Main Line Kitchen Design Trends Blog

Congratulations to Janice O’Brien our Kitchen Story Contest Winner. Janice won $500 for her look back at a 1955 kitchen in her sentimental story 40 Clinton Avenue.

Main Line Kitchen Design honors a cheese pioneer

Below is our simple list of the top 10 things to do when you are buying cabinets for a new kitchen.

Buying new cabinetry for your home that knowledgeable experts would judge to be truly “green”, sustainable, and having limited off gassing is a lot harder than people think. The popular book Freakonomics showed us that cause and effect can be quite different from what might be expected. This counter intuitive reality particularly applies to the cabinet industry and the designing and sale of new kitchen cabinetry.

Paul talks to Wendy, a return caller that took much of Paul’s design advice from a previous call and is now calling in for advice on some final tweaks to her design. Paul explains why 33″ Lazy Susan cabinets are a bad design feature and solves much of Wendy’s design challenges by recommending that she use the absolute smallest cabinet that fits a standard single bowl sink. Surprisingly many professional kitchen designers are unaware of what that size sink cabinet this is, and what the advantages are in using that size are over a larger size cabinet. Paul also explains why 36″ high wall cabinets should be used in rooms with 8′ high ceilings.

Made in the USA. Is it always smart to buy American cabinetry?

The simple answer is yes. The most reliable and the best value for kitchen cabinets are all American owned companies. However the best value at the lower price points in cabinetry will be US companies assembling cabinetry in the United States but having their cabinet doors and drawer fronts made in other countries.

The hottest new kitchen appliances. A list of popular appliance innovations.

Just like the refrigerator replaced the ice box after 1900, new appliance innovations are making previous innovations obsolete. Below are Main Line Kitchen Design’s list of some of the hottest new appliances. Many of these appliances are a little on the expensive side now, but often appliance prices drop as the technology improves or the original patent expires.

What’s the best kitchen countertop?

Main Line Kitchen Design’s 2021 update on popular countertop types, materials, brands, and properties. What’s good about each type of top and what’s not.

The surfaces people choose for kitchen countertops and countertop pricing has changed in the last few years. This is Main Line Kitchen Design’s update on kitchen countertops and what are the important issues to consider when selecting a countertop for your kitchen. For more detailed information on all types of countertop read Different kitchen countertop properties and pricing. – (mainlinekitchendesign.com)

Main Line Kitchen Design has over 30 contractors that we recommend to our customers free of charge.

These general contractors take over the day to day responsibilities of the renovation project once the construction work begins. By recommending contractors and not subbing out to them, as most kitchen showrooms and cabinet dealers do, Main Line Kitchen Design’s clients save 20 to 30% on their construction costs.

Paul talks to Sam, who like many podcast callers and people that write us on our blogs, is concerned about selecting the best cabinet brand for her kitchen. Paul explains why comparing kitchen cabinetry brands can be difficult and how pricing works at different cabinet dealers and showrooms. Paul also explains to Sam why the design of her kitchen is more important than the cabinet brand that she selects. Paul discusses with Sam and later with Felipe what makes a cabinet well constructed and what the difference is between framed and frameless cabinetry. Towards the end of the podcast, Paul and Felipe discuss incorporating pets into the design of a kitchen.