What's your style? Not 100% sure yet? Once you begin browsing design websites and professional full-service design firm portfolios it can be difficult to know. Perhaps you used to think you were traditionalist, but saw a stunning modern kitchen that made you second-guess yourself.
Yes, Virginia! Traditional Kitchens Can Be Contemporary
Don't ditch your traditional plans just yet. In an effort to define the difference between a modern or traditional kitchen, the latter option often winds up with antiquated adjectives that can make "traditional" seem old-fashioned or frumpy. This is certainly not the case. Typically, your Chicago custom cabinets are what will drive your kitchens style. After all, they are the most visible design element in the kitchen. However, traditional cabinets with slightly modernized elements here and there can work well together, yielding a more transitional design that leans towards the traditional.
In fact, when designed well, traditional kitchens have the best of both worlds; they are homey and comforting enough to satisfy your nostalgic side while having the right amount of contemporary design elements to keep them relevant as well as timeless for the decades ahead.
Here are some examples of "traditional" kitchen designs from our Kitchens & Baths Unlimited portfolio. They are proof positive that you can celebrate your traditional design tastes out loud without antiquating yourself.
Clean and Classic. Here is a traditional kitchen design that is anything but frumpy or grandmotherly. The predominantly white color scheme keeps it clean, bright and spacious. Grabill cabinetry with inset doors, combined with ornate cornices and other trim work are all exemplary of a traditional kitchen. However, sleek marble countertops provide luxurious style and geometric accents in the glass cabinet inserts add a contemporary flair.
Traditional-esque Transitional. This kitchen is exemplary of the "transitional design that leans toward the traditional" idea we mentioned above. The cabinet door style and crown moulding are traditional but the more contemporary island and sleek leather seating at the eating bar bring the kitchen decidedly into the modern era.
Mixed Motif Traditional. So often, clients are wary of mixing-and-matching finishes for fear things will look disjointed. This formal, traditional kitchen is proof you can use multiple tones in your cabinets, surface selections and paint colors to grand effect. This kitchen goes beyond traditional, using dark, rich tones and stylized finishes - including aging techniques on the trim components. The end result is a kitchen that looks like a restored kitchen in an historic home, updated with high-end appliances and natural stone countertops for contemporary accents.
Angles and corners. The modern, open floor plan creates unique opportunities to design kitchens that are exposed to and from other living areas but must be able to function cleanly and efficiently. In some cases, this makes for angles and corners that are modern in their inception. These can still be designed with a traditional presentation using white, traditional cabinet door styles that are finished with antique-reproduction hardware.
Having trouble determining whether or not a traditional kitchen is your style?
Come visit us at Kitchens & Baths Unlimited and we'll show you how to use Chicago custom cabinets and finishes that will give you the exact design aesthetic you want - traditional or otherwise.
