When we start renovating a kitchen, we spend hours and days looking at the interiors. But this does not always help us understand what we really want. Sometimes it’s even the other way around: it causes confusion and fatigue. After all, the hardest part of the process of finding inspiration is figuring out what exactly hooked you on a particular photo.
We will explain how to decide about the interiors correctly.
Collect inspirational photos
Start saving any images of kitchens that you liked.
Important: at this stage, do not try to limit yourself to the “similarity” of the kitchen layout to yours. For now, just save any photo of the kitchens you like. You may not be able to determine the style pattern right away, but it will definitely show itself.
Don’t edit yourself (yet)
Editing while looking for inspiration severely limits creativity.
Please do not try to sort the images in any way while you are collecting them. We advise you to first save as much detail as possible in a collective portrait of the future “dream kitchen”. And only then conduct an audit of the collection and delete unnecessary items.
Make signatures (but only if you want to)
When you save a photo, you can immediately add notes to it. For example, write down what exactly you liked about this interior. But it is not necessary to do this while saving the frame to the idea album. You can always return to your selection later and add notes, rearrange kitchen photos, delete unnecessary frames.
Take a closer look at the designers
It is quite possible that at this stage you began to come across the work of the same designers more often than others. Some designers’s works can be an inspiration for your future choices. Most likely, this is a signal to take a closer look at the portfolio of these specialists. Perhaps you should contact them for advice on the style of the kitchen or even the development of a complete design project.
For some homeowners, it may be better to hire a professional from the start and ask for their help during the inspiration gathering phase. Some homeowners delegate this phase entirely to the designer. Professionals will listen, interpret your request, and collect inspiring references for you.
Try to find patterns
Once you have collected enough inspirational images, go back to them and sort. You can classify kitchens by style, color, materials, motives. Suddenly, in your selection, there are many photos of kitchens in pastel colors / with blue accents / graphic tiles, etc.
Start sharing idea albums
You may have found many specific solutions for a specific task. For example, an option on how to design the end of the corner kitchen in the kitchen-living room. Or ideas for decorating a kitchen apron.
Photos inside an idea album can be batch copied – add them to another idea album. Just create a new collection of “kitchen apron ideas” for them. Don’t categorize anything – just copy the photo if you think the idea is noteworthy.
Edit your selection
Go back to your idea books and see if you still react emotionally to the images you saved. If it’s been some time since you started collecting photos, and after viewing hundreds of other spaces, your taste may have changed (even if you do not realize it).
Ruthless editing can really help clear things up. You can look at the room and wonder, “why on earth did I save this photo?” If you cannot remember this, and the image of the kitchen no longer responds, remove the photo from the selection.
Collect photos again – with intent
Now that you have passed hundreds of photos through yourself, weeded out solutions that you no longer liked, and signed each find, you already understand what exactly you liked about this or that interior. It’s time to look for concrete solutions. In this question can be quite helpful in online stores with furniture or other materials that you will need, they can have concrete elements that you liked.
Let’s say you like glass display cases. Now look for kitchens with them, find different options in interiors. You may not like all the features of a room, but one element is exactly what you want. When you find enough options for your selection, edit your photos again.