Luxury Home Remodeling: Top Trends for Upscale Kitchens

The “Fall 2012 Remodeling Sentiment Report” conducted by RemodelorMove.com, highlights a growing trend in luxury home remodeling.  Record low interest rates and slowly recovering home prices contribute to homeowners’ desires to undergo high-end kitchen and bathroom remodeling.  An increasing number of homeowners are planning these major remodeling projects in the next few years.

Even if your budget isn’t unlimited, the report finds all homeowners are trending to luxury products in their remodeling projects.  The study concludes the remodeling industry will recover from the top down.  In other words, the use of higher-end products will grow disproportionately to standard or economy products.

Luxury Home Remodeling Trends for Kitchens

The following trends show what luxury home remodeling projects are being done in kitchens:

• High-End Refrigerators.  New luxury models have become entrenched with technology features.  They can have TV screens, an electronic message center and other features to make them an information hub in the kitchen.  Also in luxury home remodeling, homeowners want their refrigerators to match their cabinets.  Therefore, custom panels are installed.

• Wine Vaults.  In many high-end kitchen remodels, contractors are installing wine vaults with temperature controls, locks and touch-screen inventory controls.  The size of the wine vault in terms of how many bottles it can hold varies depending on homeowner preferences.

• Butler’s Pantry.  Almost every luxury home remodeling project for kitchens will incorporate a butler’s pantry.  This space represents a separate room adjacent to the kitchen for extra storage, office work, wine vaults and more.

• High-End Ovens.  Fancy features of the most expensive models are truly mind-boggling.  Some of these ovens for luxury home remodeling can cook food 15 times faster than regular ovens and can be operated over the Internet.  Many appliances can also come in a wide range of unique colors.

• Appliance Drawers.  Luxury home remodeling projects might include kitchen drawers to store larger appliances like microwaves and dishwashers.  These features provide a clean, streamlined look.  Sometimes homeowners install multiple appliances of the same type, like two dishwashers, for example.

• Countertops.  These surfaces are getting more and more innovative as time goes on.  More unique materials include wood, concrete, copper, quartzite, enameled lava and more.

• Cabinets.  The green movement has taken hold in cabinet materials.  Bamboo is a popular choice because it’s strong and sustainable.  But, it comes at a price tag of approximately 40% more than more standard options.

• Sinks. Again, unique materials are the choice for luxury home remodeling.  Some of the higher-end materials for luxury kitchen sinks include hand-hammered copper, soapstone, limestone and granite.  Many of these upscale sinks are custom made.

• Glass Tiles.  In luxury home remodeling, glass tiles aren’t just used for an accent.  All kinds of uses, finishes and transparency levels are being incorporated in upscale kitchen designs.

Luxury home remodeling is almost always about the type of materials used, especially for the kitchen.  In addition to making new spaces and unique design features, materials play a big role in conveying real luxury.