Every style will date itself with time, but the style that will date the least will be something that is at home in the house style. If the home has Craftsman leanings, perhaps look at quartersawn oak or painted cabinetry, but probably not in white. The current trend has been away from the ornate and towards the simple, with natural materials. The biggest emphasis you should place in a remodel is getting a good functional layout. If a kitchen has good bones, the decor elements can be changed out easily should fashion dictate.

Any design project is eventually going to look dated. It's just like clothes or hairstyles. Luckily, home style changes occur on a slower basis...can you imagine, "Here's our Spring 2012 Kitchen, look for our Summer 2012 release in July!"

Go with what works with the house if you like that style - that will help to keep it from following trends so much (unless of course, your style house becomes a renewed current trend) If not, go with what you currently like. Chances are that no matter what, in 15 years or so, you're going to be ready for an update and change.

Definitely get as much right with the layout as you possibly can - it will afford you a much greater flexibility in changing out a few things to update.

Respect the house, follow your own taste, maintain functinal flexibility, excercise restraint. To me the the most successful projects look like they've always been there. You should not see my fingeprints.

GreenDesigns, I'm so glad to hear the use of ornate flourishes on cabinetry is fading in popularity. We have friends who build spec. houses usually two or three at a time. They will often sell the one they are living in and move into another so I get to see lots of recent builds. They don't like the ornate stuff but have been having to use it because that's what buyers seemed to want. Imagine building something with an element you don't care for and then living there for a year or more. Business is business.

andreak100, the changes in styles are frustrating. I guess we all would like to forget a few hair styles we wore! We will likely be selling in about 15 years, so I'm hoping to do something classic that will reduce the need to frantically update in order to sell. The house is about 35 years old, but everything but a few elements looks classic, and I can tell where the original owners veered off track. We like craftsman style, so the changes we have made to the house have taken that direction.

jakuvall, I think what is scaring me the most is that I have been in too many remodeled or added on rooms and "seen the fingerprints" of changes. We did an add-on in a previous home, and the contractor told us we wouldn't be able to tell what was new from what was old. We could, of course, but no one else could. ("I thought you added on to this house?") That's what I want to do with this project. I will probably have to stay with the original footprint because the kitchen is relatively small and U shaped, but I hope to make the cabinetry more functional for storage.

> We will likely be selling in about 15 years, so I'm hoping to do something classic that will reduce the need to frantically update in order to sell.

No matter what you do now, you will have a middle-aged/aging kitchen in 15 years. I totally wouldn't waste time worrying about current trends unless you happen to like them.

I agree with a lot that has been posted. You need to create a design/floor plan that works for how you live and not what you think is trendy or shows age, because at some point ALL of it will look dated.
A perfect example is your preference for an open floor plan. That is the trend but DH and I both hate it. To me, a kitchen can be noisy and I hate that sound travels into the living room where we watch TV. There are pluses and minuses and we would have preferred a house (and actually had a house design ready to build that would have not had the open floor plan). As it turned out, we bought an existing house....open floor plan. We dislike the floor plan but adore the views. We have learned to live with it.
If we sell the house, someone else can tweak it to their liking.

I think kitchens (in general) are going to get a bit smaller and have more user-friendly countertops. Probably something easier to keep clean and/or a bit quieter. Stone has been popular for a long time and while there will always be advocates, I think the market is ready to move on to something else...

As for colors, I would expect that white will be replaced with lighter woods (for the airy look many love) and medium/darker woods for more traditional homes. Painted cabinets will be popular for a while, but I think wood is making a big comeback...because it's different than the white.

Since you have a certain style of home, as mentioned earlier...if you stay true to the style, your kitchen will not look very dated. Some of the details will be dated (especially trendy items like glass tile backsplashes) but overall, if you stick with your home's style, you should be fine!

Note to GWers...this is not a negative post for white cabinets, marble/stone countertops or glass tile. It's merely stating the obvious that consumers love change and want to be unique (while still fitting in with what's popular LOL) so I expect some changes. See Dr. Seuss's "Sneetches" for more insight... :)

Agree with using the kitchen as another element to make the house look and work its best. Think the whole thing.

The other is, if you do identify any major trends for the future, avoid them. Those era-defining looks are the ones that we then get to see aging everywhere for decades. Those tired kitchens representing a trend long after the excitement has passed are probably 80% of the image problem in most neighborhoods.

(Ever notice how very few people ever renew the finish on their cabinets? They just let them get dingier and dingier. The kitchen version of never repainting the front door.)

writer'sblock, I get what you're saying about the need to chill out about this. It's just so hard when I'm making big, expensive decisions--lol.

wallycat, like you I'm stuck with an open floor plan. Our present house is much larger than the previous one, but we had to get rid of a bunch of furniture that we didn't have room for because the darn place has so few walls.


lavenderlass, thank you so much for the specific input about where kitchen design is likely to go. When I look at all the beautiful pictures of huge kitchen in magazines and on message boards my small one seems so inadequate, so I'm relieved to hear the trend may be reversing itself.


Rosie, many years ago we bought an as-is home that had had a small fire in the kitchen. The cabinet builder who was repairing the damage told me to clean the rest of the cabinets to enable him to match the stain and finish coat exactly. I was amazed at how dirty those clean-looking cabinets were! As you noted about kitchens, they are just another element of the home. I think they deserve no more or no less attention than the rest of the house.


Thanks to everyone for the helpful input.