Category Archives: Kitchen Remodeling

Three Current Trends in Kitchen Appliances

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We all love our kitchen cabinet storage possibilities. Whether it’s a new dual-level silverware tray drawer, an Aventos-lift appliance garage, slotted storage spaces, or a fancy retractable spice rack, we love the conveniences that the trends in cooking tools now provide. Just as these trends improve efficiency in the kitchen, technology advances and procures new ways to look at and utilize kitchen appliances. Here are a few of our favorite kitchen appliance trends:

Microwave drawers provide easy access for the whole family

1) Microwave Drawers

An improved way to hide your microwave is through the microwave drawer. Instead of having a unit take up valuable counter space, a microwave drawer is aesthetically pleasing and places the unit under the counter.  The microwave drawer runs on tracks that extend out, which allows you to pick up your dish in one quick move, rather than reaching up above the stove for a hot dish. This is great for kids who might not be tall enough to reach a microwave above the stove, as it brings the appliance closer to their level, and provides a way to lock unsupervised access.

Custom built-in refrigerator blends with cabinets

2) Custom Fridge Look

If your current refrigerator does not compliment the style of your kitchen, hidden appliances may be a trend for you to consider. Built-in appliances allow you to customize your refrigerator to match your surrounding cabinets by using custom panel inserts! Whether you have a bottom-freezer and side-by-side configuration or separate refrigerator and freezer units, the objective of built-ins is to give you the option of utilizing front panels on your unit for a sleeker, custom look. 

You also have the option of a counter-depth model for your refrigerator unit. A counter-depth refrigerator will offer the same upscale built-in look without protruding 5-8 inches out from your cabinets. Counter-depth refrigerators come in bottom-freezer and side-by-side configurations, but they also allow for French door models to be utilized as well!

3) Updraft Exhaust is better than a Downdraft

More and more people are looking to transition their kitchen to either a more contemporary looking space or a modern farmhouse vibe, made popular by Fixer Upper star Joanna Gaines. A question that tends to pop up as you remodel is whether an updraft range hood or downdraft vent would be better for ventilating your kitchen. This all depends on your needs, kitchen space, and ultimately your preference. Updraft exhaust is the most effective for venting smoke, removing odors, and allowing particulates to follow the updraft into the vent. This will help in keeping your kitchen cleaner as well as venting more heat when cooking with gas, frying, or grilling. Additionally, the unique style of an updraft exhaust hood will provide your kitchen with its own sense of character and charm.

Appliances are constantly changing as technology improves, and these are just a few options in the ever-expanding field. When you are revamping your kitchen, consider what investing in a few quality products will do to enhance not only your cooking but your overall kitchen experience. Don’t be afraid to step out and try something new and improved! We would love to help make your dreams become reality, because allowing us to help transform and revamp your kitchen space you’ll not only add more character to your home, but ultimately enrich your life in the process!

 

Considering remodeling your kitchen? See our Kitchen Remodeling Services for info on how we can help you achieve the perfect kitchen for your home.

Essentials of kitchen lighting

The Right Way to Light a Kitchen

All Posts, Kitchen Remodeling

The kitchen is a central, multi-functional part of your home. It is the space where busy lives intersect, from weekly rituals of meal planning, meal-prep, and cooking to the sorting of the mail, random middle-school science experiments and the hosting of dinner parties. The right lighting in an area as versatile as the kitchen can be essential to the general atmosphere of the room, and that versatility calls for layers. A kitchen has the option of three different layers of lighting: ambient, task, and accent.

Ambient Lighting:

Whether the kitchen is blessed with an abundance of natural lighting or lacking in the general window department, ambient lighting is a great way to cast the main source of light. Focus on the ceiling along the main kitchen areas; the higher and brighter you place the fixtures, the more light will fill the kitchen space. This will give a warm, casual glow to the space. General lighting options can range from recessed lighting along the ceiling to hanging chandeliers, flushmounts, or pendant lights. 

Task Lighting:

A kitchen is an active space; there are counters for prepping food, a stovetop for cooking, cabinets to maintain storage needs, and maybe even an island for extra workspace. This tends to ask for a more direct lighting in certain areas. Here is where task lighting comes in. Cabinets have a tendency to create shadows along the counter space as natural lighting wanes throughout the day. Adding task lighting along the underside of the cabinets can solve the shadows on countertops and around the pathways in the kitchen. Common options call for the use of strip lights or evenly spaced puck lights. 

Accent Lighting:

Accent lighting in kitchen after remodel by ADB.

Accent lighting can help bring depth and creativity to your kitchen. Adding sconces to the walls or showcasing art with cleverly placed spotlights can create mood lighting in certain areas of the space. Thoughtfully placed lights inside a china cabinet can allure guests with the shine of your best dishes. Toe kick lighting can be used around the prime lines and angles of the kitchen, whether that is under the lower cabinets along the kitchen or a centrally placed island. This can illuminate the kitchen floors in a warm glow that gives a welcoming feeling to guests or to the occasional late-night snacker. There is even the option of installing accent lighting along the insides of cabinets and drawers, which can brighten the darker corners of storage spaces. 

Lighting plays an important key in how you view and interact within the kitchen. By adding layers of different lighting throughout the space, you can create a different atmosphere for each and every occasion. Whether you overlay ambient lighting with task lighting, or accent lighting with a hint of ambient lighting, these layers of lighting will only add to the appeal of the kitchen. 

 

Check out our kitchen gallery for more examples of the right way to light a kitchen.

Open Kitchen Remodel Designed for Entertaining

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2016 NARI-Atlanta CotY Award Winner

The main living area of our clients’ 1990s home was divided by walls into segmented rooms for the kitchen, dining room and family room. This resulted in confined spaces that interrupted traffic flow when hosting get-togethers. Our clients came to Atlanta Design & Build expressing the desire for an open kitchen remodel that would enhance their entertainment of family and friends. They wanted their kitchen to be brighter and more welcoming. They also felt the need for increased storage, including the creation of a large “to-die-for” walk-in pantry in the space taken by the laundry room, which they wanted to relocate upstairs.

The ADB team designed a new open floor plan that perfectly met our clients’ needs and desires for their kitchen, and it impacted their other living spaces as well.

The plan involved the removal of a primary load-bearing wall expanding from the front exterior wall to the back exterior wall of the home. Both an 18-foot steel beam and a 10-foot LVL beam were placed into the ceiling to support the load. Also removing the wall separating the kitchen and dining room, created the free-flowing expansive openness desired. See the before and after floor plans here.

The spacious new kitchen has now been completely opened up to the dining room and family room, with no barriers between them. The one large open space with improved traffic flow offers ample area for work, eating and entertaining. Removal of the walls has brought more natural light into the kitchen from both sides. A single narrow wall was purposely maintained in just the right location to furnish beam support and privacy to the powder room—removing it from the sight-line of the kitchen.  Continue reading Open Kitchen Remodel Designed for Entertaining →

whole house remodel video

Raise the Roof | A Whole House Remodel Pt 1

Atlanta Design & Build, Kitchen Remodeling, Raise the Roof

The 1960’s split-level home for this family of four was in desperate need of a whole house remodel. Our client desired an updated kitchen, new entry way, a screened porch and an open floorplan concept for their family room with a higher vaulted ceiling. They needed us to raise the roof to accommodate their dreams for the home which is JUST what we did…LITERALLY!!

These are images not many people get to see outside of the ADB team and the family whose home we are working on. Join us on this unique behind-the-scenes look at what makes us Atlanta Design & Build.

Enjoy this time-lapse video of our team removing the existing roof as preparation for construction of the whole house remodel.

Do you have an idea for your home that seems impossible to achieve? Give us a call, your dreams may be closer to reality than you think with the help of our team! 770.565.8999

Follow this story to see the beginning stages of the interior, our ADB team hard at work, in-progress photos, and the final product. Watch all of the progress videos here.

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The Importance of Clean and Safe Job Sites While Remodeling

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At Atlanta Design & Build we know it is very important to protect the health of your family and pets during a remodeling project. We make it our top priority to maintain a clean and safe job site while your project is ongoing. One of the more serious hazards is the airborne dust that is stirred up by our work. This dust could migrate throughout your home and pose a problem to your health. We know the value and how important it is to contain and eliminate all types of worksite dust, which includes dirt, debris, organic matter, drywall, cement, silica and sawdust. Not only that, we are dedicated to protecting your personal belongings from the dust as reasonably possible. To that end, Atlanta Design & Build has developed an extensive dust control plan and best practices, investing in the newest dust control technology.

The following items are included in our dust control plan:

Continue reading The Importance of Clean and Safe Job Sites While Remodeling →

two level kitchen island

Benefits of a Two-Level Kitchen Island

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two level kitchen islandA Kitchen island can help promote togetherness, especially when they are designed with seating. While some prepare the meal, the others can sit close by and keep them company. This avoids the isolation that homeowners often complain about when kitchens are walled off from the living room. With an open kitchen, there is no more being secluded from your family or guests.
 

Considerations When Selecting a Two-Level Kitchen Island

However, an important consideration when making decisions for a kitchen remodeling project is whether …continue reading