Guest Blogger: How to Creatively Modernize your Kitchen Interiors this Year

 Guest Blogger #328, Entry #899, January 15, 2012

Of all the rooms in the house, the kitchen is one of the busiest. It also experiences some of the fastest design changes. Follow these tips on contemporary kitchen styling.

Modern cabinetry can make your kitchen feel wonderful!

Image via: Shelterness

Cabinets

Renovators with a taste for the modern will love the sleek cabinets that are becoming more and more popular. Clean lines and minimal hardware make these cabinets look simple and uncluttered. Small kitchens can seem crowded when the design aesthetic is too jumbled, so sleek cabinets can help streamline the space.  Even a large kitchen could benefit from the uniformity of underplayed cabinets. Just be careful to not let your space go cold. A contemporary space can be nice, but you don’t want your kitchen to be unwelcoming. Blank cabinets will make way for small design gestures to get noticed. Impressive appliances like wall ovens or break-front sinks will stand-out too.

Cabinetry, flooring, appliances and finishes can modernize your kitchen

Image via: Shelter Interior Design

Flooring

There are many options for kitchen flooring. From tile, to linoleum, to marble, wood or concrete – each option comes in a number of styles and prices. Because the styling of each material is so diverse, you should budget your floor before you even look at samples. Decide what kind of floor you can afford, then, start picking out designs. In terms of contemporary design, wood cut into wide planks is becoming very popular. The larger boards bring a clean look to the space. The wood grain keeps things warm. Having a toned down floor makes decorating the kitchen easier, although more confident designers may like the challenge of building boldness form the ground, up. Keep your color palette mess-friendly. Shades that have brown in them are especially effective at not showing dirt or discoloration.

Modernize your flooring for a contemporary kitchen

Image via: Zsazsa Bellagio

Islands

It used to be that people stayed out of the kitchen. It was the “behind the scenes” area of a house. This is no longer true. Kitchens have become more and more of a high-traffic area of the house. Contemporary kitchens have breakfast bars and islands. Many kitchen design aesthetics have begun looking like the furniture in the rest of your home. The mix of form/function, industrial/homey has opened the door for experimenting in the kitchen. I think that entertaining a mostly neutral palette with pops of color is the most effective way to tie these two together.

Holly Watson is a full time student who loves writing, blogging for Sears and sitting in different people’s kitchens. She feels that the greatest design aesthetic a kitchen can have is food and will never turn down a nice plate of appetizers. Holly does not double dip.

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