Mastering Kitchen Design with Kitchen Design Partners: Expert Tips from Nancy Jacobson

Transcription

Nora Duran: Hello, everyone. Welcome to our exclusive series with Nancy Jacobson, the mastermind behind kitchen design partners. , and today we’ll delve into the art and science of transforming your home. And today we are thrilled to have Nancy join us as we embark on a journey to enlighten homeowners about achieving their ultimate dream spaces.

Our goal is very clear. to equip you with the insights and strategies for a seamless and successful home remodeling. Whether it’s the bespoke kitchen we have been dreaming of or a comprehensive remodel, we are here to ensure your visions come to life with authority and style. So I have Nancy here. Hi Nancy, could you please introduce yourself?

Nancy Jacobson: Hi, I’m Nancy Jacobson, and I’m the president of Kitchen Design Partners. We are a kitchen and bath design firm in Northbrook, Illinois, and we’ve been in business almost 19 years. 

Nora Duran: Thank you very much. And let’s start with our first question. And it’s a big one, but it’s something everyone wonders about.

What is the best way to design a kitchen?

Nancy Jacobson: The best way to design a kitchen is really starting with the homeowners and learning about their goals. Most, almost every homeowner we work with has some pain points in their current kitchen, things that are just not working for them, whether it’s a specific feature in the kitchen that is not working for them, or whether it’s the overall layout of the kitchen, or it could be the storage.

 There are so many activities that we do now in our kitchens that we really go through a lot of detail with our homeowners about how they’re living in their space, how they’re utilizing their kitchen. How many people are living in the home? And, by going through all of these questions, and like I said earlier, focusing kind of on their pain points of what is not working currently, that gives us a great insight into, , beginning to envision, their new kitchen for them.

Nora Duran: That’s fascinating. And now let’s dig a little deeper when it comes to designing a kitchen. What are the five key factors people should consider? I’m sure there are so many details to keep in mind. , but let’s talk about the top five ones. Okay, 

Nancy Jacobson: Well, there’s always the space and, you know, we’re dealing with either four walls or what have you, we have a space that we’re dealing with and it’s not so much a constraint as it is just reality that we are dealing with a space within a home.

So obviously that’s our starting point, but when we start to design, really the details of a kitchen. I like to say let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. So when we start talking about different finishes and different materials, we’re going to start with the flooring. And then from there, we are going to focus on the cabinetry and the layout of the kitchen.

So the layout of the kitchen is where we’re bringing in all of the functionality that we need to meet our homeowner’s design vision and goals. And, We’ll get into cabinetry a little long, a little later. So we start with the flooring, we get to the cabinetry, then we have, countertops, then we have appliances, and then we have, , other items, such as electrical and decorative items.

Nora Duran: Absolutely, absolutely. And moving on to something a bit more specific. What do you think is the most ideal kitchen layout? I feel like this one can really vary like based on personal preferences and the space, right? 

Nancy Jacobson: It is so personal. It’s really a hard question to answer because there are advantages and disadvantages to everything.

There’s never one right answer in kitchen design. , But I will say overall in terms of an efficient kitchen, if we’re starting with an L shaped. Space meaning to adjoining walls at a 90 degree angle. , that in many ways is the best place to start because you have a contiguous amount of space on 2 walls with which you can have cabinets, appliances, countertops, etc.

And then when we take that. Corner type of L shaped space. We can add to it all kinds of different ways to customize it. We can add an island, which is what most of our clients want. If we don’t have room for an island, we can add a peninsula, , in many cases. Kitchens are so large now that we really are thinking in terms of zones.

So you may have heard of the work triangle in a kitchen and in many kitchens the work triangle still applies. But as we’ve seen over the years since kitchens are so central now to our entire home, a lot of our kitchens we work with now are quite large and we may have two work triangles within a kitchen.

Or one and a half. So really our focus is far more on goals and functions. So for instance, we will have a work zone for cleaning. We will have a work zone for prep. We will have a work zone for cooking. We will have a work zone for storage. And like I said earlier, if we start with that L shaped section, then we know that at the very least we have two areas Like I said, that are continue to contiguous from with which we can really start designing a lot of designs also have a window over where the kitchen sink is.

So, a lot of our designs, quite frankly, we’re going to keep that kitchen sink right in front of the window. Because people like looking out a window when they’re doing dishes or, you know, cleaning up. So, , although the L shape is great in terms of, functionality, kitchens are so individual. And so what I would tell you is that there’s, there’s never one right answer.

, because kitchens are as unique as the people are who live in those kitchens and that’s part of the fun of what we do. It’s really a puzzle. We put together all these puzzle pieces. of the space we’re working with, the homeowners we’re working with. How large is the family? How many children are in the family?

Do they eat together? Do they cook? Do they bake? Do they entertain? Do they do homework in the kitchen? Do they work in the kitchen? Do they have pets? Do they have multi generations? There are so, so many details that we want to incorporate when we’re designing a kitchen. So, Whether it’s that corner area that I mentioned or a different shape, , it really all comes down to customizing the space for those specific homeowners.

Nora Duran: Absolutely, absolutely. That’s very crucial. And now for those planning a remodel, having a checklist can be super helpful. And what do you think should be on a kitchen remodeling checklist? 

Nancy Jacobson: So, first thing on a kitchen remodeling checklist really is the plan, the layout, the floor plan, the elevations.

That’s really, what everything starts with. Once we have a plan that’s pretty solid, that’s the time to bring in the general contractor. The general contractor has the responsibility of examining the home and all of their systems and informing the client as well as my team on what specifically is needed.

To accomplish the goals of the kitchen and, , so the, the layout or the design and the general contractor really work hand in hand at this point to be able to finalize the plans. so that they work for the homeowner. In addition to the cabinet layout and, , the general contractor, the next big item really is appliances.

Appliances are huge. Obviously Everyone’s using appliances. Every kitchen has appliances. There are a multitude of appliances to choose from, and we’ll talk about that a little more later. But it’s also a major investment in the kitchen are the appliances. So, we’ve got the cabinets, the design, the general contractor, the appliances, and then we start talking about other finishes, things like countertops, flooring, backsplash material, lighting.

 And when I say lighting, it’s, It’s functional as well as decorative. So all of these items get, , involved in that checklist and there are some miscellaneous things like cabinet hardware, you know, and things like that, but, those are the big ticket items. 

Nora Duran: Yeah, that, that’s a very comprehensive list.

Thank you. And so, , We have so many factors to consider and what would you say, is the most important factor when designing a kitchen? If you just have to pick one, 

Nancy Jacobson: that is, that is a tough question. It really comes down to our homeowner’s goals. And what I mean by that is, we always want to know from the homeowner, how long are you planning to live in this home?

 Because this is an investment. This is an investment that will increase the value of your home. And this is an, an investment that will improve your, happiness within your home. So if you’re planning to stay in a home for 20 years, And it’s the investment, maybe more sizable because you’re going to enjoy it for so, so many years.

If you’re planning to stay in your home for five years, it’s a very different investment. And it’s also a very different goal. Generally, when we work with homeowners who say they’re going to stay in their home for five to seven years, what we want to do is make it better. We want to update. The home we want to make it more functional.

, and we want to update the look so that it’s, , on par with today’s. World we live in and with the real estate market, but we wanna be very cognizant of the investment and also of the customization because they’re not going to live in the home very long. So they wanna make sure that what they’re doing could work for the next homeowner who may purchase that home.

It always comes back to the goals of the homeowner, that trumps everything else. 

Nora Duran: Yeah, I totally agree. And speaking of the design, let’s, let’s talk about the investment, , that needs to be put in. What would you say a realistic investment is for a kitchen remodel? I know it’s a tricky one for homeowners, and I just want to make it clear for everyone here.

Nancy Jacobson: Yeah, thank you for the question. People always want to know the answer to this question, and I wish there was an easy answer, but it’s not really an easy answer. Because what I tell people is, remodeling your kitchen is a completely different process than, for instance, Going to a store, let’s say to buy a new suit for a man or for a woman or a woman, a suit or a dress or something.

It’s just totally different because it’s very customized. It’s almost more like planning a wedding. If you have ever planned a wedding, you know that weddings can run the gamut from two people, at the courthouse, And, you know, perhaps a corsage and a very simple, ceremony to a 500 person wedding at a top hotel in, you know, Chicago or Miami or New York.

, so you can understand if you have ever planned a wedding, you know, that every decision you’re making through that planning process. could be 1, 000 could be 100, 000. There are such large swings in what’s available in our world that, , it’s just impossible to say, yeah, you’re going to redo a kitchen.

It’s going to be approximately this percent of your home value. It’s impossible to know that, , in some cases when we’re just taking out what’s there and replacing it with newer. materials. Some people feel that 15 percent of your home value or 20 percent of your home value is kind of an industry representation.

But as soon as you start talking about knocking down walls, perhaps. Most homeowners want somewhat of an open floor plan, whether it’s complete open floor plan plan or partial open floor plan. Most homeowners really do desire that the kitchen is part of the living space. And so as soon as we talk about perhaps tearing down a wall, opening up a space, it just becomes impossible to estimate.

Any type of expense associated with it because again, you’re not just talking about taking out a wall You’re talking about a wall that has electrical in it that has ventilation in it that may have support structures in it so when I had mentioned earlier about the general contractor That’s when it is so critical for us to engage the general contractor so we can work together as a team to see what’s really involved in accomplishing the homeowner’s goals.

So I wish I could, I wish I could give you just a straight easy number. Like I said, that one rule of thumb just for an easy tear out and replace is, is one number. But even within that context, you may be talking to homeowners who want to have top of the line And that same home or that same type of kitchen, the next homeowner could say, I want to spend minimum on my appliances.

So even within the simple context of just taking out what you have and replacing it, it’s also, there are so many choices out in the marketplace that it really becomes impossible to just have a rule of thumb that works for everyone. 

Nora Duran: Yes, the, the investment part is always like the hardest one, but it’s a good investment to make.

Yeah, now to 

Nancy Jacobson: make, but, like I said earlier, it’s, I do find that most homeowners who come in to meet with us don’t really know what the investment is. And part of that is that HGTV is very popular and people watch HGTV to get educated. , but when HGTV provides budgets. They’re not realistic at all.

And so what we do as part of our process is we try to re educate people a little bit about what HGTV does and why it doesn’t represent, reality in our marketplace. 

Nora Duran: Yes. Yes. And now let’s talk about organization, which is a key in every kitchen. What type of organization do you recommend in your kitchen projects?

Yes. 

Nancy Jacobson: Organization is really fun, I have to say, because back in the day, people had cabinets that they would just open the doors and dig inside in the shelves to find their items. And that was kind of how kitchens were done. And that concept has completely turned around, where now what we try to do is we try to have Items within your cabinets brought out to you, brought closer to you.

So there are so many accessories that we put into kitchens, whether they’re drawers or rollouts. Rollout is a drawer that’s hidden behind a cabinet door. Really popular are cabinets that have waste and recycling bins. So you don’t have to have a garbage bin out on the floor somewhere. but you can hide those items within a cabinet.

 We have spice organization. , we find that a lot of our homeowners have a huge selection of spices and that they really need them handy by the cooking area or by the prep area. So we have different solutions for spice storage. We have Storage for dinnerware. We have utensil storage, silverware storage.

 So those are a lot of the kinds of storage we put into cabinets. We also have, , ways to customize a kitchen. For instance, a lot of our homeowners have hobbies such as They might be really into coffee. We have a lot of homeowners where we create a custom coffee bar, for their caffeine habit.

And, , those can be very different. But we try to hide some of those items behind doors. So while it’s in use, it’s very accessible and organized. And when they’re finished with the coffee, Everything gets closed up and it’s nice and neat. So we do that for coffee a lot. We do that for smoothie bars as well.

, we also do that for regular bars. You know, so people who entertain and want to have a beverage center where everyone can serve themselves. , that’s a big part of our lifestyle now. I think, Many, many years ago, people used to entertain more formally. But now most of what we see in our marketplace is people entertaining formally.

So they want self service areas where people can get a beverage, where people can serve themselves a meal. And so we build those features into the kitchens that we design. , we even have little inserts now to hold beer. Rolls of paper towels, so you don’t always have to have a roll of paper towels either out on your countertop or maybe hidden in your sink cabinet, we can actually put a paper towel holder right into a cabinet drawer.

So it’s handy. It’s right where you need it. And, it’s actually a feature that I put into my kitchen that I did last year. And I, I absolutely love it. It’s wonderful. So it’s almost limitless in terms of the type of organization that we build into kitchens. And, Our clients love the organization. I would say that’s, , a lot of fun for all of our clients, for us to customize the organization for their specific needs.

Nora Duran: Wow. That’s very useful and amazing. And let’s talk about the cabinetry for a bit. , it’s another big topic. It’s very popular. And can you explain like the three basic types of cabinet construction for our listeners? Sure. 

Nancy Jacobson: Cabinets are one of the biggest investments that you will make in your kitchen remodel and they’re so important because like I said, we have so much function now built into cabinets.

So there are framed cabinets. that are full overlay, meaning that the door overlays the front of the cabinet. There are framed cabinets that are inset, meaning that the doors don’t overlay the cabinet, but they are set into the frame. And then there are frameless cabinets, which are also called full access.

So, the difference is, when you think of a box, think of a box with an opening in the front. That essentially is a cabinet. And framed cabinets are constructed with half inch sides, tops, bottoms, half inch thick material, whether it’s plywood or some kind of furniture board, it’s half inch thick material.

But part of the structure of the cabinet is In that front opening, there is a frame that goes all around the opening, and that frame is wood material that’s an inch and a half wide by three quarters thick. It’s part of the strength of the cabinet. And whether you have full overlay doors, as I mentioned earlier, where the doors sit in front of the frame, or you have inset doors, where the doors overlap.

are set into the opening in between the frame. Both of those types of cabinets are constructed with half inch, , thick material. But every cabinet you have that has a frame, the outside width of the cabinet is three inches larger than the opening of the cabinet because the frame is an inch and a half wide on each side.

So if I have an 18 inch cabinet, my opening is 15 inches. If that cabinet is a base cabinet, any drawers that are fitting into that cabinet need to be smaller than the opening. So that 18 inch cabinet that has a 15 inch opening, the drawers will be smaller because you have the box of the drawers and the inches that takes.

We also have frameless cabinets. The difference with frameless cabinets and framed cabinets is frameless cabinets have no frame. That front opening that I had mentioned a minute ago, that’s an inch and a half wide. Frameless cabinets don’t have that. So you may ask, well, aren’t frameless cabinets weaker?

How can they be equally strong as a framed cabinet? Well, the way that they’re equally strong is that they are built out of three quarter inch thick material. Whether it’s plywood, Or some kind of furniture board. 3 quarter inch material is actually 50 percent thicker than half inch material. So it might sound like a little to you.

It’s just a quarter of an inch. It makes a huge difference. Huge difference in terms of the strength of that cabinet box. So when you have a frameless cabinet box that is constructed with 3 quarter inch material all the way around, there is no frame in the front. When you open the door into that cabinet, you see all the way into that cabinet.

Nothing is hidden behind the frame. That’s also why it’s called full access. And the benefit of frameless is that for every cabinet, if you’re comparing framed and frameless and you go back to that 18 inch cabinet, the opening now is Sixteen and a half inches wide because you’re just accounting for the sides of the cabinet, which are each three quarters of an inch.

So, for every cabinet in a kitchen where you have a frameless kitchen, you have an inch and a half wider opening. Might not sound like a lot, but when you’re talking about base cabinets that have drawers inside, every drawer will be an inch and a half wider, but the drawers are almost 20 inches deep.

So, a rule of thumb within the industry is that you can gain 7 to 15 percent additional storage in a frameless cabinet kitchen than you can in a framed. There’s no right or wrong. Our clients generally have a preference for one over the other based upon the aesthetics. The look of the cabinets as well as their situation.

So sometimes we’re dealing with clients who have a very large kitchen and they really like the look of a framed full overlay cabinet. Great, that is their solution. Sometimes we have, clients who have a smaller kitchen. But they love that classic look of an inset cabinet. Inset cabinets have been around for years, for many, many years.

And it’s a very classic and upscale look. So, , we have clients we’re working with right now who just absolutely love that lush look of an inset cabinet. And whether it’s a big kitchen or a smaller kitchen, that’s their preference. Because of the classic look that it provides. And then we have clients who love the look and function of a frameless cabinet.

 Generally frameless cabinets are a little more contemporary. And so, for people who are looking for kind of cleaner lines and a simpler design aesthetic, they generally are going to opt for frameless cabinets. 

Nora Duran: Thank you so much for breaking that down. And what about like framed versus frameless? Which one, do you think is better? And like, how was their installation process? How does it go?

Nancy Jacobson: I, I can’t say that one is better than the other because it really always goes back to the homeowner. There are benefits to everything and I tell every homeowner we work with, there’s always a trade off. So, for instance, if you love the look of insect cabinets. then Inset is the answer for you. And a trade off might be a little less space than if you had frameless, but if this is what works for your design aesthetic and for your goals, for your home, then we’re going to build you a kitchen that We pack in as much function and organization and storage as we can into that kitchen.

 And for my next homeowner, it could be completely opposite. They could just prefer the look of a frameless cabinet. Those clean lines that go along with frameless. Even if they have a large kitchen, they just might prefer that look. So, a lot of times it really does come down to the personal preference.

 And like I say, in this business, it’s really more about there are pros and cons to everything and there are trade offs to everything. And so we just try to help our homeowners prioritize their goals. And then how do we get to achieve their goals? By combining cabinets and countertops and tile and appliances and lighting and all of this gets combined for an overall design solution to meet their goals.

So there’s never an answer like, there’s never a best way to do something. There’s never a one size fits all in kitchens. It’s really very customized. Regardless of the price point that we’re working with and at Kitchen Design Partners, we pretty much have good, better, best, and ultimate. So I’d say we have kind of four general price points that we work within.

And within every one of those price points, we still focus on the homeowner and on achieving their goals and giving them the most functional and also beautiful kitchen that we can to meet their goals.

Nora Duran: All right. And I just wanna go through the trends for kitchen cabinets. What is the current trend, in kitchen cabinets? 

Nancy Jacobson: , the current trend in cabinetry, or really in kitchens overall is nature and wellness. And what I mean by that is that ever since Covid where people were stuck in their homes.

 And really, in many cases, unable to enjoy nature. People have wanted to bring natural materials into their homes, and also, they have a focus on wellness. So how does that, equate to kitchen design? We see a lot more focus on wood materials and stained finishes. So, for many years, we were doing white painted cabinets, and Maybe with an island or one part of the kitchen that was being painted in another finish, let’s say a navy or a gray or a coffee type of, opposing finish.

But now what people want is they want nature. They want to feel like natural woods, , are being brought into their living environment. And so we’re seeing light wood finishes. And, we’re seeing a lot of oak finishes, but specifically quarter sawn and rift sawn oak. So when you think about your floors, if you have wood floors in your home, they are very likely oak floors.

And you know that the grain pattern within those oak floors is very swirly and can be busy. , but there’s another kind of oak. When the oak tree is cut on a different angle, those wood pieces and those grain patterns come out more straight, not as swirly. And that’s what quarter sawn oak and rift sawn oak provide.

And, , we are doing a ton. of quarter sawn and rift sawn oak cabinetry now, , because it can be done beautifully and kind of light to medium tone finishes. , and it’s not quite as busy as standard, , oak wood cabinets. So that’s one really big trend. People still really Generally, people want a light kitchen, and so it doesn’t all have to be white painted now to achieve that light, bright kitchen.

You can have a beautiful, light, bright kitchen with beautiful, light, cortisone oak cabinets or light maple cabinets. There’s a lot of that going on. And then in terms of wellness, wellness is so important to many of our homeowners now that they are looking for specific features in the kitchen, such as filtered water.

Filtered water is really important. Ventilation is far more important than it ever was in the past. I tell everyone who I meet with that using your hood over your cooktop is not a choice. It is something that you should do every single time you are going to use your cooktop. And not only that, but your hood or your ventilation over your cooktop needs time to warm up.

So everyone knows that when you’re going to use your oven, you have to give it time to warm up. You go over to it, you set the temperature to 3 50 or 400 or , what have you and whatever kind of oven you have, there’s some amount of time you have to wait for it to preheat until it achieves that temperature.

Think of your kitchen hood in the exact same way. Turn on your kitchen hood before you ever are ready to turn on the burners. And so what I often tell people is turn on your hood and then go and do your prep. Whether you’re cutting vegetables or you’re mixing things together, you’re getting spices out, etc.

Go do your prep that whole time. Let your hood be on because that air circulation is , so important so that when you start cooking, the hood is good and ready and warmed up to pull out any oils, grease, , odors. Humidity, you know, and all of those things are really important for you to maintain clean air in your home.

And so, we all have to really refocus ourselves to use our hoods 100 percent of the time. So that’s a big one. But like I say, in terms of the kitchen, filtered water is also really important. And so some appliances, like some refrigerators offer filtered water. And they also generally have some kind of a warning.

So, you know, when your filter is running out and you need to replace it. , and then in terms of the overall air quality within the home, the general contractors often can also guide, our homeowners on if there are any features, you know, that they need to bring in to their home, to ensure clean air.

But those are the two biggest trends that I have seen. And the past couple years and those trends are continuing. Wow. 

Nora Duran: That was very interesting to hear. so much. And after the cabinets, I just want to move on with the countertops. And what would you say is the best countertop for a high end kitchen? There are so many options out there.

It’s, it’s very difficult to make a selection. And I just want to know from you, how can we have that high end look? 

Nancy Jacobson: That’s a great question. Of course, again, I’m going to say there’s not one answer, so I’m not trying to skirt the question. But the truth is, there are a lot of choices out there. There are a lot of choices.

For many, many years, we strictly did granite, in our marketplace. Granite was very popular and that’s what we did for quite some time. And then what we saw, I’d say maybe the past, eight to 10 years, we’ve seen that a lot of clients want a white countertop and real stone from the ground is not really white.

It’s beige, it’s taupe, it’s gray, it’s black, it’s got all kinds of different colors in it. And so for people who are really wanting to have that kind of clean, white aesthetic in their countertops, granite isn’t really working. So quartz came on the scene. And quartz technology has been really incredible.

And because of that, there are literally thousands of styles in quartz countertops that provide all kinds of different design aesthetics. But from a functional point of view, quartz is great because it does not take maintenance. Quartz is impervious, it can’t stain, it can’t, nothing can leach into your quartz because quartz is much harder than, let’s say granite or natural stone.

 So for people who don’t want to worry about maintenance, which a lot of our homeowners who have small kids, they really kind of focus on quartz because they don’t want to worry about staining their countertops. They don’t want to worry about remembering when is the last time I sealed my countertops.

They just want something easy and clean that they also know is germ free. So quartz has been extremely popular for many of our homeowners. In our market, we also see a lot of interest. in stone that is quartzite. So people get confused between quartz and quartzite, but quartzite is stone. So it’s like a granite, if you will, or a marble.

 But quartzite has different styles and a different look than granite. And some quartzites are extremely strong and easy to maintain and others are a little softer. So, people who want quartzite are the same trend that I had just mentioned about wanting to bring nature in. People who love the look of natural stone will absolutely focus on quartzite.

Because the beauty of quartzite is every slab is different, every slab is natural. It’s come out of the earth and you can see all the different particles within the design, within the slab of the stone that is so beautiful. So in our market, those are really the two options that we mostly do. There’s also porcelain, and the advantage of porcelain is it is extremely strong, and the designs of porcelain are really quite beautiful.

They look very much like marble, but they don’t have some of the disadvantages of marble. You can take something out of your oven and put it directly on a porcelain countertop without a trivet or anything, because porcelain can take the heat. Quartzite, granite, and quartz can all be damaged by taking something right out of your oven and putting it right on the countertop directly.

So for some of our homeowners, being able to do that is so important that they will just absolutely choose porcelain countertops because they have that benefit. But overall in our marketplace, most of our clients are choosing quartzite or quartz. 

Nora Duran: Oh, that was very interesting. And now let’s talk about something that often gets overlooked, but so important, lighting.

And how does lighting affect kitchen design and functionality? 

Nancy Jacobson: Lighting is so important and it is often overlooked, like you said, Nora, because when you think about a kitchen, obviously we are packing a lot of function into this kitchen. And, so overall lighting within a kitchen provides your overall functionality in the kitchen.

In our marketplace, we generally use. recessed pans for that overall functional lighting within the space. In addition to kind of the overall lighting, virtually every kitchen we do has cabinet lighting underneath the wall cabinets that shines down on the countertops. And that under cabinet lighting is critical for function because when you are standing perhaps by your cooktop and you are cutting vegetables, , you really want it to be well lit and comfortable for your eyes to be able to see functionally what you’re doing.

And without under cabinet lighting, it can, you get a shadow underneath the wall cabinets. So under cabinet lighting is really important. And, LED lighting has changed quite a bit of how we do lighting in kitchens because not only is LED lighting so efficient. It literally uses so such small amounts of Electricity and lasts for years and years, but also LED lighting is cool to the touch.

It doesn’t get hot It doesn’t heat up your kitchen. So many years ago people would do under cabinet lighting with halogen light bulbs that would get very hot and they’d be boiling in their kitchen because their under cabinet lighting would be adding heat to the entire space. We don’t do that anymore.

LED lighting has changed lighting design in kitchens and in homes in very big ways. So all of our clients use LED under cabinet lighting to light that countertop underneath the wall cabinets. Some of our clients put LED lighting in the little toe kick area of their cabinets, so that perhaps, if someone gets up at night and comes down to get a drink of water or milk or something out of the fridge, what have you, there’s some soft lighting at the floor to guide them.

 That can be a safety. Issue, or it can just be a nice decorative feature that people like, but in addition to some of that overall general lighting, decorative lighting is also very important within a kitchen. It’s, we always say that the decorative elements of a kitchen. Such as decorative light fixtures and cabinet hardware can become kind of the jewelry of a kitchen.

 And I always tell people that whenever we design your kitchen, what we want to do is we want to give your eyes some place to focus. So lighting offers that something to focus on that can really elevate the space from feeling functional and utilitarian to very glamorous and luxurious. Just by a light fixture or 2.

So, we, we don’t want to overlook lighting in our kitchen designs. We always work on, all of those kinds of lighting with every kitchen that we do.

Nora Duran: When 

Nancy Jacobson: it comes to lighting, 1 of the best kinds of lighting, which you can kind of see in this kitchen behind me. Is natural light. Now this kitchen behind me happens to have an abundance of natural light pouring in, which is just so lovely and wonderful.

Most kitchens that we work with don’t have this much natural light. But we always want to think about when we’re designing the kitchen. Is the kitchen facing south or north, east or west? So are they getting morning light or afternoon light, , naturally coming in through their windows? How many windows do they have?

Does it get hot at certain times of day? So these are some of the considerations we think about as well, even when it comes to natural lighting.

Nora Duran: Great. And, , as I said, lighting really does make a huge difference. And finally, for our listeners who are looking to, upgrade their appliances, what are the key considerations they should keep in mind when selecting kitchen appliances? 

Nancy Jacobson: Well, the first thing I would say is work with an appliance expert.

, my philosophy in, this business is that there’s too much to know about everything. Everything these days has technology built into it. And so whether it’s appliances, cabinets, countertops, plumbing supplies, electrical, Each of those elements that goes into your kitchen has so many options and so much technology That we always recommend work directly with an expert and kitchen design partners Our name is fun is because we always work as a team with partners who have designed have expertise in certain areas So although I have been trained on some appliances and have direct knowledge on some of them, and I can guide my clients, I refer my clients to a person who works with an appliance dealer, very close to our showroom.

And she’s been doing appliances for over 30 years and she gets all the direct training from the appliance manufacturers that I don’t always get to take advantage of. So always work with an, with the expertise in that area. But, just in general, what I would say is, I personally feel your most important appliance is your refrigerator.

Your refrigerator is used constantly throughout the day. If you counted the number of times you and your family were in and out of a refrigerator within a day, it could be 10 to 50 times. That appliance is being used constantly. And what are you storing in there? And how often do you go to the grocery store?

And do you find that you’re throwing out produce that you haven’t used because it has spoiled before you have a chance to use it? Do you have enough freezer space? Your refrigerator and freezer is so critical. And it’s also a big investment. So, there are refrigerators that are over 20, 000 and there are refrigerators that are less than 2, 000.

So there are a lot of choices out there. But sometimes we find that people who, people who use a lot of produce and find that they’re throwing it out, we can help those people actually solve that problem by focusing on the type of refrigeration that has food preservation features built into it.

And there are certain refrigerators that do that actually keep your produce fresh. longer than a standard refrigerator. So that’s one thing where you’d think you’re investing more money and maybe you do up front, but over the course of the years that you have that appliance, you are saving so much money on produce that you’re not throwing out that it can have some really distinct advantages.

And then after the refrigerator, the next critical thing to think about is how do you cook? What kind of cooking appliances do you use? Years ago, the choices were cooktop, double oven, or range. People either had one appliance that had a cooktop on top and an oven underneath, or they had a cooktop built into their countertop and double oven somewhere else in their kitchen.

And, , Now there are so many different types of configurations and different technologies of ovens that, a lot of our clients are mixing and matching ovens. and cooktops specifically for how they cook. So it’s really an exciting time if you’re a cook and you get into, you know, using some of these different appliances.

It is really a very exciting time because there is such a proliferation of technology and choices. And again, my guidance is work with an expert. So, you know, we partner with, an appliance person, for that. But a lot of. Our clients will go meet with the appliance person and maybe come back with a few choices, and then myself and my team will work with them and guide them through some of the pros and cons of the different choices, or even how those choices will affect the design of their kitchen cabinetry.

 And then kind of like I said earlier, Don’t forget ventilation. Your cooktop strength, the burners on your cooktop, and the BTUs that they have, will determine the strength of the hood you need above to properly clean your air. So never forget about ventilation. Plan your ventilation when you’re planning all of your other appliances.

Don’t wait and do it as an afterthought because it is really so important to the cleanliness of the air in your home.

Nora Duran: Perfect. Perfect. Great information. So thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge with us today. This has been incredibly informative. And to all our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in.

We hope you, get some valuable insights from our expert, Nancy. And, happy remodeling until next time. Thank you so much. 

Nancy Jacobson: Bye.