Traditional Design Style

Identifying your design style is an important first step in any kitchen remodel or new construction. Are you drawn to sleek modern design, or a relaxed and rustic country aesthetic? Are your tastes more eclectic than traditional? Or maybe you prefer some combination of these looks.

Another consideration is the style of the other rooms in your home, and whether you want your kitchen design to stand apart from or blend seamlessly with adjacent rooms.  Some design experts say your style should be consistent throughout your home, while others believe the kitchen is a great place to make a statement.

Eclectic Design Style

Need some help figuring out which design style fits you best? Merillat has some great tools to help point you in the right direction. Explore the Your Design Style section of our website to find the look that appeals to you most, and then view the Merillat products that will help bring that vision to life. To help you along the way, here are some high level descriptions of four popular design categories:

• Eclectic: We like to describe this style as a “free spirit” attitude. Perhaps a bit quirky and unconventional – you think its okay to color outside the lines and scream chartreuse when others insist on boring beige! This style is a celebration of colors, styles and textures combined with casual comfort. Think Dali meets Rachel Ray…
  

  Country Design Style

• Traditional: For those who are a bit more formal, the Traditional design style can range from a more relaxed, less formal interpretation to high-end, embellished sophistication, but is always elegant and timeless. If resale of your home is a consideration, adding some traditional touches is a wise choice.
• Country: If you prefer a more “rustic” aesthetic, this style exudes warmth and comfort. The Country design style is all about softening the edges of life for an inviting and “lived in” feel. For some, this looks includes traditional silhouettes adorned with turned legs and feet, patterned or floral fabrics, and often a bright coat of paint and heirloom detailing. For others, a mountain retreat is the look you’re going for, with open-grained, knotty or rough-hewn woods, and old-world accents of stone, iron and copper. Can’t you already hear the fire crackling?
  

  Modern Design Style

• Modern:  A contemporary kitchen is flexible and functional with clean, uncluttered lines. Modern doesn’t have to mean “cold”; with a simple punch of color, your modern kitchen can become warm and inviting. “Techy” kitchen gadgets and appliances are often a part of this design theme. Contemporary kitchens are very popular in lofts, modern, and city living homes.

So which design style fits you and your home best? Are you traditional to the core? Perhaps you’re a modernist with a touch of eclectic whimsy. Our maybe a casual country aesthetic is what speaks to you. We’d love to hear which style appeals to you most!

Now that you know what look you’re drawn to, you can begin planning your remodel by browsing and saving your favorite Merillat products, accessories and room images from our Inspiration Gallery to your personal IdeaFolio account. You can even start to define your kitchen floor plan within IdeaFolio so you can share your ideas with your designer when you’re ready to bring your dream kitchen to life!

Guided by chef Curtis Stone, you’ll be asked a series of questions that will help you determine your specialized needs and preferences, covering everything from kitchen layout to paint palettes. Once you’ve completed the customized planning process, you’ll be able to review your kitchen choices in a virtual rendering and a mood board that can be printed at home and shared with your local Merillat dealer.

The process is laid out in six easy-to-follow steps:

1. Getting Started. In this first section, you will be prompted to create or log in to your IdeaFolio™ account so your project can be saved, changed and shared. In this step, the planner also gathers information about you that could affect your kitchen design. For example, it asks if you are remodeling or building a new kitchen.
2. Inspiration. Here you will explore and choose the design style that fits you best. Once you have chosen a style, you will then be presented with a series of kitchen photos from which you can choose and “save” favorites, and learn about the features that make those kitchens special.
3. Door Style. In this step you will be guided through the process of choosing your favorite door style, wood species, finish and hardware for a finished look you will love.
4. Organization and Accessories. Based on answers provided about how you plan to live in your kitchen, the tool will then present a series of features designed to make life in the kitchen easier. From pull-out wastebaskets to wine racks, you can browse additional photos and videos about the features to learn more, saving your favorites to your project.
5. Planning Your Space. Next you will review major considerations you may want to discuss with your designer once you get to a Merillat showroom, such as sink and faucet types, counter top materials and appliance options, all of which can affect the kitchen layout.
6. Finishing Touches. This is where it all comes together with cabinetry accents like corbels and crown molding, paint color, flooring and counter tops.

Upon completion of the final step, you will be presented with “My Design,” a collection of your favorite products organized for easy sharing with your designer. Swatches and images are provided; including door styles, hardware, paint color, flooring and countertops.

The Kitchen Planner is designed to engage and inspire you, and make the planning, selection and purchasing process more efficient and streamlined so your dream kitchen can become a reality.

Want to learn more? Check out this video and then give the Kitchen Planner a try yourself and let us know what you think!

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!

The design style of a space is becoming much more important in today’s changing environment as more time is being spent at home cooking meals, entertaining friends and spending time with family. Each kitchen should reflect the type of individual and family you are…. as well as the style of the rest of your home. Discovering your style can seem stressful to most, mainly because most people are worried they will make the wrong decision and be stuck with that cabinetry style, tile color or drawer pull forever. The key is finding the balance between careful consideration and hasty decision making.

We feel an easy way to begin this “style discovery” is by doing your research.  Creating a file of “tear sheets” of kitchens and design styles you gravitate to in magazines and advertisements.  Our IdeaFolio™ is also a good resource where you can collect all your favorite design elements in one convenient place.  An IdeaFolio™ is your own personal space for collecting ideas and products from virtually anywhere on the Merillat site.

You can delve into the limitless offerings of the internet by researching different design eras and developments the kitchen industry has experienced.  Reading blogs, watching design videos and joining social networking groups of kitchen and design enthusiasts will create connections with other design experts of which you can ask questions, look to for advice and learn about the industry.  From this wealth of knowledge you can start deciding, right off the bat, what you do and don’t like. Keep a log or a “look book” of this data, imagery and advice and begin to connect the similar pieces that you like the most… you are well on your way to planning the perfect kitchen.  Let us know what your favorite blog and/or social network are to help get advice and answers on your kitchen design questions!

Considering the personality and preferences of the primary users of the space is important to the planning of a successful kitchen design.  Creating a space that reflects the design style and functional needs of family members spending much of their time in the kitchen will ensure minimal adjustments at a later date.  For example, major decisions, such as cabinetry finish and style, should be taken into serious consideration first, as these are things that are the most expensive to change in the future.  More unique personalities can really shine through on other applications that are relatively inexpensive yet ever-changeable. For instance, a favorite color choice for the walls, using unique materials for your backsplash or an inventive choice of drawer pulls are ways to create a custom, fun experience quickly and at minimal cost.

Choosing the right design style will not only draw entertainment and personality back into the kitchen, but also aid in bringing the element of enjoyment back into cooking and spending real time with family and friends.  The fun of kitchen design begins with style.