Kitchen Cabinet Design Suggestions: Create a Sample Board of Ideas

Kitchen cabinet design should ideally reflect your personal style. Do you want your kitchen to exude warmth and sunniness? Perhaps you prefer cool colors and accessories that match that personality.

Whatever your focus, you first want to create what kitchen designers refer to as a sample board. What does a sample board have to do with kitchen design? A sample board is a thin piece of plywood or OSB which is lightweight enough to be picked up and easily moved. A sample board will really give you a good representation of which colors and designs blend well together.

Begin by finding patterns and samples you love such as your favorite color paint chip poster as a backdrop or wall paper. Also laminate floor or ceramic tile samples, counter top laminate chips or solid surface tile samples. Don't forget to include sample cabinet door styles in your favorite wood species and color. The larger the board, the better the representation of how it will look in your kitchen. After gathering the samples you love, you may find that your favorite wall paper design clashes with a floor sample or your counter color is too dark for your cherry cabinets.

Really scrutinize all the colors and textures together. Does something stand out and not fit with the overall kitchen design scheme? Pull it and swap it out with new samples- just keep experimenting with different colors and textures until you have a kitchen design you can live with. Move the board around the room to view it in different lighting. The lighting of your room can make a huge difference in how colors are highlighted or in some instances washed out.

It's also a good idea to make sure you record all the names of the manufacturers on the back of the board as well as contact numbers and/or addresses. You can even include photos out of magazines highlighting kitchen cabinet designs, lighting, kitchen window treatments, island barstools as well as major appliances such as fridges, stoves and dishwashers that appeal to you.

Kitchen Cabinet Design link

Creating a sample board before making major purchases is an easy way to assure you don't make costly mistakes with the design of your new kitchen.

Need more help in seeing the 3D layout of your kitchen as well as colors and textures? This design software should help you.