Kitchen Island Trends For 2022

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The up and coming kitchen island trend is to have double islands instead of one long island. One of the biggest advantages of double islands is that it can provide personalized multipurpose space, which include space for dining, storage, wine racks, sinks, cooktops, warming drawers, and other appliances.

Double islands designs include: 

       1. T- shaped islands: One double island option for a smaller kitchen is T- shaped island. It is a perpendicular layout for two small islands. For example, the top part of the island is the working stations, while the stem serves as a seating area. Those two parts can connect together or a few feet away from each other depending on the specific situations.

       2. Parallel islands: If you have a large, square kitchen, two coordinating parallel islands would be a great choice for you. For example, one of the islands is a preparation station, and the other one can be a sitting island. It allows for uninterrupted conversation between people working and sitting. The parallel islands can also be the focal point of your kitchen, with countertops flowing over the edge just like a waterfall.

       3. Adjacent islands: Two side-by-side islands can be a great choice if your kitchen has a long, rectangular shape. Instead of having one long island, you break it into two smaller ones. The design helps to increase the space in the kitchen.

       4. Wrap-around islands: The wrap-around islands can be L-shaped or a circle. It has a smaller working island in the middle for food preparation. It provides the optimal seating arrangement, which can accommodate a large number of people. In addition, it can also work as a separation between living space and kitchen.

       5. Mismatched islands: If you are a fan of a more modern style, you may want to consider double islands that don’t match. For example, the difference between islands can be colors, materials, or shapes.

Color and Technology: 

In fact, besides having two islands instead of one, people also care about the color of the island and the technological improvements that can be brought into kitchen renovations and remodeling: 

       1. Prioritizing colors: colorful kitchen islands can stand out and add some fun to the kitchen design. In addition, adding in bold dashes of color can make your space come alive. For example, some bold decorating colors are fresh greens, cool blues, energetic yellows, or punchy oranges.

       2. Hand-free technological innovations: smart dishwashers, ovens and refrigerators that respond to voice commands are something that would make life a lot easier. In addition, smart kitchen technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assist, Apple’s Watch and Siri are great assistants for individuals working in the kitchen, which can help to improve efficiency and convenience.

The Best Kitchen Countertop Materials

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Shopping for countertops can feel very overwhelming since there are hundreds of colors, patterns, and textures. However, there are really only a few basic categories of materials for countertops that you should know. Let’s break down the pros and cons as well as the important information to know for each type of countertop.

First off, when choosing a counter material you need to think about your needs and habits in the kitchen.  For example, if you cook a lot and do prep on the countertop, you don’t want to use a soft porous material. You also have to consider your overall kitchen design. You want to make sure the counters fit with the appliances, the backsplash as well as the cabinets in your kitchen.

Natural Stone

Granite: This is a very common and popular material for a countertop since it comes in a variety of colors. The colors offered range from vibrant reds and blues, midnight black, as wells as white.

Pros – no (or low) visible seams, durable surface, heat-resistant

Cons – must be sealed to resist heat as well as can be expensive

Marble: This is a softer stone and more high end then granite. It is also comes in much fewer colors. However it is great surface for baking but since it is softer might show knife scars or be discolored by citric acid.   

Pros – durable, striking natural patterns

Cons – high-maintenance, needs repeated sealing, expensive

Soapstone

pros – won’t need sealing

cons – soft and may show knife marks

Slate

pros – won’t need sealing

cons – brittle especially at corners

 

Engineered Stone

Quartz : This is stone is what most engineered stone is made out of. It comes it lots of different colors and is a hard material so it doesn’t need any sealing

pros – no sealing, durable, low maitenance

cons – expensive 

Concrete

 

Precast: These concrete slabs are extremely smooth and flat. These countertops can also have a variety of colors as well as have glass or other materials embedded in to give it an artistic feel. 

pros – won’t scratch, durable, heat resistant

cons – must be professionally installed, expensive, needs sealing

Solid surfaces

Acrylic or Polyester: These counters show no seems since the pieces get fused together. This is great for long stretches of countertop. You can also get sinks to match

pros – low maitenance, lots of colors, repairable, non-porous

cons – not heat resistant, shows knife marks and scratches

Plastic Laminates

pros – very affordable, durable and hardwearing, ready-to-install,

cons – not heat resistant,  can chip or scratch

Tile

Ceramic or Stone:  Lots of color options and many different styles. Has to be applied over laminate or fresh plywood topped with cement backerboard. 

pros – lots of colors,  affordable, lots of choices,  ceramic is non porous

cons – regular grout cleaning is necessary

Wood

Edge-Grain: These counters have long, thick strips of wood that are glued together with the edge grain facing up

End-Grain (aka Butcher Block): These counters have relatively short, square sticks of wood that are joined together with the tough end grain facing up

Wide-Plank: These counters are made by edge-gluing wide boards together. These counters are the most susceptible to warping and cracking.

pros to wood – warm, ideal work surface, heat resistant

cons to wood– medium maintenance, will show knife marks

Top 5 Kitchen Renovation Trends

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Kitchen renovations are the hottest thing these days when it comes to general home remodels and construction. The kitchen is the most important room in the home to renovate, since it says a lot about the home owner. As one of the most customizable rooms in anyone’s personal abode, you’re given much more creative freedom that you would be with others.

  1. Change the color palette

Paying attention to the color decisions you make can really make your kitchen pop without having to spend tons of money on other things such as appliances. For example, using gray instead of white would help because gray is much more pleasing to the eye. Gray also tends not to show dirt and grime as much (although it’s still highly that you clean your kitchen regularly). Consider mixing different colors to complement each other, such as black and white or gray and brown. Sometimes even classic palettes like black and white can make your kitchen look great.

 

 

2. Make your kitchen sink stand out

As weird as this may sound, changing the color of your sink can have great benefits if you do it right. Still going off of color, choosing to go against the traditional white or stainless steel look of your sink is becoming a fairly new trend. It also helps make your kitchen look brighter and more lively overall.

 

3. Mix materials

Sometimes a clash is a good thing when you’re considering what materials you want your kitchen to be made of. When picking what kinds of materials you want, it’s also important to consider the color these materials generally come in. Take wood. If you have a wooden countertop, you’d perhaps consider using a gray color for cabinets, as those colors work very well together. Now when you consider two different materials, there are a few really god options to consider. Nowadays wood is becoming a very nice look for a countertop. Marble is a good compliment for a wood countertop, for example. Considering a mix of materials to give your kitchen that flair can be a great addition.

4. Maximizing storage space

Storage space is an important aspect of one’s kitchen, and being able to control the amount you have through smart construction and innovation is important. You can have cabinets and drawers customized for this, or you can find your own ways to save on space. Take Tupperware products, for example, which are a very popular option for storage.

5. Imitation

Imitating a certain look or material can save you a lot of money on a kitchen renovation. Say you wanted a new countertop and like the look of granite, but you’re working with a smaller budget. There are look-alike options such as laminate which create the look of a granite countertop without the overall expensive price. No one has to know but you, and your kitchen will still look amazing!

These are only a few of the trends out there today. There are so many more options you’ll want to consider when making a fashionable decision for your kitchen renovation, but we hope we were able to give you some insight as to where the general attention is on today’s remodels.