Designing With (or Around) Stainless Steel
Whether you are a gourmet cook or just want your kitchen to look like you are, it's easy to love stainless steel.
And while it's easy to love stainless steel it can be difficult to design around it.
Going pro doesn't necessarily mean you have to endure a cold, industrial-looking kitchen.
In fact, even some of the most elegant Traditional kitchens can look great with stainless steel appliances if you learn a few kitchen design techniques that the kitchen pros use.
Stainless steel is quite neutral in color and style.
But it looks better with some kitchen colors than others and the reason we are seeing a lot of bold colors in kitchen design right now is, at least in part, because of the popularity of stainless steel appliances.
Red is the all-time number one color to use with stainless.
You can't choose a better color if you plan to use stainless steel.
Tip: The Color Association highly recommends Benjamin Moore's Exotic Red #2086-10, a very deep saturated red for use with stainless appliances.
If you're not sure about the thought of a red kitchen use red just on one wall as an accent color or use red for a tile backsplash.
You will still get a very dynamic effect.
Slightly less dynamic, but still striking with stainless steel, is a deep saturated yellow.
This color may not be for every style kitchen but would be perfect for an Old World style such as Spanish/Mediterranean or French Country, for example, with some deep Burnt orange and dark brown-red accents.
One to look for is Benjamin Moore's Banana Yellow #2002-2.
When designing with stainless steel a little goes a long way.
Unless you like a very industrial look, try to keep it to a few appliances and perhaps go with panels to match your cabinetry for other appliances such as dishwasher, ice maker, trash compactor, etc.
With stainless you have to learn how much is enough.
With metal accents, less is more.
Pairing a stainless range or range top, refrigerator and wall ovens with something like warm, rich wood finish cabinetry and black granite countertops softens the look of the metal and makes it work for kitchen styles like Traditional.
Cream granite can also warm up the cold shine of stainless steel.
Stone that has Mica in it accents the soft gray of the appliances.
Another way to balance the metallic sheen of a cooktop or range is with textured ceramic tile backsplash.
Warm up a stainless range or cooktop with a wood hood or a wood or conceal the hood with a mantel style wood cooking hearth.
Another thing that bears mentioning here and should be a design consideration when incorporating pro style cooking appliances is that these produce very high BTUs, making sufficient room and counter space of either side a must.
They also need proper ventilation and protection for the wall behind the appliance or it may scorch or even catch fire, particularly if you have many of the burners turned on at the same time.
When working with pro style cooking appliances in your kitchen design you need to consult a HVAC specialist to see if you need special venting to an adjacent space for "make up air" to replace the hot air that is circulated out.
If you just like the look of pro cooktops, ranges and wall ovens but don't necessarily need the high performance you are in luck.
The appliance manufacturers are coming out with more and more appliances that have the look of pro without the price or the special considerations.
You should check out some of these.
And while it's easy to love stainless steel it can be difficult to design around it.
Going pro doesn't necessarily mean you have to endure a cold, industrial-looking kitchen.
In fact, even some of the most elegant Traditional kitchens can look great with stainless steel appliances if you learn a few kitchen design techniques that the kitchen pros use.
Stainless steel is quite neutral in color and style.
But it looks better with some kitchen colors than others and the reason we are seeing a lot of bold colors in kitchen design right now is, at least in part, because of the popularity of stainless steel appliances.
Red is the all-time number one color to use with stainless.
You can't choose a better color if you plan to use stainless steel.
Tip: The Color Association highly recommends Benjamin Moore's Exotic Red #2086-10, a very deep saturated red for use with stainless appliances.
If you're not sure about the thought of a red kitchen use red just on one wall as an accent color or use red for a tile backsplash.
You will still get a very dynamic effect.
Slightly less dynamic, but still striking with stainless steel, is a deep saturated yellow.
This color may not be for every style kitchen but would be perfect for an Old World style such as Spanish/Mediterranean or French Country, for example, with some deep Burnt orange and dark brown-red accents.
One to look for is Benjamin Moore's Banana Yellow #2002-2.
When designing with stainless steel a little goes a long way.
Unless you like a very industrial look, try to keep it to a few appliances and perhaps go with panels to match your cabinetry for other appliances such as dishwasher, ice maker, trash compactor, etc.
With stainless you have to learn how much is enough.
With metal accents, less is more.
Pairing a stainless range or range top, refrigerator and wall ovens with something like warm, rich wood finish cabinetry and black granite countertops softens the look of the metal and makes it work for kitchen styles like Traditional.
Cream granite can also warm up the cold shine of stainless steel.
Stone that has Mica in it accents the soft gray of the appliances.
Another way to balance the metallic sheen of a cooktop or range is with textured ceramic tile backsplash.
Warm up a stainless range or cooktop with a wood hood or a wood or conceal the hood with a mantel style wood cooking hearth.
Another thing that bears mentioning here and should be a design consideration when incorporating pro style cooking appliances is that these produce very high BTUs, making sufficient room and counter space of either side a must.
They also need proper ventilation and protection for the wall behind the appliance or it may scorch or even catch fire, particularly if you have many of the burners turned on at the same time.
When working with pro style cooking appliances in your kitchen design you need to consult a HVAC specialist to see if you need special venting to an adjacent space for "make up air" to replace the hot air that is circulated out.
If you just like the look of pro cooktops, ranges and wall ovens but don't necessarily need the high performance you are in luck.
The appliance manufacturers are coming out with more and more appliances that have the look of pro without the price or the special considerations.
You should check out some of these.
