Whats hiding behind your kitchen doors ...........

Redesigning the Kitchen

For years, kitchen designers have been treating high-end appliances like trophies, making a stainless-steel-and-glass refrigerator, or a range in a shiny colour finish, into the room's focal point. Now, more homeowners are veering in the opposite direction, hiding kitchen bling behind wood panels or underneath countertops. The resulting look—streamlined, uncluttered, often with LED lighting and a mix of stone and wood finishes—marks the next phase in the kitchen's evolution from cooking-and-eating hub to flexible multitasking space.

Many new kitchen designs feature adjacent seating areas with sofas or armchairs, instead of a kitchen table or high counter with chairs. The designs build in more storage and keep countertops empty, with sliding panels or doors hiding equipment.

Many incorporate fireplaces and TVs, emphasizing the kitchen's increasingly important role in entertaining, lounging, homework and media surfing.

Disguising appliances helps contribute to a clean, airy, sleek feel. Stoves, ovens and hoods can't be completely covered up, though, because wood panels wouldn't be able to withstand the heat. 

Every great kitchen has a hook,  a visual element that draws you in. The new hook in many high-end designs isn't an appliance, but a piece of antique furniture, a decorative hood or a special sink.