White Kitchen Cabinets and Kitchen Design

Today the most popular type of home improvement homeowners are wanting and doing is kitchen remodeling. Kitchens are the main attraction and social center of your home for preparing meals for your family and for friends a comfortable place to socialize and gather. Kitchen design and planning is most important step for you to achieve the personal look, practical use and customized to meet you and your family’s lifestyle and needs. One of the most popular colors kitchen designers choose is white. White kitchen cabinets can be used to make a subtle design statement or portray a very dramatic distinctive look. The color white speaks for itself and depending on the style of kitchen cabinetry and door style you can create a look that fits your personality. White kitchen cabinets are used for many different décor such as contemporary, traditional, country, French country, English, shaker and many more. There are also many choices of material used for kitchen cabinets like; plastic laminate, white painted wood, high gloss lacquer, vinyl foil, white stain and white washed finish – all having their our design statement. Each of these styles has a distinctive look and can reflect your own personality.

White kitchen cabinets make color choices for accessories and countertops somewhat easier to choose an accent color theme throughout the kitchen and surrounding rooms. Using white color cabinetry in any of the styles mentioned can accomplish a design which is timeless and stay stylish for years to come. Contemporary style white gloss finishes give a very sleek modern look, while white painted wood raised panel door styles can give a warm traditional feeling in a kitchen. The flooring and countertop colors are the main accent areas and can drastically give different moods with different colors. A white traditional style cabinet with wood flooring is very popular and makes the kitchen feel very inviting and warm. Adding granite countertops to this combination again can totally change the mood of the kitchen depending on the color and texture.

The color choice for appliances is also very important and contributes to the total design statement. I would suggest if you are planning a traditional style kitchen use matching white wood front decorator panels on the dishwasher and refrigerator fronts as they will blend in better with the total look and use your choice for ovens, cook tops and sinks as stainless steel or black. In a contemporary style kitchen many designers choose to accent all appliances with contrasting colors to create a more dramatic look. In the past many people felt that white kitchen cabinets were only for showrooms and thought white was too much work to maintain. With today’s new wood finishes and synthetic materials white kitchen cabinetry is as easy to maintain as any other stained color. White kitchen cabinets have been in style for the past 20 years and show no signs of going out of the style trends to date. It is much easier to change color themes from time to time by changing window treatments, placemats and countertop accessories with new accent colors if you choose.

Some of the most popular improvements to a house today are; kitchens, bathrooms, basements, additions, hardwood flooring, specialty paint finishes, faux, custom wood mouldings & trim, garage conversions, attic space, adding decks and screen rooms, and home theater rooms. Families are finding that in many cases they would rather invest in remodeling their home than moving. As the real estate market is in a slump home improvements are on the rise, but before you plan on doing major improvements you need to have an idea of the present value of your home and how much  the project you are planning to do will cost. Decide on a total budget cost and list your priorities of the improvements you are planning. Next evaluate these three factors- will the cost  this project still keep you house within a the selling market value?. Will this improvement provide a more comfortable living quarters for you and your family to enjoy? can you afford this home improvement?

Simulated Granite Furniture Countertops

Hardwood Floors, Colors, Designs & Patterns

Hardwood floors have become very popular in recent years and different from the past, hardwood flooring has become a customized design statement rather than just an alternative type of flooring for ease of care. Older wood floors were traditionally of red or white oak and commonly 3" strip material and usually ¾" thick boards. Patterns were usually found in more expensive homes only and for the most part strip flooring was installed parallel with the length of the room. The older installed wood floors were nailed in place on site as raw lumber then rough sanded and then finish sanded with a walk behind flooring machine and the stain applied followed by a varnish or polyurethane coating which required regular paste waxing and buffing to maintain the sheen. Today's wood floors are usually of a prefinished board ranging in thickness from 3/8" to ¾". Many more species of woods are readily available in wood flooring at affordable prices making them very popular in home remodeling and new construction.

Choosing the type and color of wood flooring for your project is only half of the decision, the other half is selecting the style of board, board width and the direction which to install the strips or planks. Darker colors give the room a formal appearance and will define the room size visually, while lighter colors will give the appearance that the room is larger and allow other items in the room to stand out. Wood flooring species include red oak, white oak, ash, birch, maple, pine, cherry, walnut, teak, rosewood and other exotic woods which are more expensive and harder to find. Keep in mind that woods as teak, cherry and rosewood naturally darken with age and will be more prominent in areas exposed to daylight. The most common hardwood or softwood board widths are 21/2" - 3" strips, 4" to 7" planks, or smaller parquet style squares. The different board widths and the direction in which they are installed can dramatically affect the total appearance of the room by either highlighting the floor pattern or keeping color and patterns subtle. Along with those choices you may want to add patterns inlaid of different wood species, colors or different material such as ceramic tile to accent an area or border.

Installing the wood flooring diagonally makes a statement that it was installed professionally rather than just running boards parallel with walls which is the least expensive method of installation. By adding borders or different inlaid patterns is a way to express your personal touch to the room's décor. Using different colors of prefinished wood is the easiest way to add accents and details and by using the same brand of products in different colors will assure that matching width and thickness will be the same and professional looking. For borders consider using the main color around the perimeter walls 12" - !8" wide parallel with wall and miter the corners at 45 degree angles. Next install accent color wood strips at your choice of width parallel with base color and miter the corners also, after the accent color install the base color wood diagonally within this outline area. There are endless designs for inlaying custom wood floor patterns and accents. If the new wood floor is replacing carpeting there will be a noticeable difference in the loudness of sounds and echoes in that room and surrounding areas. It is common to lay down an area rug on top of the hardwood floor as a way to absorb sound making the room warmer, quieter and give a comfortable feel to the décor.

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