Log Home Kitchens

Here’s a worry I’ve had ever since Eric decided we should have a log home and that the decorating would all be up to me.

Cathedral ceilings. Vaulted ceilings. Wood walls. Open concept.

We’ve got them all in our kitchen and each one comes with its own set of design challenges to people left to kitchen design (pro or amateur) the world over.

Log Home Kitchens - Upper Cupboards

The trouble with cathedral ceilings and vaulted walls in your kitchen happens when you’re choosing cupboard styles. Upper cupboards specifically. I’ve seen this done poorly too many times to mention and when it is done poorly, it sticks out like a sore thumb and ruins the visual for the entire open concept. I’ll post some pictures shortly of upper cupboards gone wrong so stay tuned to this post to see what I mean.

As our layout dictates, the great room, dining room and kitchen are open concept. Only the living room and kitchen area are vaulted ceilings.

The lower cupboards will wrap around on three sides of the kitchen, leaving the remaining area open. The area leads to the dining room and double doors (walk out to the grilling deck).

Bad Log Home Kitchen Design

Here are a few samples of bad log home kitchen design and the reasons why…

Above: Upper cupboards in this cathedral ceiling kitchen stick out like a sore thumb. No design was factored into this layout and application. The uppers look like they were just ’stuck’ onto the walls - more about function than style.

Although the wood tones are similar, your eye just gets stuck on the protrusions (ugly cupboards of the walls). A home should ‘flow’ both to the feet and to the eye. This does not. Remember that this home has an adjoining room (open concept) which means no matter where you are, this atrocity will be in plain view.

Above: The white washed cupboards and the pecan stained wood are clashing horribly! Whoever designed this mess had a serious lack of understanding of tones and was quite likely color blind. Another case in point for requiring gifted kitchen designers to look carefully at the space (and pitch of ceilings) before they hand over plans to home owners.

This too is an open-concept kitchen (flowing into another room) and shows nothing but clutter and pain to the observing eye.

Above: This kitchen nearly has it. An understanding of the space, vaulted ceilings and tone. But it is seriously lacking in imagination (which is troublesome considering the imagined high cost). The island is too confining, the refrigerator is sticking out 6″ into the work space (and looks like the owner either didn’t measure before he bought the fridge or the designer didn’t measure for modern living).

Apart from the above annoyances, all the dark clutter on the tops of the cupboards is the only other setback. This kitchen is closer to being decent than the others, but still lacks in imagination.