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Now that we’re cozying up on winter evenings, we’re watching our fair share of home design shows or reading lifestyle magazines. But what’s hot in Los Angeles, New York, or London might not translate as well to our Midwestern homes.
We don’t have “big city” lives in which an apartment kitchen can be a mere backdrop to a catered cocktail party. And maybe we don’t have big city budgets, either.
Belgian-born Karin Ross, the owner of Karin Ross Designs, knows international design as well as the realities of our Kansas City market. “A new kitchen is an investment that could pay back 70 to 80 percent of the cost when you go to sell your home,” she says, but adds a qualifier—“if the kitchen design is done right.” That’s the lens she looks through when weighing what trends might work in our area, and which might not.
Let’s ask the kitchen expert.
Every fixer-upper design show seems to feature Shaker-style kitchen cabinets. Are they really the least expensive way to go?
“No,” she says. “At the moment, many flippers use Shaker cabinets. Shaker means a simple cabinet door style, but it doesn’t necessarily mean cheap. If the cabinets are of an ordinary wood like oak and not well made, they don’t cost as much, and that’s the type flippers like. But if you want a better, solid wood like cherry or maple or walnut, Shaker-style cabinets can be more expensive. The cost also depends on the paint, glaze, stain, or other finish you desire on your cabinets. And if you want custom cabinetry.”
And what about color on cabinetry—trendy hues like mustard yellow, earthy red, eggplant, and just about every shade of green?
“For our market,” she says, “I would advise bringing those colors in with a backsplash or custom appliance panels or accessories.” Those elements are easy and less expensive ways to add pops of color. “Adding color with tile or a backsplash is relatively inexpensive,” she says. Painting cabinets might not be.
In Kansas City, off-white has given way to creamier whites, and “blues are our friends,” she says. Favorites for cabinet finishes include wood tones and special dry-brush-like treatments that add two-toned texture and movement.
“With an investment in your kitchen, you want to do it once and do it right the first time. Then, down the road if you want to make smaller changes to add different colors, you can. Overall, trends are too quick to come and go. Elegance and timelessness never go out of style,” she says.
We’ve seen gourmet kitchens, hearth kitchens, industrial-style kitchens. Which is the most enduring design?
The most enduring design is the kitchen you and your family will love for a long time, Ross says. The kitchen that works with you, that is designed especially for the way you want to live. The kitchen that makes you think, as you brew the coffee in the morning or prepare dinner at night: “I’m so blessed to be right here. I have everything I want.”
If you want a kitchen you’ll love now and for the next twenty years, “Find a kitchen specialist,” advises Ross. “Find someone who can think outside the box, who can look at your space and at your budget and come up with a plan.”
To discover what works best for each client, Ross uses an extensive questionnaire for the clients paired with an onsite visit. “We get to know our clients. We ask how the family is going to use the space because they are spending money for a purpose, not just a look. Then we present them with several design options and solutions,” says Ross, “after I have done all the research.”
Working with a kitchen specialist, says Ross, saves you time and money, not to mention stress.
A kitchen designer keeps up with new products and knows what will work. “We try everything we install before we put it in a client’s home,” she says. “We try it in our home or in our showroom. That way, there are no surprises.”
There are no surprises, either, during the installation. Karin Ross Designs keeps products in stock, so no waiting. And Nick Ross, Karin’s husband, does the installation work with his team. “Our clients know we will take care of it all,” she says.
Trends may come and go, but quality and timelessness last.