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The Art of the Beautiful Kitchen – as featured in Life in Naples magazine – March 2013

In my entire career I’ve never had anyoneclay  stop into one of my showrooms and say, “Could you help me design an ugly kitchen?” Nope, that’s never happened. It goes without saying that we want our kitchens to be beautiful and that’s what a good kitchen designer strives for. But we, as designers, must remember that beauty “is in the eye of the beholder.”

 

It’s not for me to decide what is or is not a beautiful kitchen. My job is to find out what my customers idea of beautiful is. I accomplish that by listening and then listening some more. I also encourage the homeowner to clip photos out of magazines so as to get their message across to me. It helps that my showrooms are comprehensive and have full kitchen and bath displays. It really isn’t difficult to follow along with someone’s wishes if they are clear about what they desire and I can help them visualize what we will do together. I’ve made sure that Kitchens by Clay can produce virtually any look with our private label so that we have no problems providing a multitude of looks. And we certainly never have to “push” a product line that doesn’t fit the customer. So providing the “look” won’t be a problem here at KBC. 

 

But…“beauty is only skin deep.” This is a phrase we’ve all heard before and you might wonder how it fits into our discussion about the art of beautiful kitchens. This is my thinking on this. If a kitchen functions as well as it looks it will only enhance the beauty of the kitchen. So when I design a kitchen of any size or style I am as interested in how it works just as much as I’m interested in how it looks.

kitchen

I make sure that all of the conveniences available are there for my customers. I also make sure they understand what I am doing and why I am doing it. Some of these conveniences can add to the bottom line so it is important for me to be clear about how they will affect the lives of those who use the kitchen and how important it is to allow me to make it happen. 

 

So remember when you want that beautiful kitchen keep in mind that the beauty is not only in the looks but in how the kitchen works for you as well.