“The Mood Test” for your Kitchen Design

These days there are millions of combinations of kitchen designs for you to choose from.  Making the final decision may take a lot longer than you expected and can cause stress just thinking about it.  When you’re trying to decide between several different options (backsplash, flooring, island size, configuration, countertop material), and all of the options being considered look good. Functional and financial considerations are certainly important, but among the thousands of highly functional good choices — There are still so many options to choose from! Which to choose and how to decide?

My suggestion was to try to figure out what you need your kitchen to be about. Start by focusing on your kitchen as a whole, from a distance. Imagine your perfect kitchen. Think about what it feels like, not what it looks like. Then using mood words, describe what your dream kitchen feels like.  Here are some ideas and adjectives to consider while completing this activity.

• Warm or cool, tranquil and soothing or energetic and vibrant? A calm, happy feeling?
• Cozy or spacious? Light and bright or dark and rich?
• Subtle tone-on-tone, boldly colorful, textured? Natural wood stained or painted solid?
• Modern, traditional, vintage, rustic, artsy or retro?
• Elegant or casual? Neat and simple or intricately detailed? Perhaps somewhere in between.
• Sparkling pristine or weathered?  Professional looking or ‘Do It Yourself’ makeshift style?
• Whimsical, sophisticated, open and accessible, romantic? Designed for a male or females living space?

How much zing and how many bold features do you want in the room? What areas, appliances or aspects are you targeting for emphasis for the eyes to focus on?

Once you’ve identified the way you want your space to feel, then write it down as best you can. Try to freeze that feeling in words so you can refer back to it if you find yourself losing your vision or going off track.  You can then rely on these mood blueprints to keep your designs structured and on course to accomplish your goal.

Then look at where you are so far with the elements you have, and ask yourself if you’re on the right course to reach your goal. Try to figure out what direction you need to go, what the missing element is that you need to add, and write a ‘Mission Statement’ for your ideal backsplash, flooring, and countertop.

This statement might look something like:
“The perfect backsplash for my kitchen will add an element of luxury and classiness, while not disrupting the calm and soothing color scheme or diverting attention from my beautiful granite.”

 OR

 “My ideal countertops will provide that zing my kitchen is missing right now, adding an element that is modern, rich, sophisticated and bold.”

Then evaluate your potential options against this Mission Statement. Odds are, one of your options will further your goals while most of the others, though beautiful, take your kitchen down another path.

After your kitchen is done, you’ll know exactly what you wanted and how well you accomplished those goals in executing the plan.