Less is More: Current Trends in Kitchen & Bathroom Design

Less is more is regaining its popularity as a mantra for interior design. A recent article from Remodeling Magazine emphasizes this point with their list of the 2013 Kitchen & Bath Design Trends. If you're considering new designs for your kitchen or bathroom than check out these current trends, they're guaranteed to provide you with an on-trend, well-designed room. As always, Edgewood Cabinetry can provide you with elegant, affordable cabinetry designs to add the perfect, essential touch to your kitchen or bathroom.
1) Neutral Tones: White and off-white remain the classic color choice options for the kitchen and bath. However, gray has also surfaced as an extremely popular choice for 2013. If you're looking for a pop of color without loosing the classic simplicity of white than consider a gray hue as your color palette.
2) Wood cabinetry: Cabinets and storage space is always one of the most pressing choices for your kitchen and bath. Remodeling Magazine reports that white cabinets remain popular with wood tones also growing in their use. Specially, light finishes got 30% of the vote, medium received 54% and dark finishes on cabinetry had a 55% approval rating
3) Transitional: The on-going debate between traditional and contemporary finishes in these two rooms seems to have found a compromise in transitional styling. Blending the best of both design plans transitional styling gives you more options than ever before.
4) Finishes: Granite and quartz still top the list for finishes and furnishings. Also consider glass, ceramic and porcelain for your tile and back splash needs.
5) Light it up! LED lights are gaining in popularity - the crisp, clean lights show off your new room to its best advantage.
6) Faucets: Touch-activated faucets are taking the market by storm. They cut down on germs and add a modern touch to even the most traditional design elements.
7) Finish: Satin nickel and bronze faucets are the current trends for kitchen and bathroom finishes.
8) Flooring: Natural stone tile has jumped in popularity. The elegant, simplicity of this tile is the perfect conversation piece for your room
Contact us for a free quote for your home improvements. We guarantee our professional, elegant work and know you'll be thrilled with the custom cabinetry we provide for your kitchen or bathroom.

How Glass Front Cabinets Can Enhance Your Kitchen

When it comes to cabinetry, less truly is more, because when you install glass front cabinetry in your kitchen, you add more light, style, and interest to your design.  It's no wonder they're such a popular kitchen trend this year.  Just a few glass front cabinets interspersed with the rest of your cabinetry can open up your kitchen immensely.
But that's not the only reason to love glass front cabinets.  They have many other design benefits, including:

• Pleasing the eye.  Glass front cabinets break up monotonous cabinet banks, adding visual interest to your kitchen through the introduction of a different texture.
• Suiting any decor.  Whether your kitchen is modern, traditional, or somewhere in between, glass front cabinets can work in any decor, particularly because there are many variations of glass fronts.  For instance, our Old World Kitchen features glass that has been treated to match the style of the cabinetry.
• Letting in light.  Especially in a smaller kitchen, glass front cabinets have the ability to let light into new spaces and make the room look and feel much larger than it is.
• Displaying your treasures.  If you have serving dishes, china, or other special pieces in your kitchen, glass front cabinets provide a display space for all your treasures.  This will also allow you to add punches of color to complement other elements in your kitchen.

When you're ready to turn your vision into reality, contact us to learn more about Edgewood Cabinetry and see examples of our fine kitchen craftsmanship.

Create a Unique Look with Multi Level Cabinets and Tops in Your Kitchen

If you're considering remodeling your kitchen, remember that the sky is the limit, and you don't have to have cabinets and counters in even, straight lines.  Think outside the box and consider the benefits of multi level cabinets and tops.
Multi-level Cabinets and Countertops Provide Aesthetic Appeal
I'm sure you've walked into a kitchen and seen straight, even rows of cabinets with a one-level countertop.  Nothing really stands out or is very memorable about the kitchen, even if it has high quality cabinetry and top-of-the-line materials for the counters.  Designing cabinets and counters with different levels creates an architectural interest and is appealing to the eye.  It makes the kitchen unique and different.  While the placement doesn't really add much cost to the project, the result will be a kitchen that looks like it cost a fortune.
Multi-Levels Add Functionality
Not only do different levels add aesthetically to a kitchen, but they can make the room more practical and functional.  Counters at different levels are useful for different purposes.  A lower counter with a chair can be used as a desk for paying bills, doing homework, or planning meals.  Then a counter at a higher height is perfect for food prep, baking, and cooking.  Some people like to add an even higher level that works well as a sitting and eating area with some raised stools.
Cabinets of different levels can be useful when finding a home for items.  Lower cabinets can be used for fragile glass items so that you can easily reach them without risking an incident.  Some heavy items are also easier to keep lower.  High cabinetry can be used for items that need a home, but are not used very often.
If you're thinking of designing a new kitchen, contact us.  Take our price match challenge to find out how affordable it is to create your own custom kitchen. Also, check out our photo gallery to see pictures of multi-level cabinets and countertops, as well as other design aspects you would like to include in your renovation.

The Perfect Finish: Spray vs Hand Rubbed Stain

There are a lot of decisions to make when ordering custom cabinets, and some of them might be less obvious than others. While you might well expect to spend time choosing the perfect type of wood or color of stain, you might not think to ask about the pros and cons of spray vs hand rubbed stain, and it really does matter.
You see, stain is not like paint, which can easily be sprayed onto a prepared surface in a nice, even coat. Stains are meant to be absorbed, to soak into the wood, and the differences in the wood grain will naturally affect the amount of stain it absorbs, and the rate at which that happens. This is a large part of the reason why perfectionists say you should always hand rub stain into any wood, then wipe it off.
But the fact of the matter is that many manufacturers spray stain onto their cabinets. It saves a lot of time in the production process, even if the wood must be rubbed afterwards to remove the excess stain and even out the appearance of the wood. Unfortunately, there is also more waste with this process because some stain will be sprayed beyond the edge of the wood and be lost.
It is also important to note that some stains may have to be thinned in order to work well in a spray gun, and that will affect the amount of stain that the wood is able to absorb before reaching the saturation point.
When we hand craft our custom cabinets, we are focused on doing the perfect job. This means that we will take the time to hand rub stain into the wood of our cabinets. We believe that taking the time to watch and understand how the stain is absorbing into each piece of wood will result in a more beautiful finish as well as less waste of stain.
So if you’re shopping around for wood cabinets, make sure to ask how each company handles the application of stain onto their cabinets, and if you want the best results, contact us today.

Less is More in Modern Kitchen Designs

You’ve probably seen those ads on television, with the table that gets smaller when the man pushes on it, or the car weaving its way through the legs of dinosaurs. It seems that American companies are finally catching on to the fact that Americans are no longer focused on “bigger is better” like we used to be. There are a number of reasons for this trend, ranging from our still-struggling economy to concerns for the environment and sustainability. Regardless of the reasons, there is no question that today, less is more.
For example, statistics show that, after decades of building ever-larger homes, Americans are now saying that they prefer their homes to be a little smaller. Not tiny, of course, but it seems that the cost of building, maintaining, heating and cooling “McMansions” is finally getting the American homeowner’s attention. This does not, however, mean that the home of the future will shrink to the homes of 100 years ago. What we are recognizing, as a culture, and in the building industry, is that we now have the tools and awareness to be much more efficient with what we design, craft and build.
This is certainly true when it comes to kitchen cabinets. In recent years we’ve begun installing just about everything inside of those cabinets, from pull-out trash cans and spice racks to complicated shift and slide systems that allow every inch of cabinet space in the deep back corner of a kitchen to be totally filled and completely accessible. This means that cabinets are capable of holding much more than they used to, while still being strong, beautiful and a pleasing focal point to any kitchen.
Counter space has also been transformed by these efforts. Many of the appliances and dry goods storage bins that used to live on kitchen counters now fit into specifically designed spaces within cabinets and cupboards. With sufficient counter space now available for use in food preparation and cooking, kitchens do not need to grow any larger, and can sometimes even shrink slightly in size.
To learn about the “more” we are putting into our custom kitchen cabinets, contact us today.