The kitchen is the heart of every home, where families cook, entertain, and relax. Whether you’re building a new home or remodeling an existing kitchen, and by those regards planning for the mood of the kitchen sets the tone for the rest of your home.

The kitchen is the most expensive and challenging room to build or remodel. But it’s where everything happens — talking, cooking, scheduling — so it’s important to make the space functional, comfortable, and attractive. Making sure your kitchen works for your family requires more than simply selecting beautiful finishes. You’ll also need to make smart design decisions that create a safe and accessible space.

Steps to Success: 

The very first things every home owner must do when thinking of their new kitchen is how they are going to maneuver through it. A rule to follow is the “Triangle Rule” which means whichever 3 items are going to be used most often must be in a clear line of one another. (Example: I love cooking breakfast which means I am cracking eggs, cooking bacon, toasting toast. Also, cleaning while cooking is very important to me because who wants to put freshly cooked pancakes next to a pile of wrappers and broken egg shells? If I want to flow well in my kitchen, my kitchen must have a large surface area around my stove with a trash and dishwasher within a couple steps from the stove. Which makes my Stove, my Trash and my Dishwasher the 3 items which must be in clear sight of each other)

Electrical and Ventilation 

A kitchen must have at least one wall-switch controlled light, with the switch placed at the entrance. At least 8 percent of the total square footage of the kitchen must be windows or skylights. It’s also important to have task lighting over every work surface.

For all cooking surface appliances, install an outdoor-venting ventilation system with an exhaust rate of 150 cubic feet of air per minute. Installrange hoods or microwave-hood combos at least 24 inches above a stove or according to manufacturer instructions. If a microwave is placed below the countertop, the bottom must be at least 15 inches off the floor. Allow 15 inches of clear space above the refrigerator.

Finishes

Now that you’ve got your workflow and functionality mapped out you can start looking at the most important feature, the colors. The easiest issue homeowners run into is only imagining one item at a time. Some features look great by themselves but putting a white granite top with a white antique style door will surely hurt your eyes to look at it.

You must look at what this kitchen is going to say and what mood you wish our kitchen to envelope. By attempting for an elegant look most homeowners reach for a stone countertop with smooth finishes on the cabinet doors. Or if you are more the type who enjoys the cabin feel, simply, changing the cabinets from a frameless to a framed cabinet can alter the finished look of your kitchen.

However, it does not take mush to go too far on the details so remember that adding trim and detail can bring a level of elegance to your project but too much can look like a garbled mess as demonstrated below.

Designing a beautiful kitchen is significantly more than picking out a nice cabinet door or a nice countertop finish, it takes time and imagination to visually build your kitchen from the ground up. But, take your time and work through what will be best for you.

Whatever you cannot manage we will help with. Happy designing!

It’s been 7 years since we purchased our Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Router and in the last year we have only started scratching the surface of what the capabilities are. Earlier this year, we had a customer ask for a complexly shaped sign which, at the time, was out of our capabilities. After a fair amount of head scratched Lighthouse Cabinets decided to dip a toe into the world of custom sign making.

For anyone who has designed objects in 3D or has cut objects with a CNC router you will know the troubles with putting what was imagined in your head into a model on the computer. But, now that we’ve put in our time and examined our own capabilities we can proudly say “We are very capable in designing and constructing 3D signs.”

This GDX sign is about 4′ x 8′ in overall dimension and was finished with a ChromoBase (automotive finish).

The base is made of 3/4″ MDF with track lighting built in. The 3D top portion was cut from a 2″ thick MDF with a 5/8″ ball nosed router bit.

This sign is something we put a great deal of care into making and is far less expensive than having it constructed out of metals, plastics or foams. So, think of us the next time you decide to make a custom sign.

Retro kitchen designs are rocketing in popularity as homeowners look to revive the nostalgic fashions of the past. Old-fashioned telephones, retro kitchen appliances, classic memorabilia, and even old-school “futuristic” designs can be used to complete the picture of today’s creative retro kitchens.

The best part is, unlike with most vintage kitchens, you don’t have to be a purist; you can pick and choose retro elements to bring into an otherwise modern kitchen.

Hot Rod: Here’s a contemporary take on a retro kitchen with curved red cabinets, stainless and chrome accents, and modern-retro bar stools.

Retro Kitchen Decor: Be sure to bring back items of the past when designing a retro style kitchen. Hang an old fashioned telephone or retro kitchen clock on the wall, and add memorabilia on top of a good old retro kitchen table with chrome trim and classic stools.

For a “retro futuristic” look, recall the rockets and ray guns, bubble cars and robots that captivated the futuristic imaginations of people in the 1950s and 1960s…

Meet George Jetson: This retro-futuristic kitchen features curved turquoise cabinets and a modern com system that lets you gab with friends clear on the other side of town! Far out!

Retro Colors: The most popular colors in retro style kitchens are black, blue, chrome, red, and white. Other excellent retro colors include silver, green, pale blue, turquoise, and yellow. Red kitchen cabinets, white appliances, and chrome accents and knobs are tell-tale signs your home is rooted in the retro style.

1950s American Revival: Let’s face it. Doing a ’50s retro kitchen remodel is a very fun idea. The decade of the 1950s in America had good things going for it stylistically. The clothing, the cars, and even the kitchen appliances were visually appealing in many ways. When one thinks of the American Dream, the classic styles of the 1950s often come to mind. This is what retro kitchen designs are all about.

Retro Kitchen Appliances: Some manufacturers are tapping into the retro revival by creating large and small retro kitchen appliances. Authentic-looking retro toasters, blenders, refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers all have interesting designs that make today’s modern black, white, and steel appliances seem somewhat cold by comparison.

Cool Cat: A blue retro-style refrigerator and AGA stove add a classic feel to this otherwise “plain Jane” contemporary kitchen. Touch of lemon, anyone?