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Having Trouble Deciding on Your Cabinet Style, Wood & Color?

Are you having trouble deciding which door style, wood and color to use in your kitchen or other project? Do the choices seem overwhelming? Well, don't feel bad, many people find this very difficult. My clients often stand looking at our door samples and stain choices with a perplexed and lost look on their face. I have found the following helps a lot though.

The primary thing to remember is that aesthetics - how something looks - is interpreted by our minds as feelings. Think about it, when you look at something - a picture on the wall, one of your children or a friend, a sunset, or a grizzly war video - your mind doesn't read what it looks like, rather, it reads it as a feeling. Few of us looks at something and analyzes it for color, grain, technique or style. We interpret how it makes us feel.

When you are browsing an interior design magazine you may suddenly come upon a photo and you say, "I love that!" Ask yourself why you love it and chances are your subconscious mind will say, "It makes me feel good."

I realized this years ago when a lady came into our showroom 5 days in a row and just wandered around looking at all the displays. When asked how I could help her she said "I am just trying to figure out how I want my kitchen to look - I'll know it when I see it." Our efforts to help her were unsuccessful until the fifth day when I asked her (by instinct not design - I wasn't that experienced yet) "How would you like to feelwhen you are in your kitchen?"

She stopped, thought for a minute and replied, "I want to feel the way I felt when I was a little girl in my grandma's kitchen."

I then asked, "Are there any displays that do that for you?"

She immediately pointed to a white traditional kitchen and said, "That one!"

I then asked her, "What are the features of that display that make you feel that way?"

She immediately said, "The color and the door style...but something's missing."

By instinct I asked, "Was her kitchen big?"

She said, "Enormous."

"So," I replied, "If we can provide that door style and color and make your kitchen feel big would that you make you happy?" "Ecstatic!" she replied.

We were able to provide that for her and she loved her kitchen. She had a small, dark kitchen but we raised the ceiling, enlarged the kitchen window and those elements along with the white tinted lacquer to make itfeel much bigger.

Too often people spend time looking at door styles, woods, stones, stains and so on through a magnifying glass when trying to determine what they will use in their kitchen. But in the daily course of living we don't look at things (or life for that matter) with a magnifying glass. Rather, we look at it in sweeping glances and acknowledge it as to how it makes us feel.

I recommend to my clients that instead of using a magnifying glass and staring at details, they should look at things in a broad perspective and ask, "Do I like how this feels?", not "Do I like how this looks?" It will simplify your decision making. And the easiest way to do this is to look at photos of kitchens and other rooms in brochures, showrooms and websites until you find one that makes you say "Wow! I really like the feeling that gives me." Once you've done that then get out the magnifying glass and determine the elements that make you feel good.

This is why we post a lot of pictures. But if you don't see something here check out www.kitchens.com or Houzz they have lots more.

As always, if we can help you in any way do not hesitate to contact us.

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