Do you feel like your kitchen always looks dirty, no matter how often you clean it? Cleanliness may not be your problem. You may simply have a high-maintenance kitchen. We’re here to help you redesign your space and upgrade to a kitchen you actually enjoy using. Check out these tips for how to design a low-maintenance kitchen.
Choose a Matte or Satin Finish for Your Countertops
Your countertops receive the brunt of the wear in your kitchen. These are the surfaces that collect dust, house clutter, and get touched every single day. High-gloss finishes highlight imperfections, including streak marks, fingerprints, crumbs, and more. If you opt for a satin or matte finish, you’re less likely to see those imperfections.
You can take this theory one step further and choose counters with multiple colors and dimensions. Solid-colored countertops are going to draw attention to dirt, but multi-colored countertops will hide it. Light countertops are more likely to show stains, so consider using a medium or dark material. This will make a world of difference when it comes to maintaining your kitchen day-to-day.
Avoid White or Glossy Cabinets
White cabinets and glossy finishes show fingerprints easily. This is especially true around door and drawer handles. You can choose a light color in a satin finish if you want bright cabinets, but avoid stark white.
Flat-panel cabinet faces are in style now, and many of those materials have the appearance of glass on the surface. They’re beautiful to look at but not exactly “low-maintenance.” Be mindful of that as you compare different cabinet materials.
Prioritize Accessible and Functional Storage
A low-maintenance kitchen needs to have tons of storage. You need places to hide clutter and the items you don’t want to see every day. Open shelving has its place in the world of kitchen design, but it may detract from usable storage space.
If you need lots of cabinets or drawers to support your lifestyle, make that a top priority. Think about how you use the kitchen when you cook, clean, eat, entertain, etc. Make sure the storage you have addresses your functional needs and that it’s accessible where you need it to be.
Establish a Designated Food Prep Area to Reduce Messes
Food preparation gets messy, and messes lead to maintenance. You can minimize how far your messes spread by creating a designated area for them. This may be on the kitchen island or on a row of counters near the stove. If you have a large enough home, you could create a back room that acts as a separate prep kitchen all its own. Tuck a waste bin in the cabinets below the prep area for quick cleanup, and you can minimize the stress around meal prep.
Consider What Makes Your Current Kitchen Difficult to Maintain
Are there any problem areas in your current kitchen you want to address in the new design? Your kitchen renovation is the perfect time to fix existing problems and customize your kitchen. Maybe the hard part is how far the trash can is away from the rest of the kitchen. Perhaps you have issues accessing the small appliances you use every day. Find solutions for your frustrations so that you can fully enjoy your new kitchen.
Get a Custom Kitchen Designed for Your Unique Needs
Our award-winning kitchen designers can transform your current kitchen into the low-maintenance space of your dreams. We’ll factor in your aesthetic, budget, timeline, and overall goals to personalize your kitchen design plan. Give us a call at 443-285-0558 to schedule your kitchen design consultation and start planning for your future.
