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Pro Spotlight: Take Your Kitchen From Difficult to Delightful
A Northern Virginia kitchen designer offers tips for transforming your space to fit the way you live today
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Who: Sarah Farouk of FineLine Kitchens
Where: Chantilly, Virginia
In her own words: “Opening up space and moving everything around gives you more options and a greater chance of getting the kitchen you want.”
If your house came with a kitchen from the Dark Ages of design, take heart. Remodeling is a chance to create a classic kitchen that enhances resale value while enlivening it with colors and features that express your personal style. “You have a chance to get something you’re going to love,” says Sarah Farouk, the executive designer at kitchen and bath remodeling company FineLine Kitchens in Chantilly.
Where: Chantilly, Virginia
In her own words: “Opening up space and moving everything around gives you more options and a greater chance of getting the kitchen you want.”
If your house came with a kitchen from the Dark Ages of design, take heart. Remodeling is a chance to create a classic kitchen that enhances resale value while enlivening it with colors and features that express your personal style. “You have a chance to get something you’re going to love,” says Sarah Farouk, the executive designer at kitchen and bath remodeling company FineLine Kitchens in Chantilly.
Making plans. Farouk’s mother is an interior designer and her father is an architect. “I grew up playing with plans,” she says. She was halfway to a degree in biology when she decided to follow in her parents’ footsteps and study interior design. After working for a major kitchen and bath showroom, she joined FineLine in 2013; her husband is the company’s head of operations. “I love what I do,” Farouk says. “I always look forward to helping clients design something they will love.”
Systematic approach. Farouk often works with clients who have outdated kitchens. “People are excited about new colors and materials and appliances, but you want to think about systems and what makes everything work together in your kitchen,” she says. “For instance, if you’re changing the location of work areas and eating areas, you want to move the lights as well.”
Ready to tackle a kitchen remodel? Read Farouk’s tips below before you begin.
Ready to tackle a kitchen remodel? Read Farouk’s tips below before you begin.
1. Start From Scratch
If there are several things wrong with your kitchen configuration, give serious consideration to taking the entire space down to bare walls — and possibly removing a few of those walls as well. If you have an older home with a small kitchen and a small dining room, it might make sense to combine the two into a highly functional eat-in kitchen.
The owners of this older Arlington home asked Farouk to expand the original kitchen, which was so tiny it didn’t even accommodate a standard-size stove. Farouk not only combined the kitchen and dining room but also flipped their positions. “I put the kitchen at the front of the house, and now the new eating area has a nice view of the backyard,” she says.
See more of this project
If there are several things wrong with your kitchen configuration, give serious consideration to taking the entire space down to bare walls — and possibly removing a few of those walls as well. If you have an older home with a small kitchen and a small dining room, it might make sense to combine the two into a highly functional eat-in kitchen.
The owners of this older Arlington home asked Farouk to expand the original kitchen, which was so tiny it didn’t even accommodate a standard-size stove. Farouk not only combined the kitchen and dining room but also flipped their positions. “I put the kitchen at the front of the house, and now the new eating area has a nice view of the backyard,” she says.
See more of this project
2. Customize the Classics
No matter what style kitchen you choose — farmhouse, contemporary or traditional — Farouk recommends going with timeless materials and subtle colors for your flooring, cabinets and countertops. You can get creative with wall colors, rugs, light fixtures and cabinet hardware, all of which are easy to update or replace.
For this Old Town Alexandria kitchen, Farouk designed understated cabinetry and enlivened the room with dramatic elements favored by the client, a professional artist. “I created a classic kitchen with gray cabinets and hardwood floors,” she says. “The blue wall, the red rug and the central chandelier added the colors that express the client’s taste.”
See more of this project
No matter what style kitchen you choose — farmhouse, contemporary or traditional — Farouk recommends going with timeless materials and subtle colors for your flooring, cabinets and countertops. You can get creative with wall colors, rugs, light fixtures and cabinet hardware, all of which are easy to update or replace.
For this Old Town Alexandria kitchen, Farouk designed understated cabinetry and enlivened the room with dramatic elements favored by the client, a professional artist. “I created a classic kitchen with gray cabinets and hardwood floors,” she says. “The blue wall, the red rug and the central chandelier added the colors that express the client’s taste.”
See more of this project
3. Create a Place to Gather
If your whole family regularly congregates in the kitchen, consider making it big enough to hold everyone. Taking down walls, converting pantry closets into cabinets and adding a substantial island can do the trick. “Nowadays very few families eat in the dining room,” Farouk says.
She created this 19-by-10-foot eat-in kitchen for an Ashburn family with five children. The design features a 48-inch range and an extra-long island with a sink. “My client knew she wanted to have all her kids there while she was cooking,” Farouk says. “We went for practical.”
See more of this project
More: For more information on Sarah Farouk and examples of her work, visit FineLine Kitchens’ Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
If your whole family regularly congregates in the kitchen, consider making it big enough to hold everyone. Taking down walls, converting pantry closets into cabinets and adding a substantial island can do the trick. “Nowadays very few families eat in the dining room,” Farouk says.
She created this 19-by-10-foot eat-in kitchen for an Ashburn family with five children. The design features a 48-inch range and an extra-long island with a sink. “My client knew she wanted to have all her kids there while she was cooking,” Farouk says. “We went for practical.”
See more of this project
More: For more information on Sarah Farouk and examples of her work, visit FineLine Kitchens’ Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
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We had a very positive experience with FineLine Kitchen Remodeling. They spent 10 days working on our home. The crew arrived promptly each day and worked tirelessly. They answered all my questions and...More