Category Archives: Kitchen

Make the Most of your Kitchen Island

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Fulton Homes Daylight Model

Fulton Homes Daylight Model

Kitchen islands create a better work situation in a kitchen, particularly when you have more than one cook. For example one person can chop vegetables while another pulls seasonings from a cabinet.

Or with a sink in the island like this one in the Daylight model of the ____ community, one person can stay ahead of the dishes when preparing for a party or big family dinner.

But an island also plays a role outside of cooking. How about using it as a place for appetizers as people arrive for a party? It provides a central location to draw people together as they get to know each other – people will always follow the food. You can start moving appetizers into the family room as your guests get more comfortable and break into smaller conversational groups.

A kitchen island makes a dynamite location for a buffet. Traffic can move on all four sides, and the trip from the kitchen is just a step. This works particularly well for hot or cold food that you want to keep refreshing. Setting chairs and tables in other parts of your home will encourage people to help themselves to food and then settle elsewhere.

When it’s just a few family members, eating at the island opens up a cozy setting for two or three. It’s also a great place for breakfast when family members are short on time and have staggered departures. Just provide plates and platters of food and everyone can help themselves. Or how about a cereal bar – several types of cereal, bowls, milk and extras such as raisins and fruit?

Look at your island as the kitchen’s stage, and you can take advantage of it for all of your food performances.

Selecting Tile Accents

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FultonTileAccentsListelles such as the ones shown above on display at the Fulton Design Center provide one of the best bangs for your buck when designing your new home. Just add a strip of personality along your shower at eye-level or below, or use it as a border at the top of your wall tile.

Spark up your backsplash by creating a rectangle above your stove using the listelle design you like the best. When you visit the Fulton Design Center, take a few minutes to browse your options for these accents. Color, tone and texture combine to make a rich selection of approaches to personalizing a kitchen or bath.

The geometric options work well with modern homes, although some like the diagonal squares in the bottom row of this display also have a classic appeal. Listelles also come in more organic designs. Take a look at the pattern on the top row, the fourth from the left. The vined approach would add a natural feeling to your home.

How strong do you want your accents to be overall? If you are looking for a subtle feel, choose tone combinations with minimal contrast that blend in with your other tile or stone choices. On the other hand, if you want to really showcase your accents, go for high contrast – both within the listelle itself and compared to your overall look.

Be sure to take a hands-on approach to your selection. Bring your main tile or stone selection over to this display and lay your favorites next to it to see the impact. Remember to factor in grout color. Have some fun with this choice. It’s a great way to make your Fulton Home uniquely yours.

Choosing Your Cabinet Style

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Fulton CabinetsWhen you select cabinets for your new Fulton Home, you have more decisions than the wood tone or color. Simple style changes really affect the look of a kitchen. Let’s visit the Fulton Design Center to take a look at some cabinet door choices.

Do you want a curved molding at the top of your cabinets? You can see this look if you check out door visible in the middle cabinet on the second shelf. This traditional approach lends softness to your cabinetry, and some people feel it adds warmth.

Perhaps you like things simple. If so, consider the Shaker style. The door on the top left in the first display cabinet shows the Shaker style in light maple. While this demonstrates some personality – more than flat-surface doors – it creates a relatively undemanding background allowing you to exhibit some splash in other areas.

If you want your cabinets to be front-and-center in your kitchen, how about choosing the door on the bottom of the middle display? The variations in molding create a light-and-shadow look that draws the eye. If you add a glaze the variations will pop even more.

Don’t stop with the cabinet doors. Take a look at your choices of knobs and pulls. You may prefer stainless to coordinate with appliances, or how about the oil-rubbed bronze finish to add some old-world warmth? Be sure to touch as well as look. You will be using your choice for many years on a daily basis!

One last suggestion: take a look at the kitchens in the models and the Fulton Design Center. They can help you decide which style would work best for you in your own Fulton Home.

A Fresh Start on Organizing your Home: The Kitchen II

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The large island with schoolhouse pendant lights, rich dark cabinets and light granite countertops combine to make this Fulton Design Center kitchen memorable.

The large island with schoolhouse pendant lights, rich dark cabinets and light granite countertops combine to make this Fulton Design Center kitchen memorable.

If you’re ready to organize your kitchen but are hesitant to engage in an all-out full-day redo, you can take baby steps that will leave you with a fully organized and functional kitchen. The following can be accomplished over a number of days or even weeks.

  • In a corner of your dining area or somewhere near the kitchen but still out of your way, place a large wastebasket and a box. These will hold your discards and giveaways.
  • Begin with one cabinet or drawer. Take everything out, wipe it down and put in new shelf paper if you desire.
  • Only put back those things that you want to keep there in the future.
  • Take a look at what’s left and discard or give away whatever you can.
  • Put the remainder on a corner of your countertop. If you want, you can stop here until the next day.
  • Choose your next cabinet based on what remains on your countertop. Which one is the logical place to put the bulk of what you have there?
  • Empty that cabinet and continue as before, wiping the shelves down and replacing what you feel belongs there, including those things that are currently waiting for their new home on your counter.
  • As you continue around the kitchen, are there certain groups of items that never seem to have a place? Perhaps you need to designate a specific cabinet or space for them. If they aren’t essential for your kitchen, consider another location such as the laundry room or garage.
  • Once you finish, do you still have leftover items on your counter? It’s time to decide whether you really want to keep those things or if they go in the giveaway box or boxes.
  • As you work, keep thinking of your specific needs rather than trying to follow arbitrary rules. For example, the bookshelves on the end of the island may be designed for cookbooks, but they may work better for your family as cubbies for the kids to put their homework and books for school the next day.

Yes, this process leaves your kitchen a bit up in the air for a while, but once you’re done you will have a space that matches your functional needs, with nothing extra cluttering up the room. So it’s worth it to bite the bullet and deal with the disorganization for a few days for the benefits at the end – a kitchen that works!

A Fresh Start on Organizing Your Home: The Kitchen

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One of the kitchens on display at the Fulton Design Center

One of the kitchens on display at the Fulton Design Center

At first glance, getting your kitchen organized may seem like a daunting task. Chances are that when you moved in your goal was simply to get unpacked and able to make meals. Even if you had some plan of organization at the time, actually using your kitchen can help you discover that some items need to be rearranged. You have at least two ways to tackle your kitchen. See which one appeals to you.

Complete do-over. This is a full-day project, preferably with at least one other person to help as well. To make this work, try the following steps:

  • Clear off counters, placing any decorative items in another room for the day.
  • Have a bag ready for garbage and a box for giveaways.
  • Empty every shelf onto the counters and dining table.
  • Dispose of anything you don’t want or use in either the discard bag or giveaway box.
  • Wipe down counters and add or change shelf paper if desired.
  • Place the “sure things,” those items you already have a good place for, in their cupboards.
  • Thinking of function and utility, rearrange the other cabinets & drawers.
  • Determine if you need baskets or other containers for some items, and measure the space to know the size. Make a list for an upcoming shopping trip.
  • Measure your drawers for appropriate drawer dividers – these help keep drawers in shape once organized.
  • Compare the space left to the items left. Can you make them work? If not, consider more discards.
  • Put your kitchen counter accessories back, or not. Analyze what you actually want back in your kitchen.
  • Celebrate by going out to eat – you don’t want to mess up your newly-organized kitchen right away!

In our next organizing blog, look for advice on the second suggested method of kitchen organization. It takes longer but is less overwhelming.

Choosing the Kitchen Faucet for your Fulton Home

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Fuacets Design Center 022We use faucets every day but don’t really think about them. However, when you walk into the Fulton Design Center to select your kitchen faucet, it pays to consider what you want in terms of both function and style.

Take a look at the faucet selected for the kitchen above. It’s a simple style that would work well in a traditional and a more eclectic kitchen design. The polished nickel finish works beautifully with the stainless appliances while showing fewer water spots than chrome.

Notice the high profile of this faucet. This provides room underneath to easily fill large pots and pitchers. The handle is ergonomically sound. The lever style makes it easy to control with one hand. It also has a pull down sprayer that’s incorporated into the faucet itself rather than set separately. Many of today’s faucets are designed this way.

Some faucets offer water patterns that range from a standard flow to a strong spray designed for rinsing fruits, vegetables or dishes. Many cooks find that they really appreciate the spray option. While you’re selecting your kitchen faucet, you may want to add one or more built-in soap dispensers. It’s tidy and convenient to have easy built-in access to both hand and dish soap without having to pull a container out from under the sink.

Finally, if you’re creating a kitchen with an old-fashioned country look, be sure to take a peek at the pump-style kitchen faucet. It has all the functionality of the modern faucet, while showing a style and finish that makes it feel like it came from your great-grandparents’ time.

You’ll enjoy checking out all of the choices available to you for your kitchen faucet in your new Fulton Home.

Exploring the Fulton Design Center: Kitchen Counters

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Design Center 018In our last Fulton Design Center blog, we recommended starting your kitchen design plan by choosing your cabinets. The next decision is countertops. Do you want granite? The look and feel of real stone is dramatic, and it seems that everyone’s dream kitchen includes granite countertops.

Fulton offers a wealth of granite choices, along with the option to pick out your slab, which helps to ensure that you are happy with your selection. Certainly granite adds to a kitchen. Take a look at the strong personality of the granite in this kitchen. It picks up the warm tones from the cabinets but also adds some cooler colors to connect the cabinets with the stainless appliances. This countertop choice truly pulls the kitchen together.Granite Design Center 015

Large slabs of the most popular granite options allow you to really see and appreciate impact of each stone. And with today’s sealed granite, it no longer requires the repeated treatment that was common not so many years ago.

Although you may be captured by this countertop option, take the time to look at some of the other choices. Quartz and other countertop materials may suit your taste more than granite. It pays to at least consider other countertops.

One final tip when making your selection: remember to create contrast in your kitchen. If your cabinets are dark, a lighter countertop can build a well-defined distinction between various aspects of your kitchen. Decide if you want your counters to add a strong personality or subtly blend into the background.

Will your kitchen be an adventure or a refuge? Your countertop choice helps contribute to the mood and feel of your final kitchen design.

Exploring the Fulton Design Center: Kitchen Start-up

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Bertazonni KitchenReady to plan your kitchen? The Fulton Design Center offers such a variety of styles and options that it may be challenging to narrow down your choices. These suggestions may help you with the process.

Choose your overall style: Do you love the richness of the traditional Tuscan look? Features such as the carved columns on the island above can help recreate that mood. If you lean toward a simpler option, take a look at the Shaker-style cabinets and start from there. However, do not feel obliged to be entirely consistent with your style choices. Take a look at the lighting in this kitchen. The contemporary pendants have a strong impact and help sharpen the more traditional look of this space.

Choose your cabinets: As you can see from the photo above, cabinetry makes the biggest design statement in this room. Your choice of cabinets affects every other decision you make, so make your cabinet choice the foundation of your kitchen’s design.Cabinet Display Design Center 034

The Fulton Design Center has a rich selection of styles and finishes, with sample doors that you can take throughout the Center to coordinate your total space.

Consider cabinet style and tone: You have two important choices with your cabinets. The first – style – provides the framework for the entire kitchen design. The second choice – cabinet tone – affects every other option you select.

A dark cabinet choice may lead to a lighter countertop and flooring selection. Painted cabinets can create a farmhouse feeling and a bright kitchen space. Light cabinets have a younger, more contemporary style, particularly when paired with a dark countertop and exciting backsplash.

So when you make that first decision – your cabinets –you’re well on your way to creating the perfect kitchen for you and your family.

Consider Granite

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3 cm chiseled countertopAlmost every new homeowner wants granite countertops in the kitchen. Recognizing that, Fulton Homes made granite kitchen counters standard in all of its kitchens.

Granite is an incredibly durable choice. The stone has the second highest hardness rating after diamonds, and it lasts a lifetime.

Fulton Homes Design Online provides an interesting introduction to granite. You may want to start by learning more about granite through the product tours: one provides insight on maintenance and the other gives general disclosure information. One good thing to know is that the newest granite sealers are almost maintenance-free.

Granite comes in about 100 different colors, and shopping your choices is an amazing experience. Remember, your decision doesn’t stop with the slab selection. Take a look at one of the more exotic choices of edge detail in the above photo– a chiseled edge. This option really shows off the stone. Take the time to investigate your edging choices.

granite bathroom upgradeUpgrade to granite for a luxurious look in the master bath. This photo shows the impact of adding granite – supporting the spa feel of the space with a splash of warm brown and gold. Want to enjoy a bath that feels decadent and inviting? How about this one?

Sorting, folding, cleaning and drying the family’s clothes require some serious time in the laundry room. How about granite countertops to spoil yourself a little?

As a natural stone, no two pieces of granite are alike. The individual markings and even variances in the stone itself add to the charm of each piece. Your counters have a unique personality. When you review your countertop options throughout your home – start with granite.

Fulton Homes Design Online – Tile Flooring

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Ceramic Tile in Design Center- Rachel's KitchenWhere would you like tile in your home? Most people would choose it for bathrooms, many for kitchens, and some people want it throughout much of their living space.

Tile is extremely low-maintenance and lasts for the life of your home – two good reasons to choose it. The exciting thing about tile comes from the incredible variety of looks, sizes and shapes available.

Take a look at the tile above – Interceramic Royal Windsor 10 inch by 20 inch brick pattern staggered. You can take an in-person look at this tile at the Fulton Homes Design Center. But you might want to start your search earlier with Fulton Homes Design Online.

In addition to ceramic, porcelain tile is available for your Fulton Home. Porcelain is harder than ceramic, and more complex to install. Many people are drawn to its stone-like appearance.

Ceramic Tile in Design Center - Bobby's KitchenYour tile flooring can also change dramatically with your choice of installation options. For example, the flooring to the right is set at the diagonal. This can make a room feel larger, and draw people through an open-concept space. Talk with your designer to learn more about installation choices.

Finally, don’t ignore the variety of grout choices. A neutral, light or dark grout can dramatically change the look of your floor. While you’re at it, be sure to have your grout sealed. Grout is the only part of a tile floor vulnerable to staining. Sealing your grout eliminates this situation.

Take the time to consider tile. In the right place with the right selection, it provides flooring to suit your taste and your maintenance goals, and it’s a dramatic option in your home.