The kitchen is undoubtedly the heart of the home. It’s where your food is stored and prepared, and it’s probably the room in your house where you work the most. So your windows should allow you to feel comfortable and at home while you are away. Your window treatments need to complement the space and reflect your style, but at the same time they need to be durable and easy to clean.
The three main considerations for choosing your kitchen window treatments should be exposure to sunlight, privacy and decoration.
Exposure to sunlight can be desirable in the kitchen, but also painful. It is nice to have some sunlight entering the kitchen to warm the space in the winter, but in the summer the heat can become unbearable. UV rays from direct sunlight can also cause damage, such as fading of finishes, drying of wood, and washing of fabric colors. If material protection is important to you, the most cost-effective way to combat the damaging effects of the sun is to apply a UV adhesive film to your windows. If possible, it would be better to install windows with a UV protective layer from the very beginning. Beyond this, shutters and blinds can be very effective in reducing the amount of light that enters through the windows, or block it completely.
Privacy can be a major concern if your kitchen windows are visible from the outside. In an apartment building, this is probably a given. This can also be the case if your kitchen windows face a neighbor’s house or the street. To see if you can be visible to the outside world in the kitchen, turn on the lights at night and go outside. If you are concerned about how much the passers-by can see from the outside, you need to add something that can obscure the view. During the day, ideally use something that lets some light in while blocking the view from the outside, such as lace shades or a type of one-way mirror privacy film. You can also choose to install frosted glass, as you can choose for your bathroom.
Practical considerations aside, ideally you’ll want to find a good balance between form and function. The hands-on home improvement enthusiast in your life may be a wiz at handling the functionality of your window treatments, but it’s up to you or your interior designer to make sure the perfect kitchen windows also look stylish. If the functionality is already taken care of, everything else you add can be decorative. But even here it is helpful to keep it as simple as possible, so that nothing is in your way unnecessarily when using the space. Opening and closing curtains, blinds or shades should be easy as pie; bonus points if you can easily do it with one hand.
With all this in mind, you can go about choosing the ideal window treatment for your kitchen. Here are a few options, and their attributes:
Bamboo blinds: Bamboo blinds are good for reducing the light from outside, but they do not give complete privacy. They also do not block UV.
Venetian blinds: Venetian blinds come in a variety of materials and colors. They are highly adjustable, and can provide full light and UV blocking when closed, and can still provide privacy when slightly open.
Shades of fabric: Fabric shades are good for providing privacy and blocking sunlight, while still allowing some warm ambient light in the case of a light color. Dark or thick shades can block the light completely. The downside is that they completely obscure your view when closed.
About the Author
This guest post was written by Apex Window Werks, a company that does home repairs and commercial windows and doors (wood only). AWWW is rated A+ by the BBB, is accepted to Angie’s list and has over 9 years of experience under its belt. A cost estimate is free, get in touch today.
