Larger homes generally have a more open floor plan, including a great room with the kitchen, dining room, and living room flowing seamlessly together. In this case, you will most likely have several windows in your great room with your kitchen included instead of one small window over the sink, as you find in older and smaller homes.
Things to Consider in Choosing the Right Kitchen Window Treatment
Splash Zones
The first and perhaps most important question to ask yourself is their windows in splash zones. A splash zone is any window that can come in contact with water, such as over the sink or grease, if it is near the stove. As accidents happen, food preparation areas with a window over them are also considered a splash zone. For windows in the splash zone, you need window treatments that won’t ruin with the addition of grease, food, water, and steam–and they should be cleaned easily when they are splashed. PVC-based items are water-safe and easy to clean.
If you have several windows in a great room that includes your kitchen, keep in mind that you don’t need to have the exact type of window treatment in all of your windows. Rather, there are so many different types and styles that you can find several other custom products that will complement or blend in with your splash zone choices.
You also want to choose a type of window treatment that is energy efficient to save valuable money on your air conditioning bills in the long and hot Arizona summer.
Amount of Sunlight & Heat
Another consideration is based on the amount of sunlight and heat you get in your kitchen windows. For east and west-facing windows, you get a lot of heat gain in the summer but tiny in the winter, fall, and spring. North-facing windows get twice the winter sun. South-facing windows get no direct sunlight in winter, and in the summer, they only get heat in the early morning and late afternoon. An interior designer can help you decide which types of window coverings work best for your particular situation.
Different Kitchen Window Treatments Perfect for Your Arizona Home
It would be best to consider the type of windows when choosing new window treatments for every room of your home, especially for your kitchen, to keep it cool during summer.
Window Cornices
You might consider a beautiful cornice at the top of the windows in splash zones for windows that don’t get a lot of heat and sun in the summer. Fabric cornices are a structure with the fabric of your choice permanently attached. Some of the most common shapes are straight, scallop, two-step, one-step, soft curves, arch, soft dips, multi-steps, double-dip, wide scallop, and multiple arches. A professional designer can also make you a custom design that will look amazing on your windows. You can choose to add a lovely pattern in the splash zones and then use a coordinating solid color from the pattern to put over other windows in the area. The additional windows in the area can be covered with beautiful draperies, roller shades, roller screens, or blinds of your choosing. As long as the colors coordinate between them all, you will have a professional and polished appearance. To clean a fabric-covered cornice, you merely dust it with a feather duster. If you happen to get something on the fabric and need it cleaned, a professional steam cleaner will charge a very nominal fee, and it will look brand new again afterward.
Window Valances
Kitchen window valances are much like a cornice and come in even more different styles. These are also made of fabric hanging over your windows’ top portion. Unlike a cornice, the fabric hangs freely from a drapery rod and is usually stationary. You have limitless styles of fabric valances from which to choose. Depending on the fabric you choose, you may be able to wash and dry your valances at home, wash them by hand or have them dry cleaned. Cotton and linen can be washed at home in cold water on the delicate cycle if they are unlined. Polyester and nylon may also be washed and dried at home or hand-washed and then dried. Some drapery fabrics must be dry cleaned, including valances with a lining, heading, or other embellishments on them. Tapestry fabric, furs, crushed velvet, and delicate synthetics such as rayon, taffeta, satin, suede, and brocade must also be dry cleaned.
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Roller Shades
Roller shades are a great choice for your kitchen windows. They work well with a more modern kitchen to add clean lines. They work well for windows that are not full length, and when raised, you can have an unobstructed view of your beautiful landscape outside. You can choose a solid color vinyl material that can be cleaned by wiping them down with a bit of dish soap and water to remove grease stains. You can choose roller shades with a beautiful fabric that coordinates with the vinyl shades for a cohesive look with many styles for the other windows in your kitchen area. You have thousands of fabrics from which to choose, so you will surely find one you absolutely love.
Roman Shades
Roman shades are also made from thousands of choices of fabrics available and in many styles. The flat Roman shade appears as a flat sheet of fabric when closed; when you open it, you will see folds. The hobbled or soft fold Roman shade shows soft folds when it is up or down for a more delicate and polished appearance. Cleaning Roman shades is pretty simple. You can dust them weekly to keep them looking nice. If you do happen to have a splash or something gets on them, you can blot it with club soda and a cloth immediately to keep the stain from setting. If you want to give a Roman shade a thorough cleaning and it’s a fabric that you can wash at home, you unthread it and remove it from the top headrail. Then remove all dowels or metal rods. You may wash it on a delicate cycle with cold water, but it’s best not to dry it in a dryer but lay it flat to dry before reinstalling it. If this sounds like too much work, you can have them steam cleaned or dry cleaned.
Side Panels with a Valance
If you want to add style to your kitchen, you can choose an easy-care fabric and have a side panel on each side of the kitchen window with tie-backs and top it off with a frilly valance. Again, you have literally thousands of material choices in weight, patterns, and solid colors from which to choose. If a window gets a lot of heat and sunshine, you may add a liner to make it more energy-efficient and block out the glare and heat. Since any other window treatment looks nice in combination with draperies, you can dress other windows in the area that are not in a splash zone with any hard or soft window treatment that you prefer.
Your goals for kitchen window treatments include having easy care and sturdy window treatments in all splash zones while coordinating them in the same style as nearby windows in a great room or open floor plan. They are used as a decoration in a room that is otherwise straight and hard lines as your flooring and cabinet tops. They should also give you a level of privacy if anyone can peer into your windows while controlling light as needed. Choosing custom window treatments is the best manner to achieve all of these items in your home and kitchen.
