Host: Joining us in the studio this morning is Mike of Edge Construction. Mike, how are you doing this week? Mike: Great, Sean. It’s good to see you. Host: Before we get rolling, we’re going to talk about some kitchen design trends and some really cool things coming to a kitchen near you. I mentioned the website, and it really is a great place for folks to get a feel for Edge Construction, how you work, and some of your projects. It’s a really nice starting point, isn’t it? Mike: Yeah, I think so. Before somebody calls, especially if they’re a homeowner looking for remodeling work, they’re probably doing some research. For us, the website is kind of a clearinghouse for our projects. If I were looking for a remodeler, I’d want to go on the website and see whether their designs made sense. Sometimes builders can fall into a trap where all their projects start to look the same. I don’t know if it’s ego, convenience, or if they really think that’s what people want, but we work hard with our design team to try to start fresh on every project. It’s hard to do because we’re human and we all have influences, but when a design really works well, we want to understand what made it successful without just repeating it over and over. Host: I think a lot of people know that feeling. They buy a new home, it’s exciting, it’s beautiful, and then they visit the neighbors and realize they’ve got the same house. That tunnel vision can happen in a few different ways, can’t it? Mike: It can. There may not be a hundred percent brand-new ideas, but with all the options available today, there are definitely a lot of ways to go wrong. That’s where the talent of a good designer matters—not just picking things you like, but picking things that go together and work well together. Host: And even compared to the eighties and nineties, things have changed a lot. Back then it really was cookie-cutter. Everybody had the same hardware, the same countertops, and the same cabinets. Do you ever miss those simpler times? Mike: I’ll give you a great example. For the first fifteen years of my career in Dane County, when we were doing interior woodwork, there was a good chance it was going to be oak with fruitwood stain. We basically had three colors of oak back then: natural, fruitwood, and something darker. It was simple. We kept those stains in the shop because if we needed more, it was easy. Now there are thousands of options. Back then there were hard-and-fast rules too. If you had brushed nickel in one place, everything had to match. Now there are far more options, and with that comes the potential for a lot of pitfalls. Host: That’s the thing, isn’t it? A million options sounds great until you realize there are a million ways to make a bad choice. Mike: Exactly. Designers love that there are fewer rigid rules now because they can coordinate instead of matching everything exactly, but homeowners can get intimidated. They start looking at tile and realize there are endless choices. One way designers help is by finding a starting point. Maybe a homeowner really likes Craftsman-style cabinets. That gives us direction. It doesn’t limit the whole design, but it gives us a place to build from. Host: That’s where good design help is so valuable. Instead of throwing thirty thousand options at somebody, you can say, “Here are twenty that probably fit what you’re after.” Mike: Exactly. If you come into our showroom on a selection day, the worst thing we could do is flood you with every possible option. Usually the designers have already narrowed things down based on where they think the project is headed. Sometimes we still have to widen the search, and there are times we order more samples because we’re not seeing exactly the right thing. That’s where designers really earn their keep. It’s not just about finding a look—it’s about finding a look that works with the budget too. Host: We started this conversation talking about the website, and that leads right into Houzz too. That’s been a huge resource for homeowners and for your designers to get a feel for someone’s taste and style, hasn’t it? Mike: Absolutely. Houzz is such a good idea I wish I had thought of it. It’s become a clearinghouse for information in the remodeling world. You can source products there, hover over a fixture in a photo, and find out what it is and where to get it. Homeowners run the gamut. Some people have a very clear idea of what they want, and others haven’t done any research at all. We send both kinds of people to Houzz because it’s one of the best places to start building that picture in your head. I think we have over two hundred projects on there. It gives people a great way to gather ideas. I even use a little AI sometimes to help me figure out how to phrase a search better. Host: I never thought I’d hear you say that. Mike: I didn’t figure that out on my own. But it works. Host: Let’s talk kitchens. In the last decade or so, quartz countertops feel almost groundbreaking. They’ve really become the go-to, haven’t they? Mike: They really have. Even when homeowners say they love granite and want granite, I’m often thinking they probably haven’t seen all the quartz options yet. The quartz manufacturers have innovated like crazy. They started by mimicking natural stones from around the world—Italian marbles, things like that—and now they’re also creating looks that don’t even exist in nature. Quartz is harder than granite and certainly harder than marble. If the design is good and someone doesn’t tear it out for another reason, those tops could last a very long time. Host: And there really isn’t much of a limit, is there? If someone wants a marble look, they can get that. If they want something unique, they can get that too. Mike: That’s right. There’s really no limit to what they can do. They use ground stone, bind it together, and create a super durable product. The range of design now is almost infinite. That’s exciting for designers because they can find something unique when the standard options don’t quite get the job done. Host: Are we still seeing some of the older materials too—acrylics, laminate, things like that? Mike: Yes, and they all still have a place. Acrylics were a pretty good product, but stone generally lasts longer and holds up better. Laminate has improved too. It looks better than it used to. What has really changed is pricing. Years ago, laminate was at one end, acrylics were above that, then granite, and quartz was very expensive. Now quartz has become more affordable, and there are solid options at price points that make it much more realistic for more homeowners. The quality is still there; the less expensive lines just have simpler designs. Granite is still a great product too. I don’t want to discount it at all. It just doesn’t offer as many design choices, and because it’s natural stone, the slab you get may vary from the sample more than quartz does. Host: Are we seeing quartz show up in spaces that maybe used to get a more basic material—laundry rooms, pantries, spaces like that? Mike: Definitely. Pantries in particular are not necessarily hidden spaces anymore. In some pantries, quartz can be a great choice. We’re also doing more wood tops and butcher block in the right places. In general, I think there’s a healthy movement toward natural materials. We feel good about putting stone or wood into a home. Host: Pantries really have become showpieces, haven’t they? Mike: Sometimes our pantries get more attention than the kitchen. Storage options are better now, and you can store food in ways that are attractive. We do a lot of open shelving in pantries. People are often willing to give up a little bit of dense storage to get a look they really love. They’re fun spaces for our designers because they can really shine there. Host: I still remember one pantry you did with the frosted glass door and “Pantry” stenciled on it. It was beautiful. I have to think that homeowner still shows that off. Mike: I would. Even in smaller pantries, like a three-foot-wide reach-in, we still want to make it attractive and functional. Two-foot-deep shelves where you can’t see what’s in the back may get the job done, but is that really how you want to live? Host: Another overall kitchen trend seems to be that people are not trying to cram cabinets into every possible inch anymore. There’s more emphasis on how the space looks and feels, not just how much it can hold. Mike: Yes. A kitchen still has to do all the practical things a kitchen does, but if you spend a lot of time there—especially if you love to cook—you don’t want to stare at four ugly walls. There’s an entertainment side to kitchens now too, so the pantry, the finishes, and the overall feel matter more. Years ago we talked about how big a deal it was just to convince homeowners to give up an upper cabinet or two for a bigger window. Now more people are willing to do that. We’ve seen the same thing with open shelves. Host: And you’ve had projects where that really paid off. Mike: We did one on the west side in a very small kitchen. The ceilings weren’t very tall, and the homeowners ended up with only one upper cabinet above the refrigerator. At first I thought, where are they going to put everything? But when it was done, with the open shelves and the bigger window, it looked fantastic. They were entertainers, and the kitchen covered what they needed it to do. It was attractive and functional. Host: Islands seem to have become part of almost every kitchen conversation too. Mike: Absolutely. If we can get an island in, we usually try. We even have reduced-depth cabinets that help us fit an island into smaller spaces. A lot of times that means straightening out a kitchen, maybe eliminating a corner cabinet, and making the space work better. Islands give you storage, prep space, cooking space, and a place for people to gather. In our house, people always congregate around the island. They’re just conducive to socializing. Host: It does seem like one of those ideas that makes so much sense you wonder why it wasn’t always there. Mike: In very large old houses, you sometimes saw islands, but in more average homes the progression was more from nothing, to a peninsula or breakfast bar, and then eventually to islands once design started opening things up. A lot of older kitchens had a stove on a wall with maybe eighteen inches of counter on either side, and that just doesn’t work very well. If we can fix that with an island, we suddenly get a big expanse of countertop, better prep space, better cooking space, and you’re not staring at a wall the whole time. Host: For people thinking about a kitchen remodel, what’s a good starting point? Mike: We’ll come out and talk no matter what, but ideally people do a little homework first. It just makes the time more productive. Not everyone has the time or inclination, and that’s okay, but I do think it helps to gather ideas and start figuring out what you like. Taste changes over the life of a house. Things you’re drawn to now might be very different from what you liked when you first moved in. Sometimes a home becomes a hodgepodge over time, and that’s exactly when it’s good to get a designer involved.