Merillat Classic Spring Valley in Oak Cider

As the hub of the home, the emphasis on design style in today’s kitchen is greater than ever before.  With so much of our time spent in the kitchen, it’s only natural that we’ve begun to gravitate toward cabinetry that looks like furniture, and appliances that are integrated into their surroundings or make a bold design statement of their own.

For those who can afford them, high-style, high-end appliances lend a wonderful aesthetic all their own to the kitchen. From professional six-burner gas stoves to glass-front refrigerators with architectural curves to retro-modern appliances in an array of crazy colors, there are a lot of great options from which to choose.

Integrated appliances are also an option for those who want a more customized look. An integrated appliance is one that has been custom built to fit your space instead of the more conventional method of building your kitchen to accommodate standard dimension appliances. But, this kind of customization doesn’t come cheap – not only is the appliance itself expensive, but maintenance and upkeep are also costly propositions.

Rest assured there are smaller scale and less costly design solutions available.  Several creative solutions for disguising or hiding away your conventional and small appliances are described below.

Merillat Masterpiece Wall Tambour Storage

Appliance Panel Kits

Camouflage paneling that matches your cabinetry is a great way to personalize appliances whose finishes don’t match your taste, or don’t match each other. It also creates a uniform look for your kitchen, creating continuous stretches of attractive surfaces and finishes around the room.

In this photo from the Merillat Classic Spring Valley collection, you can see how paneling helps the dishwasher fit right in with the room’s design. With matching wood species and finish, the paneling creates a consistent, continuous flow around the room. Ask your designer how to best incorporate appliance panel kits into your kitchen design.

Solutions for Small Appliances

When it comes to your smaller appliances, there are a number of ways in which you can keep them out of sight and help reduce clutter. For example, you can tuck a toaster in an appliance garage or a tambour cabinet with a roll-down door, keep a mixer on a shelf that lifts up and into the open when you need it, and keep a microwave on a sturdy, dedicated, integrated shelf. You can also use curtains, screens and other decorative devices to keep smaller items out of sight.  Explore Merillat’s extensive offering of small appliance and other space-saving accessories.

Quick Fixes

Don’t have the time or budget for changes to your appliances or cabinetry? Some simple yet innovative updates can help lend a unique, customized look to your appliances. For example you might elect to paint your appliances a color that complements the rest of your kitchen decor, or swap out standard hardware for custom hardware that better matches other elements in the room. Hardware can also be removed and painted to match other hardware finishes.

We hope you have been inspired by some of these quick ideas on how to create a more integrated kitchen look.  Do you have additional ideas on interesting ways of disguising kitchen appliances? Please share them with us!

Merillat Classic Somerton Hill in Cherry Amaretto with Java Glaze

You may have experienced a paradox in your kitchen: you have lots of cabinets, but when you bring something new home you don’t have anywhere to put it. No one wants to admit what’s staring them in the face whenever they open their kitchen cabinets – clutter.  It can slow you down and keep you from finding what you need. Some of us use our cabinets as a hiding place, shoving random items in without thinking about how we’ll find them again or what they may be blocking.

Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to get back on track.  Here are a few simple strategies to help you declutter, reorganize, and reclaim your kitchen.

Decluttering

Merillat Classic Under Sink Tote

Merillat Classic Base Corner Lazy Susan

Merillat Classic Base Drawer Partition Kit

Merillat Masterpiece Wall Spice Door Rack

The best way to tackle the problem, especially if you haven’t moved or renovated in a while, is to empty your cabinets and drawers, give them a thorough cleaning, and then restock them logically, based on what you really need and where you’ll use it.

The first step is to simply empty out your cabinets and drawers, spreading the contents out on your counters and table so you can see what you have. For safety, throw out any chipped dishes, rusted utensils, or scratched non-stick pans.  Also toss any storage containers or lids without mates.

Separate the items you seldom or never use and put them in a box for donation or storage. Items you use less often, but still have need of should be grouped together. Frequently used items make up the last grouping.

Remove your clutter “hot spots”.  Have a junk drawer? It’s time to clear it out and put that drawer to better use. Purge old paper work, expired coupons, that dried up bottle of glue, old batteries, and loose coins. Tools should be returned to their rightful places, and that pile of telephone books can be whittled down to just one or two. Set up a basket by the front door to catch unsorted mail.

As hard as it is, avoid the temptation to over decorate;  there are better areas within your home to display trinkets and artwork.

Lastly, go through your canned and boxed foods and tossed any expired items.  Put unexpired items that you don’t think you will use into a box for donation to your local food bank.

Reorganizing

Now that you’ve purged all of the extra “stuff” from your kitchen, it’s time to reorganize.  As you restock your cabinets, put on your chef’s hat and think about where you’ll use each item, starting with the pile of most frequently used items and then moving on to those less often used. Heavy items should go in lower cabinets in the vicinity of their most frequent use. For example, pots, pans and other cooking/baking equipment should go in lower cabinets near the stove. If you have room for a ceiling mounted pot rack near your cooking area, that’s another great solution that will clear out tons of space for other items in your cabinets.

Store plates, cups and other dinnerware close to your dishwasher for easier unloading. Silverware should be separated into a divider tray and place in a drawer close to your dining area or table. In general, like items should be stored together close to the area of their most frequent use. Also make a point of not overstuffing your drawers and cabinets or you’ll never be able to find anything in them.

Low on space? Mount under-counter racks for stemware or teacups. Paper towel holders, electric can openers, automatic coffee makers and even small televisions can also be mounted under cabinets to keep your countertops clear.

Small appliances that are not used daily should have a home in a pantry, appliance garage or similar location.

Spices used in cooking should be easily accessible from your main food prep area – Merillat offers some great accessories to help you get those spices organized.  In fact, Merillat offers a wide array of helpful accessories to help you organize every corner of your kitchen. Many of these accessories – including wire racks, drawer organizer trays, lazy susans, and spice drawer organizers – can be installed without replacing your current cabinets.

Maintaining Your Space

Now that your kitchen is put back together and your work flow is really FLOWING again, you’re going to want to take steps to keep it that way.  The most important factor in maintaining order is going to be keeping those countertops clear of accumulation by placing dirty dishes in the dishwasher and loose cooking / household items in their designated spaces.  Return small appliances to their storage locations when you’re finished with them. Everything that has been assigned a home – homework, keys, coats, laptops – should STAY there when not in use.

The second factor in maintaining your newly organized kitchen is a no-brainer: simple, daily tidying and cleaning.

• Disinfect food surfaces, wipe down your stove top, and spot sweep the floor nightly.
• Wipe down cabinet and drawer exteriors and wash floors weekly.
• Clean your oven and wipe down tops of cabinets monthly.

And there you have it! Complete these simple steps and you’re on your way to a clutter-free, easy flowing kitchen!

Have you recently reorganized your kitchen? What kind of crazy stuff did you find stashed in your drawers and cabinets?