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Complex Simplicity

This is a pretty exciting time to be in the cabinet business. Every once in awhile the entire business turns itself upside down and what was popular all of a sudden is no longer popular.

 

This happened many years ago when everyone and his father wanted pickled maple or pickled oak cabinetry. Holy smokes – I saw enough pink cabinets to last me a lifetime. Then it went to white thermo-foil doors. This was mostly driven by builders. The idea was that they would put inexpensive cabinets in kitchens and that would allow them to upgrade the countertops because the tops were becoming the next design item of importance for the consumer. That was followed by the “Tuscany” kitchen. Corbels and fluted pilasters abounded for quite a few years. It was all about decorative accents and detail after detail. This amounted to a lot of trim work and space used just to make a statement that says, “I’m a Tuscany style kitchen”. These all had their time and place in my lifetime and although I am happy to move along to something new I do know that the customer is the final decision maker and if that means I must build another Tuscany kitchen or install pickled oak cabinetry then I’m the man for the job.

 

What I am seeing now is quite the opposite of all that I described above. I am seeing what I heard someone else call “complex simplicity”. This phrase can be used to describe what we are just now unveiling in the kitchen design business. The designs utilize every inch of usable space and are clean and simple lines. Some may call it contemporary, but it is far more than that. The textures and door style are varied and can satisfy many different tastes. This means there is easily something there for everyone. Open shelves vs. closed door storage is simplicity in itself. Combing textured cabinets doors with high gloss doors represents the complexity of it. Having oven cabinets that are not 8 foot tall but lower for the ease of use is a simple idea in itself. Multi-level countertops built with many different uses in mind can be a complex design but makes the kitchen use very, very simple.

 

Next month we will take this to the next step and discuss how “complex simplicity” affects how you use your cabinetry.