Clever Ideas: 15 Smart Design Moves To Use In Your Next Kitchen Or Bathroom Renovation
Looking for clever ways to make your kitchen or bathroom more functional?
We’re sharing 15 designer-approved ideas that will help you get the most out of your hardworking spaces. Scroll down!
1. Design An Eating Zone
Designer and TV personality Brian Gluckstein created this smart space for dining by adding a simple lip around the area. The effect is like eating in your very own high-end café.
2. Switch Up Cabinet Door Styles
Walls of floor-to-ceiling storage are a popular choice at the moment but can sometimes feel imposing. Keep the look light by swapping in one or two ribbed-glass door fronts, which allow a hint of the contents to be seen.
3. Use Two Different Materials For Your Counters
Marble is great for baking, while butcherblock is a natural surface for prepping fruits and vegetables. Get the best of both worlds by installing them side by side.
4. Add A Bread Bin To Your Cabinets
To keep counters clean and orderly, integrate a bread bin into an upper cabinet. In this traditional kitchen, a brass-mesh panel on the flip-up door coordinates with the hardware
5. Get The Privacy You Crave With Separate Vanities In An Ensuite
If your floor plan doesn’t allow for one long console with two sinks, or you just prefer to have your own elbow room, consider two smaller vanities for the principal bathroom.
6. Turn Dead Space Into A Bookshelf
An extended island often has room on the sides that can be utilized for shelves. It’s a great place to display your most-used cookbooks.
7. Don’t Forget A High Backsplash
That wallpaper you love so much needs to be protected from overzealous hand-washers. Extending a marble slab up the wall and mounting an eye-catching wall faucet will do the trick.
8. Splurge On A Second Faucet
This high-tech gadget puts boiling, filtered and carbonated water right at your fingertips. The ultimate in convenience!
9. Go For A Downdraft Vent Hood
This extractor fan tucks neatly down into the island when not in use, allowing the unique counter-integrated gas burners to steal the spotlight.
10. Layer In Soft Materials
With their expanses of hard surfaces, bathrooms can feel cold and soulless. An easy way to fix that is to add in a few different tactile elements such as linen blinds, waffle-weave towels and a vintage runner.
11. Choose A Cordless Lamp
With so many gorgeous cordless table lamps available today, it’s easy to find one that will look great on your kitchen counters, keeping much-needed electrical outlets free for small appliances.
12. Inject Some Playful Pattern
Designers know that a bold move can really make a space stand out. The addition of a colourful stripe of fish-scale tile takes this white bathroom to another level.
13. Create A Mini Pantry
High on many a kitchen renovator’s wish list is a pantry. If you don’t have space to dedicate a whole room, opt for making over a closet, as designer Samantha Sacks did in this Toronto kitchen. The inclusion of open shelves, lower closed cabinets and black framed glass doors makes this petite space a winner.
14. Install Expensive Materials In Key Places
If you love marble but shudder at the cost of covering every counter and backsplash in the natural stone, save it for the most visible areas where you can get away with using a smaller amount. You’ll still get the look — but for a quarter of the price.
15. Tuck Away A Medicine Cabinet
One advantage of working with designers is that they have a knack for finding smart ways to add in storage. Steal this trick from Shauna Walton and sink a medicine cabinet into a side wall.