3 Distracting Design Features You Should Avoid Putting In Your Kitchen, According to HGTV Star Hilary Farr

Designing your kitchen can be a blast, especially with so many options out there. But it can also be stressful because, well, all those options. In order to focus on the important things in your kitchen design, it’s helpful to know what not to focus on — or leave out of the room altogether. 

Hilary Farr, host of beloved HGTV show “Love It or List It” and new series “Tough Love with Hilary Farr,” has her own list of design details to avoid incorporating into your kitchen because of their distracting qualities, which she revealed during a recent interview with Apartment Therapy. 

The first thing on Farr’s “not-to-do” list is making hardware a focal point. “I rarely want to make kitchen hardware a feature, especially if it’s open concept, because it becomes distracting,” Farr told Apartment Therapy. Having no hardware in her own kitchen, Farr recommends that if you do incorporate some, choose “lean and very linear hardware that will blend in with the cabinetry.”

Another design detail that Farr finds distracting in the kitchen is stained wood grain cabinetry, unless it’s a “super cool walnut that is repeated and reflected somewhere else” in the room. Farr says that stained wood grain can feel out of place and take away focus from other parts of the kitchen. 

Finally, Farr reveals a watchout when adding a lot of color into the kitchen. “ I like bringing color in, but too much of it is going to disrupt the main design of the concept,” Farr explained. Instead, you want to pick colors that complement the overall design aesthetic of your kitchen, not compete with it. 

To summarize, the HGTV pro wants you to think twice before you add hardware, stained wood grain cabinetry, and a lot of color into your kitchen. After all, you want to love the kitchen you cook, sit, eat, relax, and hangout in — no stress involved.