First of all you can put a chandelier above the place where your dinner table is kept; with the help of it you can create a focal point. You can also put a tree beside the table. The tree can have a natural trunk with the leaves made of silk.

You can also buy different accessories for your kitchen. You can put lampshades at the corners of the kitchen. You can also use dim lights on the backsplashes. You can even go for open cabinets. Remove the doors of the cabinets. This way you can create great kitchen decorating ideas for the heart of the house.

Modern Kitchen

2009-12-16T03:43:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Design Photos

2009-12-16T03:34:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Design Software

2009-12-16T03:26:00.000-08:00

First and foremost decide upon the size of the kitchen. This will depend upon the strength of your family and also for what purpose you want to use the kitchen. If your kitchen has to merely satisfy the need of a good storage and cooking place, then you can keep it small and simple. For this you can chose the “L/U” shaped kitchens. These kitchens can be accommodated in the odd corners of your house and thus is a great way to compliment your house pattern and geometry. Moreover the “L and U” shaped kitchens require less of floor area, provides more storage opportunities and plus the cook top legs can be used for various purposes like dining or breakfast table.
Secondly decide on the kitchen layout. Based on the location of the electric points and the water connections, it is important to fix the position of the work station, the sink and the refrigerator. They together form the work triangle. It is advisable to keep the perimeter of the work triangle at least 12 feet but less than 25 feet. Having fixed the three main important kitchen components, you have to now think of organizing the other appliances based on its utility. It is also advisable to lookout for drainage points, position of the gas etc. You can hire kitchen design firms to do your layout or you can do the design yourself using kitchen design software.
Without proper storage facilities your kitchen can be a real mess, so don’t forget to place as many cabinets and cabinet counter tops as possible without making your kitchen look clumsy. Storage is very important for a well planned kitchen and we shall discuss this aspect in details later.
If you want to go by modern trends and have a family that sleeps together, eats together and also cooks together…… then you can opt for the multiple work station concept which is quite unique from the conventional kitchen shapes. It is possible to do so simply by putting the cook top in the center of the kitchen along with the sink, so that at any time 2 – 4 people can stand around it and work together.
The next thing to decide is the theme. You can choose from the country look to the contemporary look or if you pocket permits how about a Designer Kitchen.

The kitchen is one of the main focal points of your home and the kitchen cabinets you have are the first thing your guests see. One of the quickest and cheapest ways to update your kitchen is to explore some kitchen cabinet refacing ideas. By renovating kitchen cabinet doors you will be able to give your kitchen a whole new look at a fraction of the cost.

The best time to start thinking about refacing your kitchen cabinets is when they start to look old, worn, faded, or outdated. Kitchen cabinets typically get a lot of wear and it is easy for them to show it. Another reason you might want to reface your cabinets is if you are planning to sell your house. Anything you do to update your home will help you sell your house faster and ultimately for more money.

Kitchen Design

2009-12-16T03:21:00.000-08:00

The kitchen colors are very important as we have discussed but so are the various items you decide to hang on the walls. Some people ruin their whole kitchen decors by putting to many things on their walls. They have their refrigerators totally covered with pictures and notes and their kitchen walls look much the same being crammed with junk.

A tasteful kitchen will have just the right amount of things hanging on the walls such as perhaps some cooking utensils, a wall clock, perhaps a small kitchen LCD TV, and perhaps a picture or two. The main thing is to create the proper balance.

Kitchen wall clocks are nice because there are literally thousands of styles and designs to choose from. You want your clock to match the colors and decor of your kitchen so that it looks like it fits right in. In other words, if your kitchen is elegant with dark wood cabinets and granite, a clock that is a modern style might not look quite right.

Wall clocks can be an important accent piece in any room because they are not only a piece of art but they are functional too.

The kitchen counter tops and cabinets are what most folks see when they walk into a kitchen. If your counters are old, worn, and faded it is time to replace them or refurbish them. Granite is the "in" counter top with kitchens and all new houses are now being built with granite counter tops. Note that the color of granite is a personal choice but there are differences. A dark rock seems to show streaks more than a lighter shade of granite. It is similar to black and white cars: black cars always show dirt more than white cars. So, if you are looking for kitchen granite counter tops with the least maintenance you should choose a lighter color.

Kitchen cabinet refacing is a good idea and much easier than totally replacing your cabinets. If the cabinets are still of good quality, a simple refacing job that matches them with the counters and other kitchen colors will do nicely.

No kitchen remodel or update is complete without a new paint job. Great colors for kitchens are usually lighter ones that have a bright atmosphere. A lot of time is spent in the kitchen by a lot of different people so keep that in mind for any colors you choose. Not all kitchen color ideas should necessarily be bright though as you have to match the color to your floor, counters and cabinets.