Hello, fellow kitchen design aficionados! Today, I’ve got an exciting topic that’s been percolating in the back of my brain for a while now. It’s this idea of a Prep Kitchen - how the concept of a prep kitchen has been evolving and why this should be on the top of your wish list for your next kitchen. If you’ll recall, in my last post I listed designing an ancillary kitchen workspace as one of The 5 Magic Design Principles Behind My Luxury Kitchens. I think it’s such an important area that can open up so many possibilities for homeowners, that I’m dedicating a whole post to it.The concept ..read more

In this Pinterest and Instagram world in which we live, we’ve almost developed an addiction to the idea of luxury kitchens. Consequently, our concept of a dream kitchen has been catapulted forward into markedly more ambitious territory. Our parents’ generation would have considered it a luxury just to have a little bit of extra counter space or maybe a few new appliances.We now have much grander plans for our kitchen renovations. We dream of beautiful rooms that will serve as the main gathering places for our families. We want them to feel spacious, calm, and inspiring, allowing us to tap ..read more

Hello friends! I know I teased you about sharing some of the inspiring new kitchen products I discovered on my trip to the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show several weeks ago - but then failed to deliver on that. The thing was, I was knee-deep in writing that post on Kitchen Design Mistakes…and, well, it turned out that I had a lot to say on that subject! So one post turned into a 3-part series. Then, I absolutely had to tell you about Azerocare marble, which was another KBIS related revelation. That was a pretty awesome bit of information, and I couldn’t keep that from you for another wee ..read more

A MARBLE OPTION THAT RESISTS STAINING AND ETCHING!I was tempted to name this post “Unicorns Are Real,” because that’s on par with how I felt when I discovered what I’m going to share with you today.I mentioned in a previous blog post that I attended the annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in February.  It had been several years since I had the opportunity to go to this trade-only event because it always falls at a horrible time of the year for my family (my kids are still little, and my husband is a tax accountant, etc.).  Somehow, this year, all the stars aligned and I was able to ..read more

KITCHEN DESIGN MISTAKES:  PART 3I realize that by writing this, I’m going to offend a significant number of homeowners.  Most of the kitchen remodels being done today feature either granite or quartz (an engineered material), and today I’m going to tell you why I don’t think these are good options. While both of these surfaces are popular and offer great convenience in durability, they are not the right choice if your heart is really lusting after something else. In my experience in the traditional market, these two material choices are seldom sought after because of their looks. Typically ..read more

KITCHEN DESIGN MISTAKES: PART 2Hello everyone! Wow, this past week flew by so fast. I’m just back from Las Vegas where I walked my legs off at one of the country’s largest conventions, The Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. I discovered so many amazing new products, which I can’t wait to share with you over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I’m glad you’re back to read Part 2 of my Kitchen Design Mistakes series! If you didn’t catch it, my last post was about Kitchen Layout Mistakes that people tend to make in the early days of working out their rough plan with their architect. In this w ..read more

KITCHEN DESIGN MISTAKES: PART 1Before becoming an independent kitchen designer, I cut my teeth in this business by working in a showroom that sold very high-end custom cabinetry. I have countless memories of clients walking into our showroom with their architectural blueprints in hand and a firm assumption that what they saw on those drawings was pretty close to their final design. While they may have expected to make some minor changes, for the most part, I believe that people had the expectation that they were in our store to source the cabinetry and make some aesthetic choices - not chang ..read more

With my kitchen design studio being based in the busy Delta hub of Atlanta, it has made it easy to take on projects all over the U.S. I’m very appreciative of being able to be so far-reaching with my business. However, whenever I get a call from a potential client to work on a Lowcountry home, on a stretch of South Carolina’s coastline, my heart always does a little extra flutter. I love to visit this part of our beautiful country, especially in the dead of winter when Atlanta is feeling a bit dreary…a.k.a. January. If you’ve never had the opportunity to visit the Lowcountry area, you nee ..read more

I’ll admit, at first I was hesitant to put out a post about kitchen trends on my blog. After all, I often refer to the fact that the luxury home market doesn’t react to trends in the same way as other sectors of the market do. However, I think there is still value for anyone contemplating a remodel or a new home in the coming year to make themselves aware of the trends in play. While I always advocate designing your home for YOU - not your friends. Frankly, sometimes you just have to consider home values and the possibility that you’re going to need to sell your house within the next ten ye ..read more

CREATING THE PERFECT SETTINGI hope you had a wonderful holiday with your families! I can’t believe that the new year is already here! I’ve been busy these last couple of days packing away all of the decorations. Since moving into our new house two years ago, I have been stepping up my game with the holiday decorating (we had three Christmas trees this year). The upside is that our home looked especially festive this year, but the downside is that there is just that much more to put away when it’s all over. Now that our Elf on the Shelf has gone back to the North Pole and I’ve finally mana ..read more