How To Achieve The Custom-Made Look In Your Kitchen

I’m sure every single one of us experiences the same thing at some point in our lives. We browse catalogs or websites about interior design, look at the template examples of certain styles, and think to ourselves that we would kill for a house like that. However, as you get more into interior design and all its nuances, one thing becomes apparent. Even if you have all the elements of a given style, yet lack the custom and personalized twist to it, your whole look may be inconsistent and tacky.

While there is nothing wrong with template houses, the custom-made furniture and elements of design are what instantly signal any of your guests that the owner of the house they’ve just entered is a bit more experienced and seasoned in the matter of interior design, than your average catalog reader.

In my honest opinion, the kitchen is the interior where people crave custom design the most. After all, it’s the heart of our home, so your kitchen should be no different but individual and unique.

Let’s take a closer look at accomplishing a stylish yet individual kitchen, by mixing the core elements of a given design, with custom twists in the design of cabinets and kitchen island.

Kitchen Molding

There aren’t many design moves that come close to the cabinet molding in terms of adding the sense of a custom style. Adding fancy molding will not only create that but also change the way your kitchen cabinetry is perceived from ordinary to rich and finished.

Molding pieces can be used alone, or together with others to create some really interesting designs – everything is up to your creativity, and of course, the style in which your kitchen was designed, as the molding should be more or less cohesive in style with the style of your kitchen.

There are plenty of molding styles to choose from, and they vary from relatively simple to really complicated and impressive ones – let’s see what are the most popular ones. With any of these, rest assured that your kitchen will be everything but boring and ordinary.

• Traditional crown – one of the simpler molding designs, and the most popular too. It fills the gap between your cabinets and the ceiling, and not much past that.
• Stacked crown molding – if your ceiling is way higher than where the cabinetry ends, consider stacked crown molding. Many pieces of molding are stacked on top of each other, finished in a rich and luxurious way. The price reflects that, though.
• Stepped crown molding – in the case of stepped crown molding, different cabinetry pieces have moldings of different heights. An unusual look, but an intriguing one nonetheless.
• Edge molding – this solution is about molding the outside edges, and not only the tops of your cabinetry and shelves. Look it up, it’s very efficient at providing your kitchen with a highly finished and custom look.
• Shoe molding – it’s not only the top of your cabinets that could use some molding. Shoe molding is about molding the base of your kitchen island or cabinets, creating a more fluent transition between the cabinets and the floor.

These are the most popular types of molding, but there are many more options, so if that’s something you’d like to use to make your kitchen more unique and interesting, look them up – I’m sure you’ll find something right for your taste.

Custom Legs Never Nail To Deliver

Another area of the kitchen design that can be used to enhance the overall feeling of your kitchen, and whether it feels like a template kitchen or a truly unique one are the legs of your kitchen table or kitchen island.

Naturally, there are some well-proven solutions to picking the legs of your kitchen furniture – the more detailed, interesting legs are considered to work best in traditional, rustic, or cottage kitchens, while the simple, minimalistic legs are preferred by the owners of modern kitchens.

Keep in mind, however, that these solutions aren’t obligatory, especially so if you want your kitchen to show the signs of custom-made design. So if you’d like to break the convention and create something unique, then by all minds, you can match the legs in a different way.

Tip: you may want to consider attaching legs to your cabinets, which are installed above the ground, creating a mix between a wardrobe and kitchen cabinetry. This way, your cabinets will feel more like elements of kitchen furniture.

Don’t Use Standard Colors

Considering this article is all about distinguishing your kitchen from the plethora of other, standard kitchens, then maybe you should consider using different kinds of hues and colors on your cabinetry.

While neutral colors, and by that, I mean black and white, are the most popular colors in kitchens around the world, if you want to break the convention and make your kitchen unique, try bold colors on your cabinets.

Let me just tell you, that such a move is a pretty risky one, so you need to know exactly what you’re doing – always pick colors that are lively, yet in the overall tone of your kitchen. For example, in the case of a black kitchen, use some strong colors like red and purple, but in the case of a subtle white kitchen, try out light greens or blues.

Not only will that add a lively vibe to your kitchen, but also make all the other colors, the ones on your walls and ceiling, for example, or the ones coming from the unpainted materials in your kitchen, come to life and play a more substantial role through contrast with the newly added hue.

Tip: for an even more intriguing effect, you can consider coloring only some of your cabinets in a lively tone, leaving the rest the standard way, black, white, or wood. However, remember this requires proper knowledge of color mixing, so look up guides about color schemes.

Cabinet Fronts

Another aspect of your kitchen cabinetry that can be used to create a custom vibe is the cabinet fronts.

Taking into account the simple fact that the cabinet fronts constitute around 30% of the size of your walls in your kitchen, and in some cases, even more, the impact of changing the cabinet fronts into something more stylish and unique than the template fronts is huge.

Let’s see, what are the most popular cabinet fronts you can find on the market? I’m sure from these, you can pick something to completely alter the look of your kitchen.

• Glass fronts – They add depth, make your space appear larger, and above all else, can be used together with other types of cabinet fronts. The glass itself can be frosted, seeded, or transparent, allowing for a great deal of creativity. And then, there is the fact that glass fronts allow you to enhance the design of your kitchen with decorative kitchenware behind the glass.
• Louvered fronts – Sophisticated and intriguing, but also expensive and luxurious, the louvered fronts can be a real asset to any kitchen. Horizontal slats make your interior appear wider, too.
• Shaker fronts – These are the most popular fronts these days. They get the job done but don’t count on the ” wow” effect with these fronts. However, they work if you’re aiming to create an elegant and minimalistic kitchen.
• Flat fronts – Similar to the shaker fronts, these were designed to serve in modern kitchens. Not much to say about these, to be honest, but if you’re looking for something to improve your kitchen design with a sleek and seamless design, then go with the flat fronts.
• Beadboard fronts – excellent fronts if you’re trying to introduce a cottage vibe into your kitchen. The only problem with these pretty fronts is the fact that they are a bit harder to maintain than say, flat fronts. However, if you don’t mind the extra effort you’ll have to put into cleaning them, they are real eye candy.
• Inset fronts – similarly to the louvered fronts, they will cost you extra, but they are worth the extra expense, at least in my opinion. You install this inside of the cabinets, which makes them take just a bit less space than the other kinds – which might prove to be crucial if you’re an owner of a smaller kitchen.
• Distressed fronts – these are not about the construction of the fronts themselves, but about the style, they come in – you can order any of the aforementioned fronts in the distressed option, which means they will be produced with the signs of wear and tear, imitating something of age, and used for a long time. If you want to create a traditional, rustic vibe, then consider the distressed fronts – they really make the design of your kitchen look less standard.

Now, of course, you can still come up with something new and order a totally custom-made cabinet front, but any of these are fine if you use them to enhance the custom vibe in the kitchen – you can use them the way they were designed, like pick flat fronts for a modern kitchen, or break the convention with seemingly mismatched fronts for your kitchen style.

Tip: for an additional “wow” effect, think about using more than one style of cabinet front in your kitchen. However, remember that’s always risky because there is a thin line between stylish design and chaos.

Corbels Enhance The Design And Create An Atmosphere

Corbels aren’t something you see just in any kitchen – in fact, they aren’t all that popular yet. That’s because they are a bold and distinctive feature of a kitchen they happen to be in, and some people are still afraid of using them.

Since you’re looking for ways to add a custom-made feeling to your kitchen, then maybe they are just what you need.

Corbels work best in traditional, luxurious kitchens, but not only there, as you can choose from a variety of oversized, detailed corbels, subtle ones, and even plain, minimalistic ones. Whatever it is that will be cohesive with the design of your kitchen, I’m sure you can find corbels in any shape and form for just a perfect match.

Storage Is Not Only For The Functionality

When talking about storage, people usually think about the practical aspect of it, but that’s not everything there is to it. You can easily make the storage of your kitchen enhance the design, and make a statement about the character of your kitchen.

Custom-made drawers are becoming more and more popular these days because they are not only practical but also underline the habits of the owners of the kitchen they happen to be in. We’re looking for something unique and individual today, so cabinetry which shows your individual interest is just priceless.

Be it the baking sheets, spice racks, or pull-out drawers with special holders for the wine bottles, as soon as you pull out such a special drawer, all of your guests will immediately notice that not only is your kitchen stylish and beautiful, but it also reflects all of your individual habits and lifestyles. It’s hard for a kitchen to be more individual than that, right?