If you look at the magazines you see that what they're showing, over and over again, is looking dated and generic. Certain magazines are more guilty of this than others.

What makes a great kitchen is a great personality. When it's truly an expression of the person designing it, and it's more than just a copy of what someone else did, it looks great.

My 2 cents.

A kitchen that looks warm and lived in, that's classic in style and doesn't follow trends. A kitchen that's designed well and functional. I think wood floors will always be classic and never dated (even though I ripped mine out). I also think things like butcherblock and matte, real stone countertops will always be classic (even though I went with glossy granite). Most appliances will eventually look dated IMO. Maybe not the professional ones or the classic antique ones (that I couldn't afford). I don't think white subway tiles will ever "go out of style" (even though I went with slate mosaic). For me, this kitchen was about what I wanted now. This isn't my forever home, we'll be selling in 5 years or so. My next kitchen will probably have wood cabinets in a more classic style (new ones are cathedral), possibly painted white, most likely soapstone counters, classic white farm sink, etc. but then, my next kitchen will probably be in an old farm house on a few acres (ideally) and that type of kitchen would have looked very out of place in the house I live in now (multi-peaked roof, two story foyer, all brick, 6 years old).

IMO, materials and designs that are "the most popular" in any era will tend to date a kitchen to that period. Tumbled marble backsplashes and glazed cabinte finishes are very characteristic of our era, just like golden oak, then pickled oak cabinets were to earlier eras. Those islands set at 45 degrees to the kitchen are very characteristic to our time. Mainstream appliances will always look dated -- even the classic ones, though they'll date to 'more desirable' eras.

I think, the only way to avoid a dated look is to go against the trend of what is popular. Of course, picking unpopular materials is no guarantee of a great-looking or functional kitchen.

My recipe for timelessness? Have a clear 'theme' or 'look' in mind that is compatible with the architecture of your home, your tastes, your furnishings and your locale. (By 'theme', I don't mean over-the-top Disney stuff -- just a clear vision.) Find materials appropriate to that design, and be sure they are authentic, durable, functional, and if possible, natural as opposed to man-made. High-quality materials and top-notch craftsmanship will always wear much better than cut-rate work. Then go for function, function, function before focusing on aesthetics. For aesthetics, concentrate on the 'bones' and balance rather than the surface decoration and symmetry. Then just enjoy...

I've always gravitated towards a more contemporary look, at times even modern. As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate certain attirbutes present with other looks as well. While at one time in my life, I'd have killed to own Organic Donna's kitchen or pierrone's kitchen (both very modern, and sleek, and both stunning BTW!), I knew that look wasn't for me any more.

With our kitchen reno this past year, we were striving to create something contemporary, but with warmth (we knew that we wanted wood cabinets to enhance that). We wanted something that fit with our taste and with our home, and I think we did just that. Whether the kitchen we created will be considered timeless or not, is anybody's guess. Sure, one would hope it is, but the bottom line is it works for us. It makes me happy to see it every time I walk into the room, and that's all you can really ask for.

I dunno. For me, I tried to be true to my house, and use my historic preservation knowledge to do so. I have a house built in the 1850's and heavily remodeled about 1900. I tried to keep within that time framework for all of the woodwork and finishes. I retained everything original to the house that I could. Trim, wood flooring, footprint. The layout was tweaked right here on GW, and it works as expected. I brought in "all natural" materials, like more wood trim, all-wood cabinets, and soapstone. The kitchen looks like part of the house, like what they could have had originally, only with much nicer appliances, more and better lighting, and a flat-screen TV.
Casey

Sweeby said what I think about this exactly:

Materials and designs that are "the most popular" in any era will tend to date a kitchen to that period. Tumbled marble backsplashes and glazed cabinet finishes are very characteristic of our era, just like golden oak, then pickled oak cabinets were to earlier eras. To avoid a dated look go against the trend of what is popular.

I am just echoing what others said. Don't go with anything that is trendy or "hot" right now just because it is in. Go with what you like. That goes for cabinet styles, countertops and floors. You could go with the latest in cabinet hardware and even lights because those are easy and relatively inexpensive to change later.

You are stuck with the appliances that they are selling now and what you can afford. But also they will be replaced later too as they outlive their usefulness. So get what works for you. And go with a style that fits your house. I remember seeing an ultra modern kitchen, all SS and colorful enameled cabinets in a very sleek style in a Victorian house. I thought it was jarring to say the least.

I know if I had to sell my house tomorrow the kitchen would help the sale not hinder it. In 10 or 20 years from now, it will probably be dated but I will be too old to care.
Clare

I was in my local library this week and grabbed two kitchen design books from the shelves. Both were published between 1988 and 1991. At the time these books would have been the cutting-edge glossies like Taunton puts out now, so they were a good representative sample of trends of the day. There were some elements that dated the kitchen immediately: thick manmade (Formica?) islands shaped like kidneys; non-metal hardware on the cabinets; tile counters with thick white grout lines; kitschy themes (a 'country' kitchen with red-and-white checked curtains, a butter-churn mosaic in the tile floor, red counters with white thermofoil cabinets). And there were some kitchens that looked as though they could go into a kitchen book today. For the most part those had natural wood cabinets, either painted or stained; wood floors; black or white appliances (stainless wasn't widely marketed back then, though I remember one or two stainless SubZeros); subdued colors in manmade or stone counters; butcherblock counters; and one kitchen that was all stainless (cabs and counters included) so looked just like a restaurant kitchen.

I think what goes wrong with some remodels is that everyone is going for the 'wow' factor and they're all using the same elements to get that 'wow'. That makes the kitchen cutting edge for about six months, and then generic because EVERYONE is doing the same thing.

Those that deviate from the trendy 'wow' elements sometimes go to far into the freakish zone (hood as big as my whole island! ten-foot long range with sixteen burners and three ovens! five colors of cabinets! four different counter materials!) in order to make a statement.

In short, too many KDs and homeowners are trying too hard to have a kitchen that drops jaws instead of a kitchen that works with the house and the lifestyle of the people living in it.

I have learned that:
There is no such thing as "perfect." There is only what works for me in a given timeframe.

It doesn't matter what is trendy and what designers say. What do they know really? They know what other designers say (Hope I'm not offending any one!) and what the manufacturers are hot on selling.

It pays more to have a disciplined mindset about what works for you than reading 1000 magazines.

I know what I love. Its great when other folks love it too, but if they don't...oh well.

I am so sure that my kitchen will be dated when I'm ready to move on. And really, that will be the next buyers opportunity to create something that they love.

Only memories are timeless. Things are not meant to be.

BTW, I just ripped out my Formica. While I love love love my granite, I can now see that Formica does have some very nice qualities in care.

It's interesting to read this; just the other day I was thinking about "style" and what am I seeing in displays and magazines today that will seem like the avocado and brown combos of the 70s.

While my kitchen renovation is considerably less lavish than what many in here are doing and is prompted by strutural necessity rather than aesthetic desire, I've given a lot of thought to what I want. Alas, what I REALLY want I can't afford, but my goals remain the same, regardless of how much I'm able to spend on them:

- function. Despite the limited space, I want it to be the most efficient cooking space I can generate, which means tge maximum storage and maximum countertop I can get.

- the LEAST "trendiness". I chose white appliances not only for cost savings, but because I can't help but wonder if the stainless fashion in consumer appliances (as opposed to high end commercial ovens etc) will fade over the next few years. Fridges have been white since the 1920s; I reckon there's a good chhance they'll still be white in 2020.

- counterop FUNCTION. I can't deny that the beautifully formed granites I see in large, luxury kitchens looks beautiful, but I can't begin to imagine caring for it. Our kitchen is for cooking, which means mess, which means easy- clean, heat-resistant and bump-proof are necessities rather than wishlist qualities. I considered butcherblock - even the Ikea version - which I love, but had to reject it almost immediately because I KNOW the way we live and cook, and I can bet it would be tired and worn out in just a few years no matter how hard I tried to keeep it oiled and protected.

- similarly, I would love to put down hardwood. But dishwashers leak, kids spill drinks and dogs occasionally pee on the floor. To that end, tile or laminate despite being less aesthetic to me than wood, are probably better choices.

- from an aesthetic point of view, I want to reflect the period of the house as much as i can. I don't want to do full-blown "vintage", but I can't ignore that it's a small kitchen in a 1920s bungalow. So I'm trying to find a way of reflecting that aesthetic in the design while still taking advantage of modern convenience and style too. Fusion? I don't know what you'd call it.

- lastly, budget is making some of my decisions for me, particularly since I found and was given some quality materials as hand-me-downs. The tile, counter and sink I've acquired will dictate some of my colour choices. I was considering a farmhouse sink and cottage look, but the colours in the counter and tile pull it more towards a neutral tan theme, which won't quite work for that.

I'm finding that the biggest impediment to getting exactly what I want is budget - if I had about 3x what I have to do the job, I think it would be quite simple to get what I want, but I don't have that luxury and am having to be "creative on a shoestring". (Hence why I've discovered this site and am gobbling it all up!)

So I guess this doesn't ANSWER your question, but is one newbie's account of how I'm trying to discover exactly that which you're asking about. Comfort, function, and something that is aesthetically pleasing without being faddish. Not sure I know how to do it, but I know what I want! :)

I think a timeless look would have none of the following

MDF....
Plastic....
Laminate...

Stick with the naturals

Wood, glass, metals...

Stick with tastes closer to simple..

Shaker style, very limited ornamentation/carving, but you can go heavy on the crown molding and not date it...it's hard to find dated crown molding unless it's gingerbread detailing...simple lines and solid materials..

Tara

I've mentioned my voluteer time with Restore (Habitat) on other threads. But this thread reminded me of thoughts a few weeks back. Realized I could tell what was out by all the kitchen stuff we are getting from renovations. Well, baths too. We are overwhelmed with brass light fixtures, hardware. Stainless and brushed nickle faucets are showing up, as are the darker fixtures. Counter tops of all types, and most of this is fairly new, you wouldn't know they had been used at all. A few granit ones have come in too. Cabinets which were white washed, yes the pinky ones, plus the darker cherry and black appliances. Tons of leftover tile. I'd love to know what the remodels look like that replaced these. Most likely building larger areas, but some of this could replace huge kitchens as it is.

So many have had good answers. I especially agree with these two:

RG "What makes a great kitchen is a great personality. When it's truly an expression of the person designing it, and it's more than just a copy of what someone else did, it looks great."

rmlanza "A kitchen that looks warm and lived in, that's classic in style and doesn't follow trends."

How to achieve:

Stay true to your home's architecture.

Use building materials, accents or styles not normally found in kitchens - accessories too.

Think outside the box.

Don't copy but take bits and pieces to make the kitchen your own.

A kitchen can be both beautiful and functional - it doesn't have to be one or the other.

Avoid Chickens, Moose, Squirrels, Granite, Stainless, Antique Lighting, Huge kitchen faucets, dark flooring, hummmm what else do I have in the kitchen :oP

LOL, Igloochic...Does that count for bathrooms, too? My oldest dd chose a vanity light with moose on it for our main bath (the one she'll use). She said it would make her laugh on mornings she got up tired, grouchy, and not quite ready to face the day. That was enough to convince me!

Hi, Steven. Above all, investment in fine design.

I'm with rosie - fine design will stand the test of time. IMO, for it to be fine design it has go beyond superficial good looks to function well and be well made.

They only use "dated" when something was popular for a brief time and didn't work out. One wouldn't call an Arts and Crafts kitchen dated even though the style comes from a particular time. When something works out, it keeps getting used as part of the style toolbox we pull from.

My friend kept the vintage stove when she redid her kitchen and it still looks cool after all these years. I wouldn't want the constraints of the small oven and broiler but it was well designed.

I think well made functional kitchens will be good for a long time. What I see in some of the spec houses and some remodeled for a quick sale is popular elements or even flashy ones thrown together. Sometimes the craftmanship is poor. Sometimes on the remodels they have a jumble of "neutral" colors - nothing is absolutely neutral. Sometimes they put in a granite so they can say in the add that it has granite counters but the color doesn't particularly go.

The Parade of Homes just started this weekend in our area. After touring a few in the multi-million dollar range, we come home from the tour and are so happy with our home.

Everything is starting to look the same, quite frankly. It seems mostly it is the square footage that is different. So far, we've only seen one home (especially the kitchen) that we thought was truely original and perfectly executed throughout with both function and beauty. It felt like a home, too.

So, I think a beautiful kitchen lies in the eyes of the beholder and builder/renovator.

I'm so pleased to see all of these wonderfully thought-out responses! There's some great advice and observations here for people at the front end of their projects.

Ultimately, we stayed within the guidelines of this house. Built in 1938 in a working-class neighborhood, we instinctively knew that creating a high end look would have been jarring. So we used the best quality products we could afford, in a style that would have felt comfortable to someone cooking in this kitchen 70 years ago. I'm not saying that we tried to recreate a look from 1938, we just didn't fight it. Aside from a few minor complaints we're really happy with how it turned out.

Before this thread gets burried, I'm going to print it out and distill it down to some bullet points and file it away for our next house.

Steven

For appliances: lots of internet research

For layout: trying lots and lots of layouts with tons of help here on gardenweb

For style stuff - overall look etc... looked at books, gardenweb, and google seeaches to see what I liked and thought would look good together. :) Many nights not able to sleep well becuase I would be going through all kinds of options in my head.

We'll see if it paid off soon enough. 2 Weeks from today we should be done except for backsplash (which will be a while) and a few miscellaneous trim etc. So far all the subcontractors have been absolutely raving about my picks. The painter said he was "mesmerized" by my granite :) :)

All that and really all I wanted to say is "get what you like and don't look back".. all the posts about people fretting about "dated" etc is kind of troubling to me. Whats the fun in designing something if you aren't doing what you want to do? Sure some people don't like my kitchen (my mom) but guess what... its mine, not hers :)

I currently have an ugly 80s kitchen that came with my 1960 house when I bought it in 1999. It has beige laminate doors with oak curved trim at the bottom in lieu of hardware, and beige formica counters. It screams 1980s.

I'm working to re-do it and am trying to avoid having it be so "dated". I'm choosing a traditional raised rectangular panel door in a maple, no glazing. I've kept the hardwood floor that still looks great after being down 20 years. I think it's a light maple, it's definitely not an oak. I think we've fallen for the granite counters, even if they are common uba tuba. It may date the space, but I'm not sold on the quartz and don't care for the look of the corian and the formica, while it's come a long way, isn't my top choice. We need durable. A lot of food comes through our kitchen, and if that means sealing it once a year I can live with that.

I want wood cabinets. I went with ply sided cabinets because I've had plumbing issues (like the new dishwasher whose valve wouldn't close properly and resulted in water filling the bottom of the tub over time and eventually spilling through my subfloor after leaking out somewhere unless we drained it every day (Thank God for the cancel/drain button!)) Although a lot of the filler pieces I've seen look pretty, they're out too. My kitchen is small enough, I am not sacrificing storage for fluted reed filler.

Our new appliances are black. I know stainless is currently king, but this too shall pass, just like almond and avocado and harvest gold and copper before them. I considered white, but our fridge is almond and it's still working. Black is pretty neutral, and they fade back. I don't need my dishwasher to stand out, thanks (in fact I just exchanged the defective dishwasher for an infinitely cheaper model (about half) that so far washes better, has better rack configuration, and isn't all that much louder.)

Finishes on hardware and plumbing will date, too. Oiled bronze seems to be replacing brushed nickel. Hmmm.

Of course, maybe a new faucet a decade down the road won't be too bad.

I think the glazing will eventually be like pickling was for a while, so I'm skipping it. That just-off-white cabinetry with the french-country feel will also date the kitchen. I think glass tiles, though beautiful, may date a backsplash. Islands on the diagonal may date a space.

My kitchen, once it's done, won't be the trendiest or most expensive kitchen out there (we're on a tight budget which is why so far I've been my own KD), but it will be pretty and hopefully last for years to come.

My husband's cousin is re-doing her kitchen, started the same time as I did. She walked in to the first place they went, said "I want that," picked out her white thermofoil cabinets, and set everything up.

Six weeks later I am still looking for the right cabinets. (Turns out I am fussy about every little detail. I have a hard line on budget, fondness for ply sides, a love of 3/4 inch shelves, 3/4 dovetailed drawers, quality hinges and slides, solid mortise-and-tenon doors, full box drawers, and good finishes. Go figure.)

I need my kitchen to look timeless because I probably won't be able to afford to re-do it in the near future (or the not-too-distant future), and it's the first thing you see at the end of the hall when you walk in the front door.

At the heart of a great kitchen is the subjective user experience the owner gets while cooking/eating/living in the space. If the user feels good and can entertain, have family over, and just live, then the kitchen can never be outdated or run the risk of feeling not trendy (try telling an 85 year old grandmother that her lime tiled kitchen with a 40 year old GE fridge is outdated or not timeless; for her it's perfect and should not change because it simply works and has yielded wonderful food and memories).

Design is subjective, by defination, but user experience or usability (in terms of how that same user or homeowner works in the kitchen) can be measured. So, there are best practices out there to lock in a timeless and functional kitchen:

- use the triangle, this will make is easy to cook in a kitchen
- use materials that will last, this will prevent needing to redesign or renovate often
- use good lighting, this will allow you to see and feel comfortable in the space.

Just some thoughts...

We built our kitchen based on 100's of hours of research and looking at pictures. Granted, we were fortunate enough to recreate the entire space. In the end I realized the "designers" had nothing over me, if I just knew what I wanted, and did my research.
Gardenweb and it's forums have given me such a resource to learn from. I dont think our remodel would have been so successfull without it.
We never even lived in the house before we remodeled it, so there was some guesswork combined with the bones.
After it was all done, our contracter hired me to work for him! I was happy to.

just some things that come to mind:
artwork - from handcarvings, drawings, to handmade ranges
quality materials - hardwood, copper, brass, marble, real glass, stainless steel
and, like others have said previously, personality, the most important characteristic of all!

I agree with much [but not all] of the above advice, and would offer this piece of my own:

Avoid single mindedness.

If there's a style or look that you love, by all means use that as the starting point, even the unifying theme. But personalize it, mix it up, don't be afraid to use elements and colors that don't strictly *fit*-- it can be the difference between a warm, homey environment and a stage set.

We redid our kitchen as part of a total house remodel in 1989/90. As a result, our kitchen is in fact, pretty dated in certain ways, yet not in others.

To recount:
in 1989, people weren't on the "Big Kitchen" kick. In fact, even master bedroom suites weren't that common except in new developer homes or suburbs. You definitely didn't find either one easily in our mixed-use, older neighborhood in the city. And open floor plans were just starting to gain traction too.

We added 2' in width and 3' in length to a small cottage kitchen. This was pushing it at the time, although now I'd desperately love to have added another 2' in length! But then again - in 1990, what we did qualified as a Big Kitchen for our cottage. Now in 2007, it has shrunk to a Medium Kitchen without moving an inch.

(must be inflation creeping up on it, LOL!)

The cabinets are laminate and the appliances are bisque. Now dated in look as the styles have shifted to wood and stainless steel. Our countertops, replaced in 2003 with beige granite-speckle Swanstone, were instantly dated by the quick shift to granite - within six months granite prices had dropped to lower levels than solid surfacing as cheaper imports from Brazil and China began to hit the market.

So the "dating" is not only in materials, but in colors. Light colors are out, darker woods and/or darker counters are in.

However, considering how the direct sunlight fades everything, I'm glad now we didn't put in wood cabs. Even the laminate has faded some, and laminate is as UV-resistant as one can get. Much as I would love to have wood cabs, the fading would be very, very bad. Some of the beechwood half-round trim on my cabs got severely sun-damaged over the years.

The sun crosses the cabs at a diagonal, so UV damage would show up quite clearly. Having never had such big windows before, I never realized how bad the UV-fading can be.

The new 99%-efficient UV windows would be an expensive, but good fix for some new owner to put in. In 2003 we had the double-pane windows coated with window film that reduces UV by 50%, which was cost-effective and sufficient for us. With a stucco house, retrofitting windows can be extremely expensive especially large picture windows that are 28Â above-grade!

What isn't dated:
Those picture windows in the back wall - 24' wide and 16' tall. Having windows that donÂt need curtains for privacy is a real luxury in the city. The natural light, emphasized by the volume of the cathedral ceiling, is truly incredible.

The remodeled 1989 layout is sensible and efficient (especially compared to what was there originally  ugh!). It works with the open plan very well. Even our RE agent, who came to appraise the property in 2003, said it wouldnÂt be worth updating the kitchen further except for replacing the laminate counters with Swanstone.

If I had a spare $75K to upgrade the cabs, counters and appliances, the layout would stay exactly the same. ItÂs a joy to cook in this kitchen and works well for one or several cooks.

We did replace the flooring though  slate-look Metroflor vinyl tiles instead of the sheet vinyl that had faded (it went from beige to white in less than 10 years!). We needed something to contrast nicely against the beautiful wide-plank oak flooring in the LR and DR.

great thread. Bump