Open Shelving vs. Cabinets: Pros and Cons for Small Kitchens

an okotoks kitchen with open shelving and custom cabinets

Open shelving has seen increasing popularity in recent years. Which is better for small kitchens—open shelving or conventional cabinets with doors? Both options have merits, but they also come with drawbacks. In this blog post, we’ll explore the pros and cons of open shelving and cabinets to help you make an informed choice that suits your space, style, and storage needs.  Pros of Open Shelving With so many advantages of open shelving, its trending status is no surprise.  1. Visual Openness Open shelves can help you highlight visual elements in your small kitchen, like brickwork, wallpaper, backsplash tile, or an accent paint colour. Turn your shelving into art by displaying your spices in clear glass jars, showcasing seasonal dishes, or featuring a stunning vase with flowers.  Additionally, open shelving can make a small kitchen feel more spacious by creating a sense of airiness.  2. Accessibility With open shelving, everything is within easy reach. You can quickly grab what you need … Read more

Riverstone Kitchens Renovations Calgary

Custom Kitchen Renovations in Calgary Contact Us Riverstone Kitchen Renovations is one of Calgary’s top contractors for designing and developing Custom Modern Kitchen Cabinets not in Calgary and surrounding areas including Canmore, Cochrane, Okotoks, Ardrie and Bragg Creek.  We have a top notch experienced and knowledgeable design staff who will help with the design  of your custom kitchen. We will walk you through every step of the design process in order to make sure your dream kitchen is built the way you want it and make your vision of a perfect kitchen comes true. We specialize in custom cabinets for kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, office, libraries, media centers, entertainment centers, wine bars, wine cellars, closets and built-ins, millwork, kitchen renovation and remodeling. The “Kitchen” is known as the heart of the home. A place not just to cook and eat, but to love and entertain. If a Modern Kitchen design appeals to you, then Riverstone Kitchen Renovations is the best place to start. … Read more

Superior Quality & Attention to Detail Results in Your Dream Kitchen

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Many kitchen cabinet companies boast quality products, but superior quality combined with attention to detail make a massive difference. A new kitchen won’t be your dream kitchen if it just looks fabulous on the outside.  The hub of your home is a high traffic, high use space that takes a beating in countless ways. Slammed drawers, moisture from cooking, hot pots on the countertop, chopping and slicing, and a host of other activities demand quality materials and construction if you want your kitchen to last.  Let’s take a closer look at the components that make your kitchen cabinets superior quality, and how attention to detail results in your dream kitchen or renovation experience.   Why Custom Cabinets are Superior in Quality Not all cabinets are created equal. On the outside, a stock cabinet from a big box store might look the same as a custom cabinet, but several factors make the custom cabinet superior to stock cabinets.  The design of … Read more

Riverstone Kitchens Renovations Calgary | Custom Cabinets Calgary

Get a Free Estimate Custom Kitchens and Home Renovations Riverstone Kitchens & Renovations provides high-quality custom cabinetry and renovations, designing and crafting spaces where you truly love to be. Custom Cabinetry Riverstone Kitchens & Renovations provides quality and highly functional cabinetry, custom-designed to meet your individual needs, creating affordable, lasting solutions to enhance real living.  What matters to our customers matters to us. We’re committed to crafting spaces where our customers truly love to be using Canadian-made, high quality products at a price point tailored to the customer. We’re fully committed to crafting ideal living spaces for our customers with services and products that exceed expectations. We want both the process and the finished product to cultivate lasting relationships – our relationship with our customers, and the relationships our customers build within those spaces. Renovations We specialize in helping you transform your home into a space that fits your lifestyle, needs, and vision. From designing to managing every stage of the project, we’ll turn your dream into … Read more

Relationship Matters: How the Manufacturer of Your Kitchen Cabinets Impacts You

Whether you’re getting a new kitchen or embarking on a kitchen renovation, the relationship between the kitchen cabinet manufacturer and your kitchen designer and supplier has a significant impact on the quality of your kitchen and your experience during the entire process. Most homeowners don’t think much about their cabinet manufacturer. You’re understandably more concerned about choosing the right designer for your new kitchen. That’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make in this process! The right kitchen designer will instill confidence and help turn your kitchen dream into a reality. But there’s more to a great kitchen than the design. You want quality cabinets that fit your budget and you want the entire process to be as stress free as possible.  This is where the relationship between the cabinet manufacturer and your kitchen designer and supplier makes all the difference.    Manufacturer Matters The manufacturer of your kitchen cabinets matters just as much as the designer and supplier, … Read more

Custom Cabinets vs Stock Cabinets: What are the advantages?

custom-cabinets-vs-stock-cabinets

Your kitchen cabinets are like permanent furniture. They dominate the look and feel of the space, and you want them to last a long time. They are truly an investment. So as you shop for kitchen cabinets, you may wonder about the differences between custom cabinets vs stock cabinets. What’s the best option for your new kitchen or kitchen renovation? Custom Cabinets vs Stock Cabinets: 4 Key Considerations Cabinets are essentially boxes and doors with shelves and drawers. A cabinet seems like a simple thing, yet there are many factors that make the difference between a quality cabinet and one that’s basically disappointment in a box. The manufacturing process determines the design, style, functionality, cost, and quality of your kitchen cabinets. Let’s look at 4 key elements of a cabinet to compare custom cabinets with stock cabinets.  Materials Joints Hardware Selection Stock cabinets are mass produced, and therefore more affordable than custom cabinets, but they’re only available in predetermined sizes … Read more

10 Places to Put the Microwave in the Kitchen

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Wondering where to put the microwave in the kitchen? You are not alone. It’s a common conundrum.  Moving your microwave to a new spot can get complicated quickly. The electrical outlet complicates things. If there’s no outlet in a convenient location for the microwave, rewiring turns a minor location shift into a massive job requiring a professional.  Fortunately, there are plenty of options for ideal microwave placement! Here are 10 places to put the microwave in the kitchen. Elevated Locations  An overhead microwave keeps your countertop clear and saves space. Here are 5 overhead spots for your microwave.  1. Over the range  This is the most common choice in kitchens. Position your microwave above the stove to keep it up and out of the way. This makes access easier and saves space.  Be sure to consider the size of your microwave. Too large, and it’ll overwhelm the space; too small, and it’ll look awkward here.  2. A drink station A … Read more

10 Practical Design Ideas for the Awkward Kitchen Corner

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The corner space where two banks of kitchen cabinets meet is called a “blind corner”. It’s often wasted space because it’s deep, dark, and inaccessible. Even when the design provides access by including a cabinet door, it’s difficult to reach items stored at the back unless you have exceptionally long arms and flexibility.  There are many tried and tested solutions to the blind corner cabinet conundrum. Here are 10 of our best practical design ideas for the awkward kitchen corner.  1. Lazy Susan A lazy susan is the classic go-to for corner cabinets. Spinning shelves allow you to access anything in the cabinet without having to reach. This type of cabinet typically has a bifold hinged door. There are 3 main types of lazy susans: Full circle shelves set back into the cabinet so the door can fully close Pie-shaped shelves to allow for the folding door Pie-shaped shelves attached to the door so they automatically pull out when the … Read more

5 Key Factors of the Perfect Home Office for Remote Work

5 Key Factors of the Perfect Home Office for Remote Work

  Earlier this year, 39.1% of Canadians were working from home. That was in direct response to the onset of the pandemic, but working from home has become the new normal for many of us.  If you switched to working from home suddenly, you may have set up a makeshift space to work in your home and “made do” for a while. Now that your home has become a permanent place for you to do your job, it’s time to take another look and create a more intentional space for productive work.  Take these 5 factors into consideration to set up the perfect home office for remote work.  1. Strategically Separate Professional from Personal It’s important to keep your professional life separate from your personal life. This is essential for business professionalism, record-keeping and tax filing, but it’s also a means of maintaining mental health and work-life balance.  If you don’t have the luxury of an entire room dedicated to … Read more

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