Styled, Staged & Sold

Bringing you the latest home design and staging trends. From REALTOR® Magazine.

4 Kitchen Design Trends Cooking Up in 2012

Kitchens are blending more into the rest of home interiors. A recent blog post from Home Design Find highlights some of the recent trends popping up in more kitchens this year:

1. Unmatched cabinets: Cabinet colors and materials are being mixed, such as darker colors for the base cabinets and lighter colors being used for upper cabinets to “provide a sense of openness,” according to the blog.

2. Downsized kitchen islands: While bigger used to be better with kitchen islands, more home owners are finding they can make do with a smaller kitchen island that doesn’t take up as much space.

3. Covert appliances: Dishwashers, refrigerators and ovens are being hidden behind cabinetry or made to match the cabinetry so much so that you can barely even spot them at first glance in the kitchen. Also going invisible in the kitchen, kitchen cabinet knobs, creating a more clean-panel look.

4. Smaller faucets: The big, “gooseneck” faucet was all the rage up until recently but now more home owners seem to be opting for lower profile faucets for a more subtle statement. Some of the faucets have even shrunk to bathroom scale, but they still feature the detachable spray nozzle.

“As kitchens have opened up and become more integrated into our homes, they have begun to feel less ‘kitchen-like,’” according to the Home Design Find blog. “The trend toward mixed cabinetry and integrated appliances, door pulls and sinks suggests we are looking for a space that flows seamlessly into the rest of our spaces.”

Read more trends at Home Design Find and see photos.

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