Every family is different, and every household has its own rhythm. For families with no children, we tend to approach kitchen design a little differently. If you have no small children, or if they’re grown, gone, and living their own lives, it opens up a new world of possibilities that you might not have ever considered.
Designing Your Kitchen For The Next Stage of Life
If you are empty nesters or nearing retirement, the next phase of your life will look very different than it has in the past.
For example, without a house full of kids, you might want to downsize, or you may feel that it’s finally time to treat yourself to a little luxury.
If you are planning for retirement, you might be thinking about universal design to make aging-in-place more feasible for you and your spouse. The earlier you start to think about these details, the easier it will be to ease gracefully and comfortably into your future.
Here are some popular kitchen design trends for households with no children:
Cabinet Options
If you aren’t worried about keeping certain items out of reach or out of sight, there is a world of cabinetry options to consider.
Open cabinets or glass doors are a possibility, whereas they may not have been before. You can display your cookbooks, teapot collections, or glassware, and you won’t have to worry about anybody getting into stuff they shouldn’t be using.
When there are small children in the house, you might have wanted to keep your good dishes out of reach. You may have needed to keep certain dishware and items in lower cabinets for easy access, but without that worry, those lower cabinets can be transformed with freezer or refrigerator drawers or a built-in wine fridge.
Many of our customers had, in the past, avoided white cabinets because they didn’t want to spend all their time cleaning. But, without sticky hands and fingers to clean up after, that might not be as much of an issue.
Cabinets and Appliances
High-gloss or matte finishes may not have been on your radar, as they tend to show fingerprints and smudges a little more. However, now that you have more control over your environment, you are free to choose differently.
Natural stone countertops, for example, may have been out of the question because they are porous and generally more susceptible to chipping and scratching. If you want that marble countertop, now you can have it without worrying that every pot that’s plunked down on it is going to stain or chip the finish.
Your choice of appliances can be a little more serious too. Why not go for that six-burner gas cooktop or a stainless steel fridge? The gourmet kitchen you’ve always dreamed of could be yours!
Trash, Storage, and Recycling
When there are kids around, you need to think about all the things they can get into, reach into, get their fingers caught in, and so on. Many of your storage cabinets were probably child-proofed and built for safety, not necessarily aesthetics.
To change things up, you might think about adding stylish pulls to your drawers and cabinets. Toe-kicks or push-buttons are an excellent idea for trash cabinets, especially, as you won’t have to touch the handles to open them up.
Display Your Good Knives
When there is no danger of somebody accidentally cutting themselves – or ruining your expensive chef’s-quality knives – you can think about ways to display them and keep them handy to your prep area.
Since you don’t have to keep your knives locked away in a drawer, you might want to put them on a magnetic strip on the wall or in a display block on the counter. Even if you don’t want to leave them out in plain sight, they just don’t have to be in a locked drawer or hidden up high and out of the way.
Embrace A Minimalist Vibe
Your lower storage cabinets will be much more useful for storing things when you don’t have to make sure your breakables are out of reach. Everything that is typically on the counter can be put away, keeping the countertops clear from clutter. You can even keep your dishes down there if that’s more convenient for you.
Are you looking for inspiration for your next kitchen remodel? From universal design to great-looking, high-performance features and technology, we’ve got plenty of ideas to get you thinking! Reach out today, and let’s talk about it.
