Custom Kitchen Remodeling: Form and Function – Style and Layout

A Chmura Custom Kitchen:

The Heart and Hearth of the Home!

We’ve discussed a few of the boring details, the pieces-parts that make up a custom kitchen and, in particular, the various types of kitchen cabinets, from stock kitchen cabinets to semi-custom and on to the top-of-the-line, custom kitchen cabinets. We have also discussed how kitchen cabinets are constructed and some of the options available to you, everything from the kitchen cabinet foundation to the hardware in the previous posts. While it is possible to go into even greater detail, many of the issues we would end up exploring are based on an individual homeowner’s taste and budget.

The best strategy, particularly if you are that far along in the decision-making process, is to consult with a trusted custom kitchen design and remodeling expert!

Now, let’s get to the fun stuff, the stuff that gets all of us excited about the possibilites open to us as we consider our newly remodeled custom kitchen.

Custom Kitchen Remodeling: Considering Style and Layout – Form and Function

As we have said many times before, most families consider the kitchen “The Heart and Hearth of the Home!” In many homes, the kitchen is the most popular room in the house; and, the one that gets the greatest amount of traffic and the most use day-in and day-out.

The look and feel of a custom kitchen is synonymous with its style and function.

While the “look” is very important and the style of a kitchen will leave a lasting impression, it is the “feel,” the function that ultimately defines the comfort and usability. As custom kitchen design and remodeling experts have pointed out time and time again, the function and the aesthetics must come together if a kitchen is really going to work as the hub or heart and hearth of the home.

Form must follow function. Or, to put it in custom kitchen design lingo:

How a kitchen looks must follow how a kitchen works!

Interestingly, while we all seem to use the kitchen a great deal over the course of the day, how we actually use the kitchen varies from family to family, culture to culture, generation to generation, and certainly region to region.

While one family may congregate, eat, study, watch television, and entertain in the kitchen, another family may use other rooms in the house for one or more of the above mentioned functions. The advent of the family room, for instance, took some of the heat off the kitchen (pun intended) for many middle-class American households. Or, at least it accommodated some of the overflow as families grew and as entertainment habits changed.

For a custom kitchen to work, it must be able to accommodate the usage demands, the life-patterns of the individual or family it is being customized and remodeled for.

Functionality is crucial and accomodating for function takes planning…and design.

In other words, do your research and consult with a trusted kitchen remodeling expert!

Take the time to explore the various types of kitchen cabinets, appliances, lighting fixtures, and countertops. Look into the different trim levels, finishes, and colors. Select design elements that appeal to you and your family. In fact, do everything you can to get feedback from everyone in the family, make it a group project, at least in the planning stages; and you will find yourself with a kitchen that fits your family’s demands and its personality.

Customizing your kitchen is a major undertaking.

If you keep form and function in mind as you plan the style and layout of your new, custom kitchen, you will have many years of enjoyment. Keep in mind how the kitchen fits your family’s personality and how it fits your house’s overall layout and you will have a kitchen that works and returns many times the investment, not only in terms of improved and increased functionality…but it terms of real dollars as well.

If you have any questions or would like to comment?

Please do!

We would love to hear from you and get your feedback.

For a no obligation custom kitchen consultation, contact us today!

Rick and Bryan Chmura
Chmura Custom Woodworks – Your Complete Source for a Custom Home!
Serving Ohio for more than a decade!
216-533-3760
Rick@ChmuraCustomWoodworks.com

PS, Look for more on this topic in the coming days and weeks! Also, watch as we grow! Check out Custom Complete Craftworks and our growing line of specialty and woodworking craft items.