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Staying home most of the time for the better part of a year changed how people feel about their kitchens. Many busy families who were always on the go may not have used their kitchens so much before. Now, everyone’s busy again but those kitchens have been used for a prolonged stretch. Homeowners have become intimately acquainted with what does and doesn’t work well with their current kitchen design.

As South Shore kitchen designers, we’re seeing this experience influence how homeowners are approaching their remodeling projects. Design trends that are having a moment right now can all be traced pretty directly to the lessons learned during COVID. Homeowners want larger sinks, more storage, and high quality appliances that function flawlessly.

This emphasis on functionality and a more comfortable kitchen to live and work in also explains what may be the death-knell of some popular kitchen design trends.

We have to admit that it might be too soon to count any of these trends out, but nationally, there’s been much less demand for monochrome kitchen design. The all-one color scheme – most usually white – can lose its appeal when you’re in the space for long periods of time. Not to mention, it can be very hard to keep an all-white kitchen looking its best.

Open shelving is also losing fans at a record pace during the pandemic. Because they’re constantly visible, open shelving requires some degree of organization and cleaning to look its best. Closing the cabinet door is much faster and easier. Hidden storage is the hottest trend of 2021, if industry experts are to be believed.

It’s important to give design trends the appropriate amount of weight in your South Shore kitchen remodel process. This varies on your goals for the home. If you’re planning to sell the house within the next 5-7 years, having an on-trend kitchen makes sense. The longer you plan to keep the home, the more sense it makes to focus on classic good design principles tailored to your personal style preferences.

While things may slowly be starting to get back to normal, we all know that in some way, we’re never going to go back to the way things were. Life has been very different for many of us, and opened our eyes about the central role home plays in our family’s health, well-being, and group identity. At the same time, putting dinner on the table every day for a long, long stretch really illustrates what does and doesn’t work well in your kitchen.

If you’re planning a kitchen remodel and need some inspiration, you’ll appreciate these 3 tips from top Plymouth kitchen designers:

Kitchen Design Tip #1: Think About Where Your Family Really Eats

Take a week and pay attention to when and where your family eats when they’re eating at home. How many meals are eaten at the island, in the built-in breakfast nook, or in other seating areas you have in the kitchen? If these areas don’t see a lot of use – and it’s not unusual for family dining patterns to change as the kids get older – you may want to try reimagining those spaces being put to use differently.

Kitchen Design Tip #2: Think About How Your Family Prepares Food

The type of food you prepare in many ways dictates what you need in your kitchen. For example, if you’re regularly filling up the oven with roasts, casseroles, rolls, side dishes and desserts, it’s worth thinking about whether a double oven is a smart investment for you. For the family that lives a more on-the-go, lots of delivery lifestyle, easy clean convenience is the key to smart kitchen design – there’s no need to invest in serious cooking gear, but you want the dining experience to be superlative.

Kitchen Design Tip #3: Think About How You Want to Feel in Your Kitchen

If ambiance is important in a restaurant, it’s even more important in your home. Defined as a room’s character or mood, ambiance is created through specific design choices. Working with Plymouth kitchen designers, you can create a uniquely comfortable kitchen that’s tailored to your family’s preferences and style.

If you’re thinking about remodeling your kitchen or having a kitchen addition built, there are some signs to watch for during the design phase. Quality, high end kitchen design can be identified by anyone with a knowing eye – so if you want a gracious space that will truly impress your guests, watch for the following:

Smart Use of Space: Professional kitchen designers excel at creating customized layouts that make sense for your home and lifestyle. Smart workflows rooted in a deep understanding of your unique lifestyle are essential to the look and feel of a bespoke kitchen.

A Cohesive, Unified Design: While every element in your new kitchen should be beautiful on its own, it’s best when everything in the room, including the countertops, cabinetry, flooring, wall treatments, and more, works well together to create a welcoming, distinctive space.

High Quality Materials: The best materials for the high end kitchen design are not necessarily the most expensive. Instead, look for design that indicates materials were individually chosen as the best choice for your unique, one of a kind home. For example, many luxury home owners prefer sustainable building materials, particularly in their cabinetry. Integrating these type of value-driven criteria into the selection process while still achieving your aesthetic and functionality goals is so much easier when you’re working with a professional kitchen designer.

A Gracious, Welcoming Ambiance: While individual approaches to high end kitchen design vary – some people love a very traditional look, while others prefer to push the envelope with really modern design – they all feature one thing in common. The warm, inviting feel of a luxury kitchen doesn’t just happen: it’s created choice by choice by choice until the space is a perfect reflection of your style and personality. The earlier you bring your kitchen designer in on your renovation or kitchen addition project, the more completely integrated the new ambiance will be.

Now that people are going out more people have to decide for themselves when they feel it’s worth the risk to go out and when they will choose to stay home. If you know you see a significant amount of staying home in your future, it makes sense to optimize your kitchen for that reality.

For example – storage space. This is a big challenge for many Plymouth homeowners, as locally, kitchen storage tends to be undersized and poorly thought out. When a household’s shopping habits can be characterized as fewer, larger trips, the storage needs can include things like finding a place for a freezer, dry goods storage, bulk purchase storage, and more.

Your Plymouth kitchen design team can help you work through the process to ensure your kitchen is configured and equipped to serve you well through the coming summer, fall, and winter – and many years beyond that. There are many options on the table. Some local families have had custom pantries built as part of their kitchen upgrade. A nice sized pantry can easily accommodate a freezer as well as things like your Instapot or the canner you bought to deal with all the veggies from your pandemic garden. Kitchen additions can be designed with smart storage in mind.