With all the activities that take place in this most important room, it makes sense to put careful thought into the planning, design and décor of your dream kitchen.
With Thermador appliances, you’ll never need to make compromises. From introducing the first built-in wall oven over 50 years ago to redefining gas cooktops with our patented Star® burner, Thermador’s thinking breaks both convention and performance limits. Our history of innovation also includes the first downdraft ventilation, first sealed electric cooktop and first Speedcooking oven. But we are not defined by innovation for innovations sake. Our handcrafted appliances and their every feature and control are designed to make cooking easier, better and more rewarding. We are hotter, cooler, faster and better than every other luxury appliance brand. For those that truly love to cook, Thermador is the true kitchen leader.
Professional Results
Look everywhere for inspiration….books, magazines, movies, catalogs, retail stores,
showrooms, commercial buildings, websites….then add to your own personal vision
of how you want your kitchen to look, feel, and function.
Carry a digital camera with you and take snapshots of rooms, colors, fabrics and furniture that inspire
or excite you.
Visit the Thermador Kitchen Gallery to browse through our collection
of exquisite kitchens and vignettes.
After I meet with a client, I pull together a sample board — a collection of fabric scraps, paint chips, finish samples, flooring bits, photos of furnishings that tells the room's design story. Make your own sample board when you're dreaming up a kitchen makeover. It'll help you match up finishes, flooring, fabrics, and colors before they get installed. Plus, it helps you stick to your vision once you've started.
The way you utilize and enjoy your kitchen should guide you through every step of the design process. You need to be practical when you choose a kitchen style to ensure that you will not only love the way your kitchen looks but that you will love living in it too.
Choosing a kitchen style requires serious thought. When you want to gather with
family and friends, the kitchen can become the main attraction when it has a welcoming
layout and good design in a style that you love. Knowing what you like will help
you narrow down choices on everything from cabinetry to flooring to wall colors.
Remember to make the space yours. It’s easy to get caught up in the new trends, but keep in mind you will be spending a lot of time in your kitchen and you will need to feel comfortable in the space. Be true to your style and likes.
Most people remodel one project at a time. But you need a design plan for adjacent rooms. If you see the overall vision, it can prevent you from making costly mistakes going forward.
Whatever your style, an abundance of solid cabinet doors can overpower a kitchen. To create visual relief and architectural interest, mix it up with a few stylish departures. One strategy is to vary the heights and depths of the cabinets. You can also change out solid-face cabinets with racks that store dishes or wine and open shelves for displaying collections or storing cookbooks. Or transform upper doors by adding glass inserts. If you prefer that people don’t see your peanut butter, use glass that is sandblasted or reeded so that the contents of the cabinets are obscured.
You need to consider what would be the most efficient kitchen layout for the way
you cook and use the room. Most designers recommend grouping common elements in
a work triangle or zone. For example, you could have a prep/cooking zone with a
separate cleanup area. The prep/cooking zone could include a range or cooktop,
a wall oven and a refrigerator along with a chopping block. The goal is to minimize
the number of steps between the various elements and to ensure efficiency and convenience.
Also keep in mind how traffic flows through the room. You don’t want kids or family
members crossing through your work zones.
A kitchen's efficiency works on the "perfect triangle," the relationship between a sink, range and refrigerator can work in several ways that make the kitchen more efficient.
Want to make your kitchen look bigger? Laying the kitchen floor pattern on a diagonal lets you visually expand the space — good to know if you have a tight squeeze.
Many remodels I tackle are opening kitchens into the family room. Just remember the need for visual privacy. Think about designing visual barriers so you're not looking at a stack of dirty pots and pans when your guests are at the dining room table.
If your kitchen is all about family, invest in an island.
More than any other element, cabinets can define a room’s style. They are also fundamental in making your kitchen practical for storing everything from dinnerware to spices to cookie sheets.
Kitchen cabinets are available stock, semicustom and custom. You’ll need to determine which type best fits your kitchen project and your budget. You may also get the most out of your budget by mixing a few custom or semicustom pieces with stock pieces to give your kitchen a signature style.
Once you choose a door style, you can consider the numerous finishes, colors, woods, laminates, mouldings and hardware. The design possibilities are endless.
Traditional construction with a solid wood frame attached to the front of the cabinet box. Hinges can be hidden or visible. Because the frame overlaps the door opening, drawers are slightly narrower than the cabinet box.
Provides a clean, contemporary look and slightly more capacity and easier access to the interiors. Door hinges mount inside the cabinet so they’re hidden when the doors are closed.
A timeless style. The cabinet doors and drawer fronts cover the entire frame of the cabinet box, leaving minimal space between the doors and drawers. Hinges can be hidden or visible.
An easy way to add character to your kitchen. Specialty options include leaded glass doors, reeded glass doors and wood and metal insert panels.
Your kitchen countertop is one of the most used surfaces in your home, so you want to be quite sure you make the right choice. There are a number of things you need to bear in mind.
The first step in remodeling anything in your home is to know your design style. An excellent way to discover this is to choose images from interior design and similar magazines that appeal to you. These could range from flower arrangements, kitchen layouts, color schemes to the type of Thermador appliances that you find attractive. Clip out these images and begin creating a Style Scrapbook.
Fashion has always been a source of inspiration for kitchen design. So in figuring out your style, take a trip to your own closet. You can get a good idea of who you are by what you wear. Equally as important as your personal style is the overall style of your home: is it traditional, modern, contemporary, classic, transitional, or even nautical? Is the home architecture Mediterranean, Ranch or Spanish? This will give you great direction on they type of style that you are trying to achieve with your kitchen design and specifically with your countertop.
Once you have gathered your ideas and have a design direction, you will need to choose a color for your countertop that complements the other colors in your kitchen. What color are your cabinets, backsplashes and paints? What type of material have you chosen for your flooring? What style and color are your Thermador appliances?
The next critical step in choosing a countertop is to consider what functions your kitchen serves. Is it a high traffic area? Do you have small children or teenagers at home? Do you enjoy entertaining? Are you a passionate cook? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will need a durable countertop. Your two best choices are granite or quartz.
Although granite is an extremely durable surface, it is not as durable as quartz. Quartz remains the number one rated surfacing material for durability on the market today. Quartz is also the only material that will give you the ease of cleaning while offering a multitude of colors, textures and styles.
Caesarstone is the original quartz manufacturer of heat, stain and scratch resistant surfaces with a Residential Lifetime Warranty. They fabricate surfaces with a variety of different edge options to match your personal style and overall kitchen design, modern or traditional.
To get a crystal clear image of the finished product before installation even begins, check out Caesarstone’s amazing Edge Visualizer Tool on their website at www.caesarstoneus.com/catalog/edges.cfm. This tool features an animated, three-dimensional, 360° view of a segment of a Caesarstone countertop. The tool allows you to experiment with every possible combination of color and edge type.
Remember: your kitchen is the heart of your home, where you, your family and friends spend most of their time. This is where memories are made. Selecting the perfect countertop is a critical part of your overall kitchen design.
Appliances are the star of your kitchen and will account for a good portion of your kitchen project budget. You should learn about the various types available so you can choose appliances that will best meet your cooking, food storage and cleaning needs.
I've long been an admirer of Thermador appliances. You may have noticed that I incorporate them into each of the kitchen designs I create for my show, Divine Design. Thermador’s state-of-the-art performance and classic design are exactly what professional designers look for when creating a kitchen that makes a bold and dramatic statement.
Choosing colors that work best with your countertops, cabinets and flooring is no
easy task. For a fabulous kitchen, you need to choose colors that work in harmony.
But you also need to choose colors you can live with and colors that evoke the mood
you’re looking for. Do you want your kitchen space to be energizing and lively?
Warm and relaxing? Timeless and sophisticated? Bold and trendy? Once you determine
the overall look and feel you’re after, it will make the decision process a lot
less intimidating. Practical paint choices include those that feature low sheen,
semi-gloss or gloss sheens.
Integrate adjoining family rooms into the kitchen through color to maintain continuity and to create pleasing transitions.
Two-toned kitchens are more interesting than one-toned. For example, a marble island, different cabinet finishes and Art Deco tile can make a kitchen come alive.
Paint color samples and wallpaper swatches are worth the time and effort. It is amazing how colors can change at different times of the day and in different rooms. By sampling a color at home, you’ll get the most accurate sense of how it will look in your finished kitchen.
Good or bad lighting makes or breaks a kitchen. Properly positioned, lighting can
make wood tones glow, sculpt cabinet details, lend drama to painted finishes, and
make that stainless steel hood sparkle. For the best results, incorporate lighting
from multiple sources, such as overhead chandeliers or pendants, lamps, wall sconces
and under-cabinet lighting.
Make the best of any natural light in your space and of course select light fixtures that will provide the most pleasure and safety. Always consider ambient and general lighting when defining your lighting design.
Under-cabinet lighting is functional and highlights the texture of the backsplash tile. You can use either low-voltage halogens or fluorescent tubes. If you use halogens, put them on a separate dimmer switch so that you can leave them on at night for a gentle glow. Small lights tucked into the toekicks of your cabinets make wonderful, serene nightlights.
Position recessed fixtures relatively close to the cabinet fronts—about 12 inches from the faces and centered on the cabinet doors—so they illuminate countertop work areas as well as cabinet interiors.
Cabinetry does more than anything else to define a room’s style while flooring,
countertops and appliances have an enormous impact on the look and feel of your
kitchen. However, don’t overlook the details. Pull it all together and complete
the room with perfect enhancements that suite your style and function of your kitchen.
Carefully choose door and drawer pulls, window treatments and decorative accessories.
Fifteen percent of your budget should be for accessories. And a good rule of thumb is to update your pillows, lamps, artwork and area rugs every seven years. These things keep your room looking fresh and current.
Art is a design element that is essential for the expression of your own unique style. It creates personality and character in a room; sets a mood or ambiance; adds color and interest; and can transform an ordinary room into an extra-ordinary room.
Backsplashes add character to the kitchen. There are a lot of new tiles out there that can really dress up a room. My new favorite is stainless steel tile. The beauty of these babies is that you can use many for all over glitz or just a few for a hint of sparkle.
At some point, you will need to reconcile your dream and your budget. When planning
your kitchen project, start with the ideal world of what you would love to do. Then
work through your budget to determine what you can afford to do. Having a budget
will help you stick to your plan and you should always refer to your budget when
making product and design decisions.
When you define your budget, include a 20% contingency because it's always going to cost more than you think it is.
You can transform a drab kitchen into a fabulous kitchen, even if you’re budget conscious. One way to save is to refinish your existing cabinetry. You can give them a whole new look by painting them, inside and out.
With a wide variety of quality products available, there’s a kitchen for almost any budget, ranging from the lovely to the super deluxe.
To share a few examples: a large show-stopper of a kitchen with luxurious materials in a major metro area could start at more than a hundred thousand dollars and go well beyond that. However a lovely modest makeover in a smaller town might be achieved for around $20,000 to $25,000. The NKBA’s handy chart explains how that breaks down by products and services.
| Design Fees | 4% |
| Installation | 17% |
| Appliances & Ventilation | 14% |
| Cabinetry & Hardware | 29% |
| Countertops | 10% |
| Lighting | 5% |
| Flooring | 7% |
| Doors & Windows | 4% |
| Walls & Ceilings | 5% |
| Faucets & Plumbing | 4% |
| Other | 1% |
Adapted from the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) Kitchen Planner. For more information, or to find a certified kitchen designer (CKD), visit nkba.org or call 1-800-843-6522.
If you’re kitchen project is substantial, you should look to the pros for expert
help and guidance. Even small kitchen projects can benefit from the advice of an
experienced designer. Professionals can offset many problems that you might not
anticipate and they can help you bring your kitchen dream to life.
Choose an architect that can take your vision and conceptualize it into a living space. Choose a builder that has a proven track record. Choose a good contractor that can deliver your dream kitchen on budget and on time. Choose a designer that satisfies your taste and style. A good designer will work closely with you and your team of experts to make your kitchen dream a reality.
When choosing a designer...
It's not uncommon for folks to be unable to articulate what their style is. Create a sample board, scrapbook or binder full of magazine clippings, fabrics and photos of design that catches your eye. A homeowner who has done their homework really helps a designer. When I look through 20 different pages that a homeowner has collected, it gives an outsider a good idea of what the person likes.
As the heart of your home, the kitchen is one of the most complex and potentially expensive rooms to create. Today, there are more options than ever in the fast-changing and highly innovative world of kitchen products. And when it comes to finessing a design, even a few inches can make or break a plan. Details count and there’s a lot to know.
That’s why you should trust your kitchen to an experienced, ethical and professional member of the National Kitchen & Bath Association. NKBA members work in a variety of ways. Most handle design and product sales, starting with cabinets and running the full gamut.
Other members concentrate on products such as decorative plumbing and hardware, appliances, tile and stone, and countertops. Some are with design/build firms that handle additions and structural changes. Some focus exclusively on design services. No matter what combination of products and services they offer, you can rest assured that members adhere to the Standards of Conduct set by NKBA for your peace of mind. Here are some questions to ask as you interview professionals.
The NKBA’s various levels of certification let you know an individual’s skills have been independently evaluated and tested. That means you can have extra confidence in working with certified professionals who have proven, verified knowledge and experience. The requirements for the NKBA’s professional design certifications are:
Adapted from the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) Kitchen Planner. For more information, or to find a certified kitchen designer (CKD), visit nkba.org or call 1-800-843-6522.
Based on your responses to the quiz questions, Thermador has some expert advice to help make your dream kitchen a reality.