My answer is based upon what I see on my jobs, which often involves a collaboration of ideas based upon client needs and desires. I don't always see the practicality in what people are asking for, but we try to give people what they want. I will usually speak up if I see a train wreck coming, but for the most part kitchens are based upon individual client feedback. Here is a top 5 list of what clients have been asking for: I have seen a lot of kitchens drawn with two islands. Not sure where this trend started, but of course this only works in very large kitchens. I personally would rather see an island and an eating area. The two island concept is for familes that do a lot of large scale entertaining. It works well for catered parties when a kitchen staff is present. A lot of clients are asking for wine refrigerators, in addition to regular refrigeration. Sometimes these units are in the regular kitchen triangle, sometimes in side rooms or butler's pantries. Glass tile is very popular right now. There are great looking, newly introduced options at the tile stores. Also, clients are seeing these options and bringing pictures of various glass designs and asking, " where can we put this". I do like the glass trend, it's a very practical choice for backsplashes and creates a nice transitional look. Kitchen faucets are being introduced with great new features. The pull out faucet is very popular and always on client's wish lists. There is also the newer "touch technology" which I think was made popular by the various cooking networks. Moen has what they call MotionSense, which basically is a sensor that is activated by a touch or a wave of the hand for " hands- free" convenience. Finally, I get many clients asking for a blend of styles. Right now we are just finishing up a kitchen where the homeowner wanted a vintage/modern feel. She had a beautiful, restored vintage stove that she felt strongly about re-using. I was actually surprised at how well this turned out. It's really my favorite thing in the kitchen. There are many modern elements like cork flooring, two dish washers, huge fridge and freezer all combined with this shiny, white vintage stove. It worked, I was surprised. That's my top 5 list. I look forward to seeing other ideas. Thanks for the question. Charmean Neithart

Hi periwinklebloo, Little bit late to answering your question. A homeowner would use Houzz to create ideabooks, collate their ideas with professionals they are working with when renovating, designing etc. Professionals however are a professional Designer/Architect/Builder etc that use Houzz to collaborate with homeowners, feature the projects they have worked on recently and showcase themselves with industry professionals. Houzz is a place for home design and renovation, it isn't necessarily targeted towards commercial design, though there are a lot of professionals on Houzz that are both residential and commercial. I hope this answers your question (a few years late...)!

Hi there Jaspreet - I'd recommend you create different ideabooks for living, dining, bed 1, outdoor etc and start by simply flicking through Houzz and saving any relevant photos you like to their respective ideabook. It will then be easier for people to help out and offer their thoughts as they will have a better idea of your style and vision. Alternatively, we do have a professional directory of interior designers and decorators if you were thinking more along the lines of hiring a professional. Good luck, keep us updated!

I also like mixed timbers, it can look very stylish, particularly you don't want your furniture the same timber as your floor, we had a lot of jarrah and mahogany timber furniture in our last house with light bamboo floors, I loved it. In this house we have jarrah boards on the floor and with all our dark wood furniture it looked dark and austere, so I have painted some of the furniture and on sold the antiques (I felt would be a crime to paint) and I have also purchased some sofas with light oak waxed legs to go on my jarrah floors in the room my favourite mahogany furniture is still with us. I am loving how it is coming together ..work in progress