The process of remodeling a kitchen requires that you face a dizzying array of decisions. Cabinet materials, granite color, cabinet hardware, lighting and more. You should begin the process with an understanding of the style of the room, such as contemporary, modern or traditional. From there, you can move onto selecting faucets and fixtures and cabinetry pulls and knobs.
It seems like a daunting task, but here are some tips to get you started:
- Go with an elegant feeling and choose warm finishes. Consider matching dark wood cabinetry with an earth-toned granite countertop and highlight the room with bronze finishes on the cabinet hardware and faucet fixtures.
- Choose a contrasting look. Dark finishes look great with a white countertop and nickel faucets and hardware.
- You don’t have to be matchy-matchy. Go for balance instead. While you’ll want to match a few of the finishes to unify the space, you don’t have to go overboard with it. If your appliances are stainless steel, choose an opposing finish for the drawer pulls and knobs, for example.
- Offset the look. Subtle matching can help bring cohesiveness to kitchen finishes. If your granite countertop is contrasted with the dark cabinet, pick out a fleck of color in the counters and choose hardware and fixtures that complement it.
- Keep it in the same style as the home. Your kitchen’s design shouldn’t stand alone as a beacon in your home. Before remodeling the kitchen or swapping out the counters, consider how the look of the space will mesh with the design of the other rooms in your home. To a certain extent, the rooms can stand alone; however, there should be some element that joins them altogether. As you’re choosing counters and finishes, make sure the design of your kitchen jives with the rest of the home.
- Add surprises. Unexpected choices in the room can become conversation pieces and provide a lot of interest. Make a statement by contrasting stainless steel appliances with more traditional drawer pulls and a faucet that lend themselves to a traditional look, for instance.
- Make it interesting. Another way to mix it up in the kitchen is to go with different styles of faucets, fixtures, drawer pulls and knobs, but unify them through the finish. Stainless steel finishes throughout the room will enhance the features of a dark granite countertop. Glass knobs complement stainless fixtures, while matching seamlessly with the granite counter.
While the design of finishes and matching them to counters is a critical step in the remodeling process, so is functionality. If the faucet’s finish looks great in the room but it isn’t the right height, you’ve missed the mark. Perhaps the kitchen sink will be too small for the faucet, or the fixtures won’t be practical. Work through a typical day and the activities you do in the kitchen, and test out the features. The same goes for drawer pulls. Every member of your family should be able to comfortably open and close cabinets using the hardware you’ve selected.
If you’re ready to make design selections, start doing the research. Hunt around in catalogs and browse the internet, collecting looks that you and your family like. There are lots of choices to make when it comes to matching finishes to your granite counters. But if you make them carefully and with expert advice, your cabinet hardware, faucet and fixtures can go a long way toward enhancing the style of the room. In fact, these small-in-size players can pack a big punch in the kitchen. Take the decisions seriously and try on a lot of looks for size before landing on the one you’ll live with for the next many years.