I've Been Thinking...about Kitchens

and why the restrained kitchen might be the best of all

I’ve been thinking about what makes a well-designed kitchen, as I’ve been designing many of them lately. I’m sure there are a lot of thoughts and opinions from the interior design publishing world, but I want to share with you what my gut and experience tells me the “best” kitchens are. To me, the most successful kitchens are often the non-publication worthy, almost underwhelming, classic, timeless kitchens. Let me explain why…

I visited the Musee Nissim de Camondo in Paris a couple of years ago. The Mansion was built in 1914 and has been perfectly preserved for 110 years. The home is beautiful with many great rooms, but as I walked into the kitchen and loved the design and layout, the details, the wood, the tiled walls, and thought how I would want to have my kitchen look almost the exact same today, I was in awe of the great design - one that has aged so well. This kitchen is genius. Not boring, layered, interesting, but also very classic.

photos from my visit to the Camando Mansion

What if some of the “best” designed kitchens are the ones that exercise restraint?

Our homes are the places we live. We experience so much in our homes and all we need is a good palette to build our lives from. Even though I admire so many designers that are very “artistic” and are boundary pushers in their work, I believe that type of design is best suited for hospitality or vacation homes, not primary residences.

In our day-to-day life and home, I think the kitchen should often be a supporting role, not necessarily the lead. It’s the thing I believe a lot of us get wrong about a well-designed home. Sometimes I am hard on myself and wonder if I should push boundaries more with some of my designs. Should I suggest a more bold color, a dramatic marble countertop, do something more “creative”? But inevitably I purposefully restrain myself, especially in the kitchen.  

Our kitchens are the most expensive and disruptive space in our home to remodel. They also date our homes the quickest with the appliances and design/material choices. In years past kitchens were often hidden away from the main areas of the home, where they wouldn’t “offend” if they were dated but you updated your living room to feel more current. Today, this is not the case. Often our kitchens flow into the main living areas of our home. It’s become even more important than ever to design them to last and play well with the other rooms that you will update more often as they are easier to do with just some paint and a new sofa.

With my own home I definitely did not think I would break the internet when I designed my kitchen with almond-white cabinets, soapstone countertops, white subway tile, and walnut shelving. You couldn’t get more classic and basic with materials and colors. And guess what, I didn’t break the internet, it didn’t get published, it isn’t the most popular room I’ve ever designed, and even though at times I have questioned myself and thought that I didn’t flex my creative designer muscles enough in my own home at times, I then remind myself that that’s my genius I believe I have, that I can exercise restraint and design for the future. That I am not a designer that needs her home to say “look at me” but rather I created a beautiful, authentic background for me and my family to live our lives in. It’s our lives and events that should say “look at me” not necessarily our homes.

a snapshot of my kitchen

I’m probably just trying to make myself feel better about the fact that I’m not on the Architectural Digest 100 list (yet - ha) but after touring old homes where the kitchens were not overly designed, but fit perfectly with the architecture of the home and still work today, over 100 years later, I don’t think I’m necessarily wrong.  

It might sound a bit dramatic, but it’s a brave thing to design for yourself and for the future, rather than today’s compliments, trends, or publications. Let’s all design 100 year kitchens - it’s better for our wallets, our environment, and our sanity. No need to “keep up” but let’s stay authentic to ourselves and our homes, practice restraint and timelessness in the kitchen, and spend more time designing a life well lived than remodeling a home.

Sincerely,

Marianne