There are so many benefits to spending time together in the kitchen. Studies suggest that enjoying a meal together can have several positive impacts on your family, including:

• Better academic scores and language development for teens and children.
• Improved family relationships and strengthened by family discussions.
• The ability to make healthier, more nutritious food choices.
• Decreased risk of teenagers engaging in high-risk behaviors.
• Less emotional stress, thanks to a stronger support system.

Encourage your family to spend more time in the kitchen by creating the ultimate family-friendly space.

SIX TIPS FOR CREATING A FAMILY-FRIENDLY KITCHEN DESIGN

A family-friendly kitchen is one that is comfortable, functional, safe and engaging for the whole family. Following these six tips to begin designing your own family-friendly kitchen:

SEATING IS EVERYTHING

In a family-friendly kitchen, seating is everything. Whether your family gathers around a traditional dining room table or sits on counter-height barstools around the kitchen island, make sure there is plenty of comfortable seating available. The more comfortable your dinner-time seating is, the more time your family will want to spend sitting around the table.

Some of the most delicious family meals — like pasta, pizza and desserts — can also be some of the messiest. When choosing chairs or bar stools for your family kitchen, look for ones that are made with easy-to-clean fabrics. Alternatively, preserve delicate seating with washable slip-covers during mealtime.

HAVE A MENU BOARD

One of the smartest family kitchen ideas is to display a large menu in the dining area so your family can look ahead at the week’s dinner plans. Construct your menu out of chalkboard paint or use a dry-erase board, so it is easy to change each week.

Pre-planning your weekly menu is an excellent way to organize your grocery shopping list and give your family an idea of what to expect each night. For even more fun, consider implementing “theme nights” throughout the week, like Taco Tuesday or Leftovers Night.

CHOOSE EASY-TO-CLEAN BUILDING MATERIALS

Easy to clean building materials — especially for the countertops and flooring — are a must-have in family-friendly kitchens. Quartz, vinyl, and laminate countertops are all easy to maintain and stand up well to the chaos of family mealtime.

Stone, tile, and laminate materials are all great options for your floor, as they are typically non-porous and easy to clean. Avoid installing any carpet in your kitchen, as it will be difficult to keep clean and dry. Instead, opt for a colorful, washable rug to add more personality to the room.

Let’s be real. Life happens. When you use a kitchen, day in and day out, bad things can happen to good cabinets. But now you can make a mess, wipe it clean and get on with life.

CHILD-PROOF WHEN NECESSARY

If babies or toddlers live in your home, you are probably already familiar with the idea of child-proofing. In a family-friendly kitchen, child-proofing means installing high shelves and closed-door cabinetry to safely hide away dangerous items, like knives, kitchen gadgets, cleaning agents and more.

Baby gates are another good option for keeping children away from unsafe areas of the kitchen. For even more protection, consider placing corner guards on the edges of your kitchen counters, island and dining table to keep your little one from bumping their head.

LET THE KIDS GET INVOLVED

Make family time last longer and teach your child valuable life skills by letting them get involved in the meal preparations. Depending on your child’s age, there are several different ways your kid can get involved.

Teaching your children how to cook from a young age and letting them express themselves in the kitchen can encourage them to:

• Develop healthy eating habits.
• Be more creative.
• Become more adventurous eaters.
• Learn math and basic formulas while measuring ingredients.
• Improve their reading comprehension by consulting recipes.
• Learn more about where food comes from, including different cultures.
• Get a jump-start on learning how to care for themselves.
For kid-friendly kitchen design, install child-height furniture. If that isn’t possible, designate a special step-stool for your child, so they can easily assist. You could also set a special drawer in your kitchen aside for your children’s baking and cooking supplies so they can learn how to put away their tools and dishes during cleanup.

STORAGE, STORAGE, STORAGE

Kitchens for families require a lot of storage space to make room for all the dishes, pantry items, pots and pans. Implement traditional storage spaces throughout your kitchen design, including kitchen walk-in pantries, drawers, cabinetry and pot hangers.

If your kitchen is small or you are working on a limited budget, implement other space-saving tricks, like:

• Installing sliding, pull-out pantries.
• Invest in built-in spice racks inside your cabinets.
• Placing floating shelves on the wall.

For you, this means kitchen cabinetry that can:

• Withstand the heat, moisture, drops and spills that happen while cooking.
• Handle accidental scrapes and bumps without lasting damage.

Potomac Kitchen and Bath, you can also add optional additional storage or personalized touches to your cabinetry like built-in spice racks and decorative trims or moldings. Select Potomac Kitchen and Bath are available for Quick Ship, meaning you get your cabinetry within days, not weeks.

• Fast transit times: Select Potomac Kitchen and Bath are available for Quick Ship transit.
To learn more about Potomac Kitchen and Bath — or to browse our other premium cabinetry selections — visit Potomac Kitchen and Bath online. Then, find an independent Potomac Kitchen and Bath dealer near you to see the cabinets for yourself and begin designing the family kitchen of your dreams.

For further information about kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and countertops or to add granite, marble, or quartz countertops to your kitchen and vanity tops to your bathroom, call Potomac Kitchen & Bath Now! You can also make a free appointment to get service in:

Leesburg, McLean, Chantilly, Merrifield, Dunn Loring, Annandale, Dulles, Oakton,  Aldie, Warrenton, Lorton,  Sterling, Alexandria, Arlington, Potomac Falls, South Riding, Gainesville, Vienna, Gaithersburg, Great Falls, Bethesda, Rockville, Clifton, Haymarket, Burke,  Dumfries, Dalecity, Springfield, Reston, Centreville, Ashburn, Herndon, Manassas, Fairfax, Fairfax Station, VA.

If you’re looking to revamp your kitchen’s look, you might want to start with new kitchen cabinets. However, knowing how to measure cabinets in kitchens is an essential skill to have when you want to take your kitchen’s appearance and functionality to the next level.

In this guide, we’ll provide you with the skills you need to measure your kitchen properly.

STEPS TO MEASURE YOUR KITCHEN FOR CABINETS
To begin the measuring process, you’ll need to gather:

Grid paper
A tape measure
A pencil or pen
After collecting the materials, follow these seven steps to measure your kitchen for cabinets:

DRAW YOUR FLOOR PLAN

The first step you have to take to begin measuring your kitchen for cabinets is to draw up a floor plan. With your pen or pencil, sketch the layout of your kitchen onto a piece of grid paper. On this floor plan, you’ll need to identify the locations of:

Windows
Doors
Light switches
Water lines
Gas lines
Drain lines
Vents for heating and air
Hood vents
Electrical outlets
The first draft of your floor plan doesn’t have to be to scale, but you should make sure it conveys the layout accurately and clearly.

TAKE HORIZONTAL MEASUREMENTS

With the layout taken down, you can begin measuring your space. Your measurements should be entirely in inches. For example, instead of recording that a wall is four feet long, you should record that it is 48 inches long.

The first horizontal measurements you’ll need to make are the full wall lengths. It’s best to start taking horizontal measurements from one of the adjoining corners of the wall. Measure clockwise, moving from edge to edge with your tape measure. You’ll want to skip over appliances, windows, and other fixtures. It’s a good idea to label your walls with a specific number so you can reference them easily.

Once you’ve got the full length down, you’ll then move on to measuring the wall in smaller segments. In this stage, you’ll measure every opening. To get these measurements, you’ll measure from one outside trim edge to the next outside trim edge. Ensure you include any molding or trim in the smaller wall segment in the measurement. Like the larger walls, number your openings for simple referencing. You’ll need to record both the full and partial length measurements on your floor plan.

TAKE VERTICAL MEASUREMENTS

After recording your horizontal measurements, you’ll need to do the same for your vertical measurements. In your initial measurements, you’ll measure from the floor to the windowsill. Next, you’ll measure from the windowsill to the window’s top, and finally, from the top of the window to the ceiling.

The final step is to measure from the floor to the ceiling. Since some homes will have different ceiling heights in the same room, you should take at least three different floor-to-ceiling measurements.

NOTE OBSTRUCTIONS

With the measurements in place, you should note any obstructions alongside your walls, including vents, pipes, and radiators. It’s essential to note obstructions because they usually can’t be removed, which can influence where you place your cabinets.

IDENTIFY APPLIANCES AND UTILITIES

In your kitchen, you’ll want to determine what large appliances and utilities you’re going to want to keep in the kitchen after you’ve installed your newest cabinets. Knowing where your power sources, water supply, air vents, light switches, and electrical outlets are will help you figure out where you can and can’t place your cabinets.

Other than marking the location of these utilities and appliances on your floor plan, you should also indicate where their center points are. The center point of an appliance will usually be the point where the gas line or plumbing line begins.

PLAN YOUR KITCHEN LAYOUT

With all your measurements and notes handy, you can begin to plan out how your kitchen is going to look with your new cabinets. Since you know how much space to work with, you can pick out areas where you want to include your new cabinets.

SELECT YOUR KITCHEN CABINETS

After you’ve figured out where you want your kitchen cabinets to go, you can begin to figure out which kitchen cabinets are right for you. There are a lot of different options available for you to choose from. Consider a variety of cabinets before you make a decision. Just make sure their dimensions fit before you order them.

TIPS FOR MEASURING YOUR KITCHEN FOR CABINETS

Do not forget to measure your granite countertops, quartz countertops, and marble countertops while making your measurements.

Take horizontal measurements at the same distance from the floor: You’ll need to take all the horizontal measurements of your kitchen walls at the same height. By taking your measurements at the same distance, you’ll make sure they stay consistent across all the walls you measure.

• Make accurate measurements with the right tools: To be as accurate as possible, get a reliable tape measure and pencil to help you take measurements. Additionally, use graph paper and a straight edge to help you draw up a floor plan that best represents your kitchen.
• Measure clockwise: To ensure you never miss a wall or forget where you left off, it’s best practice to measure your walls clockwise. As you move around the room, you should be labeling walls, doors, and windows with numbers to keep everything as accurate as possible.
• Don’t forget the trim: When you measure windows or doors, remember that it’s trim, or casing, is considered part of the window or door. For example, you’d measure a window from one end of its trim to the opposite side to get the window’s length or height.

For further information about kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and countertops or to add granite, marble, or quartz countertops to your kitchen and vanity tops to your bathroom, call Potomac Kitchen & Bath Now! You can also make a free appointment to get service in:

Leesburg, McLean, Chantilly, Merrifield, Dunn Loring, Annandale, Dulles, Oakton,  Aldie, Warrenton, Lorton,  Sterling, Alexandria, Arlington, Potomac Falls, South Riding, Gainesville, Vienna, Gaithersburg, Great Falls, Bethesda, Rockville, Clifton, Haymarket, Burke,  Dumfries, Dalecity, Springfield, Reston, Centreville, Ashburn, Herndon, Manassas, Fairfax, Fairfax Station, VA.

Choosing the right doors for your cabinets is no small decision. After all, they’re an important visual element in your kitchen, meaning the design you choose will have a significant impact on the overall design of the room. Based purely on your cabinet door choices, you can set the tone for a kitchen that’s bright and fun, sophisticated and refined, or minimalistic and classic.

It’s no surprise, then, that the number of potential options can be overwhelming. To help you make the decision of which cabinet door will help you achieve the look and feel you’re going for, we’ve put together a handy guide on popular cabinet door styles, as well as which criteria you should be looking for as you make your selection. Continue reading this cabinet door styles guide to find out which is best for your kitchen style and budget.

CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING YOUR CABINET DOORS

There are plenty of different ways you could evaluate your choices of cabinet doors. Everyone has their own method, and none of these methods are wrong. If you’re feeling swamped by all the possibilities, however, it can be helpful to know some of the standard criteria for choosing your types of cabinet doors.

You can also find which kitchen cabinet is compatible with your granite countertop, quartz countertop or marble countertop from our link pages.

A few of the common criteria people evaluate while making this choice include:

KITCHEN LAYOUT AND STYLE

Your entire house has a theme, a style, and a feeling that is carried throughout. Every piece of furniture, every carpet, and every light fixture works together to contribute to this feeling, and no room is exempt from this. While the style might vary slightly from the bedroom to the hall, and the living room to the dining room, a consistent theme will likely run throughout your house. This includes the kitchen as well.

When it comes to deciding on your cabinet doors, think of them in terms of your home’s overall style. The first step is to determine what the current style of your home is and consider what look you want to achieve. Is your home classic and elegant? Is it modern and minimalistic? What about bold, bright, and fun? Whatever style your house has working for it, carry this through with your kitchen cabinet doors.

As you’re thinking about your home’s overall style, it might also be wise to devote some time to thinking about your kitchen’s layout. Is it L-shaped? U-shaped? Think about how different styles of doors will look in your current layout, and let this guide your decision accordingly.

FUNCTIONALITY

Another important consideration when choosing between different kitchen cabinet door styles is functionality.

Think about how you typically use or would like to use your cabinets. Do you frequently entertain guests and need extra storage space for all your serving dishes, plates, and drinkware?

These kinds of factors will influence what your functionality needs are.

PRICE

Like anything else, cabinet doors exist in a wide range of prices and styles. Some are less expensive, while others are more expensive — and there’s something for everyone’s budget.

As you browse cabinet door options, we recommend looking through the options available to you as a start, so you get a solid understanding of typical price ranges. Then, look at your own budget and decide how much money you’re willing to spend. Compare this decision to the prices of cabinet doors, and you’ll find that you’re quickly able to eliminate many of the options that fall on either end of your desired price range.

When you shop cabinet doors at Potomac Kitchen and Bath, you’ll find that our cabinet doors are available at a wide selection of prices. Browse from our affordable Potomac Kitchen and Bath cabinets to our semi-custom options at a middle-of-the-road price point and finally our Potomac Kitchen and Bath choices at the very top of the price range. Decide which options work best for you and your wallet, and move forward from there.

CONSTRUCTION

While there are countless different aesthetic designs for cabinets, the actual structural bones of a cabinet are available in two primary different construction options.

The first option is full-access cabinets. This is a more European style that allows for slightly more storage inside an elegant frameless construction. If you’re interested in this style, we recommend checking out our Potomac Kitchen and Bath cabinets.

On the other hand, the second, more popular option is framed cabinets. This style is more common in the United States and features framed cabinets built in many different sub-styles. We offer many different cabinets in this style, such as our Potomac Kitchen and Bath.

DOOR STYLE AND FINISH

The aesthetic is an important part of the choosing process. Ask yourself which finishes and styles you like the best, and which ones you think will look the best in your kitchen. These criteria alone should help you narrow down the choices considerably.

It’s not surprising, then, that the number of potential options is huge. We’ve put together a handy guide to help you decide which cabinet door will help you achieve the look and feel you’re looking for. make your choice. Keep reading this guide to cabinet door styles to find which is best for your kitchen style and budget.

ADDITIONAL DOOR-STYLE OPTIONS

Beyond the simple matter of overlays, there are numerous other ways your cabinet doors can vary in style and design.

Drawer fronts, for example, come in two different styles. These styles are one-piece drawer fronts — a style known as a slab — and five-piece drawer fronts — a style known as decorative. Not only can you customize your cabinets, but you can also allow yourself some freedom and expression with your drawers as well.

Stains and finishes are also important design elements to keep in mind. Cabinets and drawers come in all different colors, shades, and finishes, and we recommend basing your choice on a variety of factors such as price, taste, and overall compliance with your kitchen’s style as a whole. Some of our most popular styles and finishes for cabinets are painted, SmartShield, and glazed.

COLOR

No matter what style of kitchen cabinet doors you choose, the color palette will play a significant part in how the finished project will look. 

Lighter color palettes using cream or white can help create looks ranging from contemporary to farmhouse. Meanwhile, adding pops of color or sticking to a more earthy color palette can help you achieve anything from a modern to a mid-century style.

While cabinets were traditionally painted just one color, choosing a two-tone design — where you paint or stain the top and bottom in two different shades — can really add some visual appeal.

For further information about kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and countertops or to add granite, marble, or quartz countertops to your kitchen and vanity tops to your bathroom, call Potomac Kitchen & Bath Now! You can also make a free appointment to get service in:

Leesburg, McLean, Chantilly, Merrifield, Dunn Loring, Annandale, Dulles, Oakton,  Aldie, Warrenton, Lorton,  Sterling, Alexandria, Arlington, Potomac Falls, South Riding, Gainesville, Vienna, Gaithersburg, Great Falls, Bethesda, Rockville, Clifton, Haymarket, Burke,  Dumfries, Dalecity, Springfield, Reston, Centreville, Ashburn, Herndon, Manassas, Fairfax, Fairfax Station, VA.

Meet the Better New Kitchens

Are you ready to recreate your kitchen? With our experience in custom woodworking and finishing, we make it easy to upgrade your kitchen without the mess or cost of a full remodel. With our years of knowledge, we offer first-class cabinet refurbishment service using the finest woods and finishes. Choose from a variety of door styles, wood species and specialty finishes to make your kitchen uniquely yours. Our full range of options includes custom modifications and partial new build solutions that enable us to meet homeowners’ specific needs. Let us walk you through our process before, during and after installation for a hassle-free cabinet renovation experience.

Before You Start Revitalizing Your Kitchen

It all starts with an initial estimate based on your rough measurements and preferences. If it’s within your budget, we’ll personally meet with you at your home to discuss design, materials, and customizations with a few samples. This 2-3 hour session will get you exactly what you want. Following your selections, we provide an accurate and detailed quote and then set installation dates following confirmation and payment.

Planning and Rearranging Your Schedule

We believe in realistic timelines and stay true to our promises. Although installation can begin shortly after the contract is signed, the timeline can often take up to 6-8 weeks as we have a dedicated installation team, including the owner himself. Our commitment to realistic planning has given us a track record our clients can trust.

Preparing for Cabinet Refurbishment Installation

Preparing for installation is simple. Please clean your counters and empty the front 6 inches of your cabinets and drawers. Complete emptying of cabinets or drawers is only necessary if your project involves special new construction features. In addition to working in your kitchen, we will set up a mobile shop as our “base camp,” requiring a clean, secure indoor area of 15’x15′ to ensure a smooth and efficient installation.

What to Expect During Installation?

Some of the many benefits of kitchen cabinet refacing are experienced during the installation period. Customers will be able to use their kitchens during the project when the installation team is not working on site. You can expect occasional loud noises as part of the installation process, but there won’t be much dust or odor. Although installation timeframe varies from project to project depending on size and complexity, it typically only takes 2-4 days to complete a cabinet remodeling installation from start to finish. The team typically arrives at the site between 8:00am and 9:00am and leaves before 5:00pm each day.

Cabinet Refacing Precision

Our team is all about precision. We start by removing old cabinet parts and disposing of them responsibly. We then cover your existing cabinets with real wood paneling, hand-painted transition areas, and meticulously install new doors, drawer tops, crown molding, soft-close hinges, handles, and drawers. Our commitment to functionality and aesthetics ensures every component aligns perfectly in your Scottsdale kitchen.

Quality Controls

Quality is our brand. Strict quality checks and inspections throughout the installation process ensure impeccable workmanship. Literally no detail is left unchecked at Better Than New Kitchens. We have a checklist.

Customer Communication

We pride ourselves on open communication. We will keep you informed of developments. With the owner onsite, any questions or concerns are answered immediately for a hassle-free experience.

Cleaning Process

After installation, we put your kitchen back together. Your appliances are replaced, surfaces are wiped down, cabinets and drawers are vacuumed, and debris is removed. A similar practice is applied to the mobile store workspace. Our promise is to leave your space better than when we arrived.

Contact us for granite, marble or quartz countertops suitable for your kitchen.