The Global Sales Design Team creates hundreds of kitchens a year and can give you the insider tips to creating great kitchens in Bermuda and the Caribbean.
Here are some tips from our Design Team:
- Write it Down – Your kitchen should work with your lifestyle. Keep a notebook in your current kitchen. Jot down notes as you cook, clean, put away your groceries, and use your appliances. This is the type of info that will help us create a space you with love. Some things to consider:
- Is the kitchen your info center, too?
- Do you have a cookbook collection you love?
- What are you missing in your current kitchen?
- What do you love about your current kitchen?
- Climate Considerate – Our Design Team will help you select doors and materials that will stand up to coastal climates and resist warping and corrosion. For instance, when selecting your doors, avoid mitered doors and really large doors because they can warp. For hardware, we work with manufacturers who provide brass, stainless steel or diecast aluminum to hold up to the elements.
- Open Walls Mean Open Opportunities – While your walls are open run lines for cable, under cabinet lighting, in cabinet lighting, phone and internet, electric, speakers and more. Also, if your kitchen shares a wall with another room, it’s the perfect time to run cables for that room, too.
- Adjoining Spaces – Unify adjoining spaces with complementary cabinetry – buffet table, wet bar, entertainment unit, shelving. You can achieve a cohesive, designer look by bringing elements into different parts of your space. Save time and consolidate shipping and labor costs by having all the elements created, shipped and installed at the same time.
- Organization and Storage – Some of our favorite projects have been full of organizational pieces to help customers get the most out of their space.
- Do you love your mixer, but don’t want to see it? Consider a roll out shelf.
- Where do you like to do your prep work? By the sink – put a knife drawer with slots at close reach.
- Do you enjoy wine? Consider a rack or small wine refrigerator.
- Are there collections you would like to showcase – glasses, china, pottery? Glass doors add elegance and let you display your favorite pieces.
- Create a Bright Space – You can create the illusion of natural light and space by adding glass and lighting to your cabinets. Showcase your glasses and let the light play off of them to create a beautiful focal point. Adding a Velux skytube can also create brightness and help save on your electric bill by reducing the number of bulbs you have to use to illuminate your space.
- Appliance Sizes Vary – We have found so many different sizes of appliances in Bermuda and the Caribbean that we never assume a dishwasher is 24”. Make sure to measure each of your existing appliances to make sure the cabinets work perfectly. Also, this great time to rethink your appliances. Send us your model numbers so we can accurately render them in the plans.
- Maximize Your Space – We work with Rev-A-Shelf to add pull out shelves, lazy susans, spice racks, pull-out waste bins and more. You can make an inaccessible corner into a fully functioning and accessible storage space. Plus, don’t forget pantry organization. There are so many solutions to make your kitchen a joy to cook in.
- Plumbing Beyond the Sink – Again, since you’ve got it all open, what other areas of your kitchen (or a neighboring room) could benefit from running water – refrigerator, ice maker, mini-sink, wet bar.
- Upgrades that Make a Daily Difference – Soft closing drawers and doors. It is a little luxury that you’ll be so glad you chose.
- Get Inspired – Many of our customers send us their sketch, dimensions and magazine pictures of kitchens or places that inspire them. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words! Some of our favorites: The Bermudian, Caribbean Living, Architectural Digest, Coastal Living, House Beautiful and Elle Décor.
- From Floor to Ceiling – Our happiest customers tell us, the space just “works”. These customers thought of their kitchen design as a cohesive project – they coordinated their whole look – flooring, countertop, cabinets, hardware, lighting fixtures, appliances, and plumbing fixtures. Pick something you love, like a tile design or a cabinet finish, and make it the test for all the pieces you add to your space.
- Details Like Knobs and Pulls Make a Big Difference – There are thousands of cabinet pulls and knobs to choose from. They don’t come with the cabinets, so you’ll want to order them when you order your cabinets. From antique bronze to crystal, stainless steel bars to hand painted ceramic, the beauty is in the details.
