Designing an Easy To Clean Low Maintenance Kitchen Remodel

Planning a new kitchen is an exciting project. You'll have so many fun choices to make, from sleek cabinetry, to beautiful stainless steel appliance, to elegant stone counter tops, all can help you to create the aesthetic vision you're looking for, but there's more to designing a kitchen than just style. You also need to consider functionality. Food preparation is the predominant function of the kitchen, and how you place your kitchen elements, is an important factor to consider.

Another consideration many homeowners overlook is maintaining and cleaning your kitchen space. Selecting low-maintenance materials and placing items where they're used as well as choosing storage solutions - all with an eye towards quick and easy clean-up also plays a major part in a functional kitchen design.

Here are some tips for choosing materials that are both aesthetically beautiful as well as easy to clean and maintain, and ways you can tweak your kitchen design to create the perfect balance between form and function.

Low Maintenance Countertops

There are plenty of low-maintenance products available that fit the bill for both form and function. Natural granite is beautiful and easy to keep clean, although it will require occasional resealing. Quartz is an engineered stone that is non-porous, stain resistant and comes in a variety of patterns and colors including very natural looking marble and granite.

Other easy to clean low maintenance countertop choices include stainless steel, Corian, and laminates. Another cost-effective solution is large format, color through porcelain tiles. The large size keeps grout lines to a minimum and that keep clean-up easy. If you do go the porcelain route, make sure to use an epoxy grout as it is extremely resistant to stains, and easier to keep clean.

Read How Quartz Countertop Material is Being Used in Unconventional Ways

Easy To Clean Backsplash Ideas

quartz backsplash — This kitchen uses quartz not just for its countertops, but also for its backsplash. A seamless piece of quartz was cut to fit behind the range and under the adjacent cabinets, for an easy to clean and beautiful backsplash.

Keeping a traditional tile backsplash can be challenging, especially near the cooktop. Full-sheet materials like back pained glass, or full-sheet quartz eliminate the grout lines and can be easily cleaned with a simple wipe. Both of these are much easier to clean than mosaics of any kind. If you do choose tile, go with a larger format to reduce grout lines.

Flooring Choices

Luxury vinyl, sealed concrete, terrazzo, or any commercial grade flooring product including hardwood are all good choices. Focus on durability and color when choosing your flooring. When it comes to color, think contrast. Large format porcelain or quartz tile are also a good choice. Thanks to improved manufacturing technologies, porcelain tile is available in a wide variety of natural looking finishes like natural stone or wood. They resist stains, are easy to keep clean with just a damp mop, and their large size minimizes grout lines. Like tile countertops, use an epoxy grout to prevent staining.

Read About Cutting Edge Flooring Trends

Cabinet Designs

large pantry space — A large pantry can make for a clean and clutter free kitchen by keeping small appliances and other countertop items hidden but within easy reach.

Unless you're style leans more towards traditional, or country, clean flat lines are a good choice. Ornate molding can take extra time to clean. Slab front or shaker are the easiest. Plus shaker style cabinets can blend into almost any design style from traditional to contemporary.

Consider adding accessories to help keep the clutter to a minimum making keeping countertops clear and minimizing cleaning. Customized storage options like pot, pan and lid pull-out storage in your lower cabinets placed near the cooking surface can help keep necessary cooking items close at hand and organized.

Learn More About Cabinet Door Styles

Appliance Storage To Minimize Clutter

Adding a large pantry cabinet that is set-up as both storage with a countertop can be an excellent way to keep appliances close at hand and ready to go, but completely out of sight. This keeps your kitchen countertops clutter free. Doors can hide all kinds of kitchen amenities like a walk in pantry, or even a home work station.

Appliances can also be build into cabinets for example installing the microwave in the island, or a hidden beverage center to keep the kids juice and your wine at the perfect temperature.

Other Low Maintenance Considerations to Cut Down on Cleaning Time....

Undermounted sink laminate top — Can you spot what’s unique about this undermount kitchen sink? Answer: it’s in a laminate countertop! There are reliable options available which allow you to choose inexpensive and easy to clean laminate tops while still benefiting from the function and beauty of an undermounted sink.

• Self-cleaning ovens – this goes without saying!

• Stainless steel appliances – While stainless steel can be labor intensive to keep clean, there are options which help prevent finger prints from showing. Consider newer lower maintenance stainless steel appliances like GE Cleansteel Appliances.

• Glass cooktops – New induction technology cooktops are made of glass and heat the pot or pan instead of the cooktop surface. That means liquid spills don't burn and cleanup is easy.

• Under mount sinks – are seamless and if you have rounded corners, they're remarkably easy to keep clean.

Your kitchen designer or design-build contractor can help you to understand all of your options. Creating your dream kitchen can be a truly exciting project. Taking the time to consider all of the elements with an eye towards lower maintenance is a smart decision that means less time cleaning, and more time enjoying your new space!

This article was updated by Abe Degnan on 1/23/19.

If you're considering a kitchen remodeling project and you live in the Madison Wisconsin area, give the experts at Degnan Design-Build-Remodel a call. We can help you to design a low maintenance dream kitchen that can meet all of your functional needs and fulfills your creative vision!

An Above the Garage Master Suite Addition Remodeling Project

We recently completed an addition for our clients, John and Amy, a professional couple with young children living in the Blooming Meadows neighborhood in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Their home featured three bedrooms on the second floor. The existing master bedroom was outdated and impractical for modern living, and with three young children, two needed to share one of the two remaining bedrooms, and all three kids shared the second-floor bathroom. Another problem the family needed addressed was that John needed a private home office, and the one they currently had was a shared space that did not work well for his job.

Let's take a look at our creative solution for this young family!

A New Private Bathroom for the Adults!

One of the major elements on John and Amy's wish list was a private bathroom space just for them. They wanted plenty of space to get ready in the morning, away from the kids, and we delivered! The bathroom features a handcrafted Amish custom double vanity with a tower cabinet in alder wood, stained Carbon Gray. The contrasting Linnstone Quartz Calcutta pattern countertop brightens the space and ties in visually with the elegant tile work in the spacious walk-in shower. We added custom alder wood framed mirrors stained in the same Carbon Gray as the cabinets to complete the vanity. Over each of the mirrors, we installed Quoizel 2 light vanity fixtures to provide plenty of warm light.

In the shower, the 21st Century Tile 12x24 floor-to-ceiling tiles in Tivoli Silver give the room a bright and modern feel, and the low entry shower makes entering the shower safe and easy for the couple. We included a helpful niche in the shower for shampoo and other toiletries and, for contrast, used a beautiful hexagon mosaic accent tile. The glass doors give the space an open feel, making it bright and inviting. The Arbor Hills luxury vinyl plank flooring in timber adds a warm feel, giving the room a natural look with the benefit of waterproof LVP.

The Result

The final result of this second-floor master suite addition is a home that fits John, Amy, and the kid's needs and lifestyle perfectly. John now has the perfect private office space. Since John and Amy now have their private master suite, and each of the kids has their own bedroom giving them their own space to grow as they grow, their home is more comfortable and functional. And on the exterior, you can't even tell there's been an addition!

Are you considering an addition or other home improvement project? Let us help you design the perfect finished space! If you live in the Greater Madison area, call the experts at Degnan Design-Build-Remodel at (608) 846-5963. We can take your home to the next level of comfort, design, and function! Ready to learn more? We're always happy to answer your questions.