Vision : Part 2

Joan Kohn's It's Your Kitchen: Over 100 Inspirational Kitchens
by Joan Kohn

(Page 2 of 2)

How does my dream kitchen fit into the decor and scale of the rest of my home?

Are there appliances or other elements of my existing kitchen that I wish to recycle into my new kitchen?

How will my dream kitchen affect my home's resale value?

Refining your dream can be as exciting as the dream itself. Although this process almost always involves some adjustments, that doesn't mean that the dream itself will be lost. On the contrary, thoughtful adjustments can enhance your kitchen design. Think about how you can extract the essence of your dream - the core ideas that will have the most impact, even on a modest scale.

A Word about Resale

Because the kitchen has become so central to our lives and such a significant element of home design, you may wish to remodel your kitchen solely to make your home more marketable. But beware! This strategy can backfire in a surprising yet pleasant way. I have heard many stories from home owners who remodeled their kitchens for resale, only to fall in love with their new kitchens and decide not to move! There is also the risk that, by the time you decide to sell, market tastes may have shifted.

I am convinced that if you design just for yourself, the power and integrity of your vision will draw the right buyer to your home. I love the story told to me by an antiques dealer who owned a boutique specializing in French imports. The decor of her shop incorporated strong colors borrowed from a traditional French country palette, including walls painted forest green. She loved these colors so much that she used them in her kitchen. But when she decided to sell her home, she had difficulty finding a realtor willing to take on the assignment; they all insisted that she first paint her kitchen walls white! Finally, she found a broker, but for the longest time no prospective buyers appeared. Then one day, a young couple came to see the house and immediately fell in love with it. "I don't believe it!" exclaimed the excited young woman to her husband. "This house looks just like that French antiques store we love so much!"

There is also the Paris couple who cooked at home so infrequently that they did not want their new loft apartment to have any kitchen at all. Convinced by their designer that a kitchen of some kind was an absolute necessity, they opted for one that sat in the space like a piece of sculpture. The striking result is the kitchen shown opposite.

Final Thoughts

It should be apparent by now that developing your kitchen vision is a dynamic process that can yield unexpected and wonderful results. Once you have your vision in place, it will help you to navigate the sea of design choices that lies ahead, making the journey easier and all the more enjoyable.

Furthermore, once you've begun construction, having a clear vision can give you the strength and focus to complete the project. When your painter's truck has broken down for the third time, and when the only sink in your kitchen is the feeling in the pit of your stomach, your vision will keep you going. I learned this lesson years ago from my husband, Richard, during our first kitchen remodeling project. Whenever I began to panic, he reassured me by reminding me of how beautiful our new kitchen would be. He had a clear vision. He could actually see the kitchen as it would ultimately turn out! Eventually, I learned to trust that vision and to allow myself to accept the uncertainty and stress inherent in the messy construction process.

Finally, having tapped into your imagination to create your kitchen vision, you're likely to find yourself approaching the rest of your life more creatively.

Kitchen dreams may take many forms:

Your dreams may be about food - the heavy aroma of chocolate-chip-cookie dough in a large mixing bowl, luring family members into the kitchen; the smell and sound of onions and garlic sizzling in an open fry pan; or an image of yourself. . . alone with the newspaper and a cup of coffee early in the morning.

Your dreams may be about function - how you see yourself using your new kitchen. Are you a gourmet chef seeking the best-equipped stage on which to act out your culinary fantasies? Or a retiree looking for a quiet sanctuary in which to greet each precious new day?

Do you envision yourself cooking with friends and family gathered around? Or are you a fast-track urbanite who wants a sleek, granite countertop on which to lay out cartons of carryout food? Do you see your kitchen as "command central," where a telephone and computer are as important as a stove and sink? Perhaps you use a wheelchair and long for a kitchen that graciously accommodates your individual needs.

Your dreams may be about style - French country, Early American, Tuscan, Victorian, modern, or an eclectic combination.

Your dreams may be as simple as a memory - of long conversations at your grandmother's kitchen table when you were a child, of the bustle and laughter that signal the preparation of a holiday meal, or of the warmth of a stone fireplace in a bed-and-breakfast you visited one winter weekend. Your new kitchen can evoke that memory every day.

Your dreams may be about color - you may have always imagined yourself in a classic white English kitchen, or yearned to "go retro" with pink and turquoise. Perhaps you just want to surround yourself with your favorite color. The kitchen is a perfect place in which to do just that.

Your dreams may be about creating an emotional impact - a sense of serenity, drama, or surprise.

Your dreams may be about light - you may envision yourself standing at the sink in front of a picture window as the morning sun pours in, or as dusk settles.

Your dreams may be about space - breaking down existing walls to borrow space from adjacent hallways, closets, or other rooms to create a sense of openness. This was the dream that inspired my own kitchen in Chicago.

Your dreams may be about your future - your life as you wish it to become. Design can move us emotionally, but it can also move us in a more literal sense, by inspiring and enabling us. I have a friend who built a small photography darkroom in an old pantry as a way of jumpstarting the hobby she had always dreamed of. In this way, design can be a catalyst for change in our lives.

Your dreams may be about having a kitchen that is original, a kitchen no one else has - uniqueness as an end in itself.

Copyright © 2003 by Joan Kohn

About the Author

I was a Navy brat, born in Brooklyn and raised around Naval bases in the East and Midwest. I received my undergraduate degree from The University of Michigan, where I attended the College of Architecture and Design and the Liberal Arts College. After my husband and I moved to Chicago, I taught high school for a few years, and then went back to school, receiving my Masters Degree from Northwestern University's School of Speech. While raising our two daughters in Chicago, I did free-lance work in television and in industrial films, and as a booth announcer and on-camera spokesperson for WTTW (Chicago's public television station), and even had small parts in a few feature films (including The Fugitive and Chain Reaction). In 1991, I went behind the camera to work as a director, co-writer and producer of Energy Express, a syndicated TV series for kids on health, fitness, and adventure that won two Chicago/Midwest Emmies and other awards.