Whether you are anticipating a new kitchen in your newly built home or plan to update your outdated kitchen cabinets one of the key decisions that will be critical to your kitchen décor is the focal point.  Where do you want the eyes to be drawn when guests walk into the room for the first time?  Ignoring the decision of focal point will not change that it does exist even if you do nothing.  Every kitchen has a focal point.  One must really think about how they want to accentuate the perfect focal point and we have a few suggestions tucked away in this article to help.

There are several avenues to achieve the perfect focal point.  Decoration and design combined with the perfect custom cabinets are the primary ways. 

But first let’s add some more depth to what we mean when we say “focal point”.  Each room has an area of interest.  For most living rooms the fireplace draws our attention, an office may have some built in cabinets or coffered ceiling but the kitchen honestly is up to the designer or home owner.  There are several key areas that could serve as a focal point.

To name a few: the island, stove area and cabinets above, kitchen sink area, cabinets with clear glass and lights to display the pretty stuff as my wife likes to say.  If you go with a gourmet styled top by mixing 42” and 36” cabinets you can also draw attention upward especially when combined with additional three to four piece crown moldings.

When deciding on a focal point it’s crucial that you consider you space, storage, and functionality.  The wrong focal point can make the room look small, out of place, or even odd not to mention it may even impair functional storage.  If the focal point doesn’t add to the response you want to achieve while creating a functional kitchen then it’s a distraction.

For example, in a small kitchen it’s very important to create the feeling of space without loosing functional storage.  We do this often by drawing attention to the kitchen sink.  

I know what you’re probably thinking.  Why the sink?  Sinks are usually in front of a window and windows can offer a sense of space if there is a view of green grass, trees or flowers.  Even if the window was looking onto a brick wall we can still create a focal point there but instead the homeowner could add some material to create a fogged glass look. Allowing the light to come in but offering a more attractive view.

How do we draw attention to the sink?  Often times by just customizing a cabinet that suites the décor of the home and our in house interior designers are great at this.  However, for the purposes of this article the most common ways are deeper cabinets for the kitchen sink and then allowing it to stand out by adding other features such as flutes, columns, or furniture type legs.  Usually the granite counter edge will also adjust with the cabinet by protruding just 1.5” outside the other cabinets counter edge.  This is just enough to create a focal point.

So much more could be said here but I wanted to provide you a taste of what we do to assist our clients with the decision making process.  We just don’t build custom cabinets well, we strive to create the perfect custom cabinets by helping you decide the perfect focal point and in turn create another room where you may want to spend more time.

I’ll never forget one of my clients comments.  After obtaining her new kitchen she said, “I now want to be in this room!”  That is the testimony of well planned custom kitchen cabinets combined with the perfect focal points.
Feel free to give us a call if we can assist.  I tell all my clients that the process is equally as important as the product so we take our time to walk you through each step of the way.

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