The kitchen is the heart of the home: where the party always ends up, where friends and family often gather to share good food and good stories. Creating a beautiful, timeless, and classic surrounding is essential – and easy to accomplish if you consult the experts. Your kitchen can set the tone for the rest of your home, so choosing the right style, colour, and material all go a long way to creating a beautiful, warm, and inviting space for everyone to enjoy.

“I always say countertops ground any space, and are the foundation of the kitchen, and any room, in fact,” says Danielle Blais of Chervin Kitchen and Bath in Oakville. She says quartz definitely “leads the pack” in terms of preferred material, leaving the old favourite granite in its wake. “While granite used to be hugely popular, it is too high maintenance with staining and watermark issues.” 

Quartz can be designed to resemble slabs of natural stone, such as granite and marble, which create veins in interesting patterns unique to every piece, allowing homeowners to let their personality and creativity shine. If you’re worried about pricing, Danielle says that there are realistic price points for all buyers and budgets.

When it comes to colours, Danielle sees a trend in black and white with gold accents, but it’s something that may not appeal to everyone.

“Black is very dramatic and I won’t push it on clients if they don’t want it,” she says.

As for finishes, there are a few to consider: a honed or matte finish has little to no shine and works well with marble, while a leather surface can be applied to granite, marble or quartz. The leather finish has become more popular recently and offers a softer sheen, while retaining a stone’s natural colour, and boosting sophistication. It can also help hide water spots and fingerprints if that’s a concern.

“We like to ask customers what their style is and what they’re looking for when they come in to see us,” says Susan Song of Royal Stone Gallery in Burlington. “We also get a feel for the colour scheme in the rest of the home, and flooring and kitchen cabinets, too.”

Susan says greys, whites, and neutrals are always a popular and timely choice for countertops, and natural patterning is widely sought after as well, especially in single-slab quartz.

“Quartz is strong and durable, and is very popular with customers.” And with good reason. 

Introduced as a high-end alternative to granite, quartz is non-porous and doesn’t require regular re-sealing treatments like granite, which is a natural rock. While granite once dominated the countertop market, it’s porous and can be easily stained and marked by water, wine, and oil, and can even breed dangerous bacteria if not cleaned and cared for properly and regularly.

Quartz, on the other hand, is highly resistant to staining and is one of the most hygienic countertop options for homeowners. It’s very strong, durable and low maintenance, making it the perfect choice for homeowners who want to focus on cooking and relaxing instead.

Soft neutral tones are definitely a theme in home décor trends overall, so finding them in the kitchen as well is a natural extension. But for the more adventurous, homeowners can experiment with other tones as well, creating a pop of colour against the neutral beiges, greys, light blues and off-whites that might run throughout the rest of the home.

“Waterfall edges for countertops are also a classic and timeless look,” says Danielle, referring to a style that extends past the countertop and down the side to reach the floor. Though they add to the overall cost, they also add overall beauty. She also says full-height backsplashes are very elegant, creating a smooth and seamless look from the counter up to
the cupboards. 

Larger slabs of wood, marble, copper, quartz, stainless steel or glass are other viable options and they can help elevate your kitchen from bland to beautiful. Upper cabinets seem to be losing their popularity as well, giving homeowners a lot more wall space to play with.

“A good, attractive and long-lasting kitchen is a big investment,” says Danielle, so making decisions about how best to enhance its beauty shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are plenty of options to choose from, so take your time, consult the experts and make sure your “heart of the home” reflects your heart’s desires as well.

by Allison Dempsey

Local Links

Chervin Kitchen and Bath
Chervin.ca

Royal Stone Gallery
Royalstonegallery.com

Do you remember when shag carpet was all the rage? Flooring trends have certainly changed since then. It’s hard to believe there was a time when wall-to-wall flooring meant anything but wood. While carpet still creates a cozy feel in many homes, these days it’s all about a natural feel. Whether dark or light, highly polished or roughly hewn, wood flooring has never been more on trend. It’s classic, hypoallergenic, and easy to clean – but more than that, there are so many options which make wood a go-to for many homeowners.

Whether you’re pulling up old carpet to discover what lies beneath, or having new floors installed, choosing the right wood for your home is a lot more complicated than simply picking one you like and slapping it down. Most homeowners only want to redo their floors once, so choosing a material that’s both beautiful and enduring is important.

“When customers come to us, about 80 to 90 percent of the time we’re refinishing their wood floors,” says Anna from Antique Hardwood Flooring in Oakville. 

“We go into clients’ homes and are refinishing, sanding and matching colours. And browns and greys are popular colours right now for sure.”

Anna says that while kitchens are popular areas for wood flooring, she often sees it installed throughout the entire house as well.

“We’re also ripping out a lot of tile floors these days and replacing them with wood,” she says. “Tile is definitely no longer a popular choice for flooring anywhere in the house.”

Engineered hardwood flooring, as well, is gaining popularity in kitchens, entryways, dining rooms, and bathrooms, and in more traditional areas such as living rooms and studies. Engineered wood uses a thick strip of solid wood that is bonded to a structured substrate to create a floorboard that is hardwearing and can be resurfaced like solid wood.

Frank Sharpe, designer at Inspired Flooring in Burlington, says Canadians are conservative when it comes to patterns and colour choices. The flooring industry is like the fashion industry – trends are changing regularly. But with this in mind, homeowners should choose flooring that resonates with them on a personal level and invokes emotion – and it’s never a bad thing to stick with those timeless pieces. Designers like Frank can help customers choose which elements work with their homes and with their style.

Grey will always have a long and successful life span as a go-to neutral, easily blending with other colours and serving in a wide range of design styles, from mid-century modern to rustic farmhouse. Sea salt off-whites, similar to mist, provide hints of colour from surf and sand.

Engineered wood flooring has a lot to offer, including stability, overall quality, longevity and range. Exotic species such as Brazilian Cherry, Teak, Iroko, and Wenge are also something to consider.

For trends, the return of the rustic farmhouse look means longer and wider planks with an emphasis on natural aging and the use of reclaimed materials. Grey wood with a distinctive pattern is always popular, particularly for kitchens and bathrooms, pairing well with brushed stainless steel and tinted glass. Also, re-purposed waste and recycled materials are something to consider in an age when recycling is at the forefront of many design ideas.

“Of course, it all comes down to personal choice,” says Sam Nesci of Inspired Flooring. “We do see a lot of marble and tile in certain areas of the house, such as the foyer, kitchen and bathrooms, but there is definitely a lot of wood being installed.”

Sam says stone plastic composite (SPC) is also very popular these days. It’s a high-quality engineered wood that is strong and low maintenance, used in restaurants for years and now being seen in homes.

“We don’t do a lot of refinishing ourselves, as most homeowners want to install new, thicker wood that will last a lot longer than the thinner versions maybe found under carpeting,” he says. Brown has always been the most popular colour, though grey and lighter hues are also seen often, with carpeting sitting at about one to two percent.

And Sam is right, of course: it does all come down to personal preference. Whether you prefer the softer warmth of carpeting or the durable low maintenance of wood, the choice lies beneath your feet.

by Allison Dempsey

Local Links

Inspired Flooring, Burlington
Inspiredflooringinc.com

Antique Hardwood Flooring, Oakville
Antiquehardwoodflooring.ca

Speers Flooring Ltd., Oakville
Speersflooring.com

Speers Road Broadloom Ltd., Oakville
Speersroadbroadloom.com