Likely a surprise to no one, architects used to regularly mislabel rooms in houses. Yeah, and they did it on purpose. Separate rooms which were called “family rooms” really weren’t. They routinely labeled the true FAMILY rooms kitchens. Still happens some today.
Proof of that for me is that these two are now almost always merged, admitting the truth previously denied. When you have people over, when a family talk goes down, when you are celebrating special occasions, so often those events take place IN the kitchen. They are the true family rooms of the home, where we gather.
The look and feel of these rooms can be as diverse as the families which occupy and enjoy them. With this weekend and last weekend’s Parade of Homes Orlando, it’s a great opportunity to check out possibilities. The last day is tomorrow! Many of the homes on the tour are presently available for sale. In addition, they may also simply provide inspiration for enhancing your existing space, consider possibilities for what you may want in the future. I've seen lots of the ones in Winter Park and inspiration abounds!
My own kitchen now, in a Mediterranean style home, has cabinets which have a lot of gold in them, with a predominate brown. We’ve been in this house now, incredibly, for 13 years and I still LUV them. Mediterranean has always been at the top of – if not the top – of my preference in architectural styles. Truly, it is what brought us to Florida, as we fell in LUV with a Spanish style home in Fort Lauderdale in 2001. Ended up, actually, I wasn't so crazy about Fort Lauderdale. Yet, I still remember that home so fondly.
LUV for that home, my home now and a general fondness for design always has me ready to check out kitchens in other Mediterranean style homes. I LUV the kitchen in the Sunset Drive listing I have with Pam Stewart. Another Mediterranean style home, the custom cabinets are a warm brown, with a finish which shows its gradations of tone in the light coming from can and pendant fixtures, has varying levels of height, leaded glass lit from behind, bringing the eye around the room, up and down. The island is contrasted with black cabinetry. The space around it gets so much natural light, and the interior lighting is so well done, it reads warm, not dark.
This year's 2020 Parade of Homes Orlando properties in just Winter Park offer a broad array of possibilities in kitchen styles. One of those homes is from Winter Park's SMRS Design's Rikhil Amin. Located on Via Del Mar at the corner with Temple Drive, this home was built by boutique home builder Urban Perch and, at $2.3 million, when under contract in just a few days. The choices around the house are beautiful, elegant, often reminded me of a magazine spread. The kitchen was sleek but warm, including large slabs of sandy brown marble with gray cabinets and a huge refrigerator which was set apart from its surroundings with a brown wood veneer, even framed, presenting it as a separate armoire, positioned between the cabinets.
Urban Perch has another home on Lyman Avenue in Hannibal Square which features a completely different kitchen, with white cabinets and appliances. In this home, with an entry courtyard which sets the lively, bright tone for what you find inside, the feel is young & vibrant, energetic. Just another street over, in another offering of a similar size, you'll find a new construction home from Winter Park Homes. The kitchen here is completely different again, with dark black cabinets, and back splash dominated by white, but with a design in black and gold. It is striking, beautiful, gorgeous.