When considering to makeover your Twin Cities kitchen did you know that many prize winning designs were done at the low and mid-level price range? Its like cooking, its not the ingredients that count as much as how you blend those ingredients.

For example, I recently saw a beautiful Mission Style oak cabinet install, it was a pretty golden stain and the hardware was an antiqued bronze knob. The homeowners then did a very intricate Italian tile mosaic on the back splash, beautifully done by their contractor and well lit by the under cabinet lighting. Uh Oh! The style of the cabinets and the Italian mosaic back splash was like wearing a plaid shirt with a grey business suit. It left you wondering if something along a simpler install might have shown off the cabinets better. These people spent $20,000 on cabinets and your eye was immediately drawn to the back splash, which would have looked great with a raised panel mitered door, but looked out of place with their Mission Style Cabinets.

On another kitchen we had installed a beautiful Maple cabinet with a natural glaze, the homeowners had picked out a black granite top and the contrast was dynamic. When the stainless steel appliances arrived it was just so clean and modern looking and done on such a reasonable budget we knew we had a winner. Except, the homeowners daughter purchased the handles from a big box store, they were a shiny brass handle with a white porcelain center, it drew the eye away from the beautiful cabinets and granite top to looking at the handles. It blew the whole look, and not in a good way. Picture a woman going out wearing a simple but elegant black dress, an understated pearl necklace and plastic flip flops from Walmart.

My point is, your getting ready to spend some serious money and once something is glued or nailed in place its too late to change your mind, unless you want to pay to do it over again. So put your package together carefully, don’t rush.

The National Kitchen Bath Association has kitchen guidelines you can download for free, they also offer some help on style selections.