I’m no kitchen designer, but since we have tackled more than a couple kitchens DIY style, this Kitchen Design Checklist will spotlight pretty elements you could include. Drawing from smart kitchen project ideas featured in stories on Hello Lovely, these may help with plans to remodel, upgrade, or build. It is obviously a wise move to work with a kitchen designer unless you are an expert DIYer. Hopefully these ideas will enlighten and help you to crystalize your thoughts about design must haves. Pin to save ideas on a Pinterest board like mine for future reference!
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Kitchen Design Checklist Ideas & Pretty Refresh Ideas
Could your kitchen benefit from a spruce up or a minor refresh? These design details may even help with that too.
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Pretty Sconces for Ambient Lighting
I love this so much, and I know it’s not the easiest thing to wire your walls or cabinets for sconces in an existing kitchen! But if you are starting from scratch, isn’t this charming?
Butcher Block for Countertops
If this fantasy kitchen (it’s an architect’s own home!) with its own authentic pizza oven can sport butcher block on a work station, ours can too!
Whether you choose to add butcher block to a countertop or add an actual block, it truly makes a warm rustic statement.
Vintage ones are everywhere – don’t forget FB Marketplace!
Tonal Color Story
If you’re the type who feels rooms always need “a pop” of color, than this restrained palette may not be for you.
But if your heart longs for low contrast, understated sophistication, textural interest, and a mix of whites and neutrals, a tonal palette could be just the ticket.
Even if you decide on a tone on tone kitchen, there are countless iterations as you can see!
Built-ins & Banquettes
Such a wonderful architectural element to add if it makes sense!
Here is a fantasy example that feels like its own private dining room:
Kitchen banquette seating often involves a window or a bank of them…
so what if you don’t have a window in your corner?
There may still be potential:
Were I building a dream house, here’s an idea that would be incredible in a tucked away little nook:
Chic Parisian Shelves
If you decide to add shelves to your kitchen design (bracketed, floating, glass, wood…), they may as well be gorgeous.
They can be custom with brass and glass:
or minimal yet chunky:
chunky is maybe more rugged than chic, but with a range like the one above – the shelves need not try to compete!
Like the idea of the clear glass shelves above? I also found THESE with antique brass.
Skirted Sink Base
I had always dreamed of adding a linen skirt to a farm sink and finally did!
See it here. While my kitchen isn’t nearly as dreamy as the one Brooke Giannetti created for Patina Farm:
it includes a few of my favorite pretty kitchen details.
Black Window Trim
I love this feature in so many white kitchens with brass hardware, and while it might seem scary – it’s only paint!
So handsome!
I think what makes black trim attractive is how it suggests iron. After all, if you can somehow work steel doors and windows into your design…
Wood Trimmed Range Hood
If you are adding a custom range hood for your kitchen, there is a wide array of housing for those venting systems!
You can paint the wood, stain it, or include both:
Gold-Toned Hardware
You need not limit yourself to polished brass since there are other warm metallic finishes these days…
Gilded iron is a favorite of mine. Also consider burnished brass or unlacquered brass.
they can be beautiful with cool tones.
We may as well have a fantasy moment or five:
Reflective & Polished Counter Finishes
In recent years, honed surfaces and matte countertops have increased in popularity, but I’m still a fan of polished and reflective finishes.
Quartz is still what makes sense for our kitchen with its messy and not-so-conscientious users.
But whether it is quartz or stone, a reflective finish means the light will bounce around and keep the feel airy and bright.
Grey With White
Someone told you grey is omg so 5 minutes ago? Whatever.
Shaker Style Kitchens
Yes, Shaker style kitchens are common these days. However, they work beautifully in so many kitchens across a range of design genres.
Do you like slab front drawers with Shaker cabinets or for the drawers to match the rest of the doors?
Notice how different the kitchens are above and below:
A classic Shaker style will always be relevant.
Library Style Sconces
Here’s my take on whether they are too trendy…if they are classic in design, don’t worry about when they just happen to be having a moment. They will still be relevant if the trend passes. And aren’t they more interesting than recessed or tracks?
The more I think about it, you almost can’t do too much lighting in a kitchen! So many different lighting needs from day to night!
Old World Lanterns
I’m still crazy ’bout em, and they add so much personality and charm!
They are beautiful over islands, dining tables, and in pantries.
Do you like them with glass inserts or without? I prefer without just because I don’t love dusting.
Here are some of my favorite fixtures:
Herringbone Pattern
It can be so chic to install hardwood in a herringbone pattern:
This pattern reminds me of Paris, traditional French style, and a sense of history.
Again, just because herringbone also happens to be popular is not a reason to rule it out if you love it. It’s one of those timeless elements that is likely to go in and out of fashion.
Yet we are not as concerned with fashion as we are with ageless sophisticated simplicity.
Wood Planked Ceiling
While it’s quite a lofty prospect, using wood (reclaimed barn wood, beams, or new planks) on the fifth wall can create a vibe!
Doesn’t it add instant age?
Ceilings are one of those architectural features that most homeowners forget about. Designers never do!
What a bonus when you can uncover ceiling texture rather than go to the trouble and expense of adding it!
I love the simplicity and beauty of this one:
Blue Cabinets
While the color is Light Blue (Farrow & Ball), in this lighting, the effect suggests a beautiful grey:
Notice that although the window trim is grey, the door trim is white:
French Ironstone Accents in the Kitchen
Ironstone has been collectible for many years for good reason. It is useful and looks great everywhere.
Don’t you love the pieces that show their age? I don’t even mind chips and imperfections.
Custom Cabinet & Counter Depth
This last kitchen is a wee one in an apartment near Notre Dame we booked through Haven In Paris. A whole lot of function is packed into a sleek, modern kitchen design with the essentials, including washer and dryer tucked beneath the cooktop!
Who says base cabinets must be 24″ deep?
Tour a Favorite Kitchen!
Hope you found a bright idea or 10 for your own kitchen project or tweak!
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
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Hi Michelle,
These kitchens and your own are so inspiring. I have seen my dream kitchen in my minds eye for so long. It is neutral, with a restrained color pallet just like so many of the kitchens you have here. After seeing the herringbone floors in these kitchens with white cabinets, marble counter tops, white subway tile back splash and brass pulls on the drawers…..I see the kitchen I have always dreamed of with the brick flooring I saw the other day instead of wood. How warm and earthy that will feel. I am lost in a kitchen day dream now….*sigh*
Thank you for these lovely photos and inspiration. Mine will have a chandelier of some sort for sure in there.
Sarah
Author
Sounds so lovely, Sarah. In my humble opinion, it is important to know yourself and your needs when making choices about kitchen flooring. Even though there was an old world style reddish tile that had been newly laid in our kitchen here before we bought it, I knew from experience it would be too hard underfoot to stand on. So even though it was a shame and a headache to rip it out for the reno, we had to do it! I chose LVP for ease and softness. So do know that if you’ll be standing for periods of time at the sink or stove, wood and LVP are much softer.
Hi Michelle,
This is a very good point. I had not thought of that. LVP? Sorry, I am not sure what that is. Wood was the original choice. My husband had tile in his kitchen growing up and so many glasses broke when they hit the floor. That is why he wants wood or vinyl flooring. He also prefers those because of the standing on tile was harder. You are the best Michelle.
Thank you,
Sarah
Author
LVP is luxury vinyl planks which look like wood. I would have preferred to lay prefinished wood here, but we were curious about living with vinyl (we had no experience with it). We wanted softness underfoot, and we wanted a colorway to coordinate with the adjoining blonde hardwoods. We were also interested in a material that could take abuse from the pets we often welcome here. Again, I think wood is the best choice for resale, softness, a luxe look, and timelessness. I actually am skeptical about how many years LVP will hold up. It is often marketed as indestructible, but if you drop things or deeply scratch it, you can’t buff it or refinish the vinyl. But sometimes the ease of installation (i.e. like us DIYers) or the friendly price tag or the need to have a pet-friendly moisture resistant surface, wins out over the investment and beauty of wood.
Thank you, Michelle. This is so helpful. We will look into LVP now that I know what it is. You explained it so well.
Author
So happy to help! Very exciting to make changes but also a pain!