Your kitchen is probably the center of activity in your home. So it needs to reflect how you live, cook, share meals, and interact with your family.

With over 370 color photos and thousands of inspirational design ideas, our All New Kitchen Idea Book delivers all the exciting choices you need to create the kitchen of your dreams.

It's the completely updated and redesigned edition of our mega best-seller Kitchen Idea Book -- with fresh, up-to-the-minute design ideas, new technology and a special emphasis on green, energy-efficient strategies.

Whether you're building new, renovating, or just planning a makeover, you'll discover all the latest styles and innovations -- brought to you by today's leading designers and architects. Plus you'll get lots of great advice on how to shape your vision and make it a reality.

Here are some of the new and different kitchen components you'll have a chance to explore:

• Innovative appliances and technology
• A wide range of cabinets and doors
• A stunning array of fixtures and faucets
• Beautiful built-ins and bookcases
• The latest counter materials
• Everything -- including the kitchen sink

There's only one way to design a kitchen that's just right for you and your family. Take a look at all the options. See how they fit your lifestyle, functional needs, and aesthetic preferences. Then, with a little creative advice, you can make it happen.

Our All New Kitchen Idea Book is the perfect place to start.

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Basic Design: Style and Layout

Chapter 2 - The Kitchen Island

Chapter 3 - Eating and Working in the Kitchen

Chapter 4 - Cabinets

Chapter 5 - Open Shelves and Pantries

Chapter 6 - Countertops, Backsplashes, and Sinks

Chapter 7 - Appliances

Chapter 8 - Floors, Walls, and Ceilings

Chapter 9 - Lighting and Windows

Resources

It's been a perfect storm of deadlines in our house this year, what with me working on this book and our older son working on college applications. At one point during this intense time, it struck me that making a new kitchen is a lot like applying to college. There's all the research -- reading, visiting, gathering opinions -- then there's the winnowing down, the decision-making, and the waiting, and all of this occurs while you keep one thing in the back of your mind -- the budget.

These days, finding the right college is all about fit, and what a good concept that is for kitchen design too. If a high-school senior carries out his college search and selection with fit in mind -- personal preferences, goals, and dreams tempered by reality -- chances are good that come next fall he'll be in a college that suits him, rather one that suits his best friend. It's the same with kitchens. Fit doesn't mean duplicating what's in your neighbor's brand-spanking-new kitchen. Nor does it mean copying the kitchen that's on the front cover of a glossy style magazine. Why shoot for trendy or popular? Forget fashion: Fit means the kitchen that's just right for you. Finding a kitchen that fits is about mixing real life with the stuff of your dreams. It's a combination of existing conditions, aesthetic preferences, lifestyle, time, and budget, and it all starts with asking yourself some crucial questions: How do you want to use a new kitchen, how would you like it to look, and what are the elements that will go in it?

Consider the layout -- in life size. Stage a virtual or actual walk-through of your cooking habits for all meals, from breakfast to holiday meals. You can chalk out a potential layout on a driveway, or use easy-to-remove gaffer's tape on the floor of your kitchen. Place real chairs around where you'd like to place a table or breakfast bar to see if you'll have the space you need to carry out typical kitchen tasks. This may seem silly at first, but you'll find that a life-size mockup is far easier to comprehend than a floor plan scaled at a quarter of an inch for every foot.

How involved will you be in the design and construction of your kitchen? Running the show will take a strong constitution, patience, the ability to juggle several balls at once, and a knack for looking into the future. For many of us, designers and general contractors may be the best guides through this process -- an experienced professional's years of experience can save hours of headache and a good deal of money. But that doesn't mean you won't benefit from staying engaged in the project and doing research. Your input will be crucial, so look into the materials that catch your eye or find online consumer critiques of products you are interested in.

As you consider the kitchen elements that are the right fit for you and your family, why not make saving energy and resources an important part of the picture? For green starters, site a kitchen addition to make the best use of sun, wind, foliage, and existing topography -- e.g., work around rock rather than blast through it. Look into installing high-performance windows for solar gain and cross-ventilation. Ask about nontoxic paints, reclaimed wood, wood harvested from sustainable forests, and formaldehyde-free cabinetry. Another easy step in saving energy is to shop for energy-efficient appliances and light fixtures. The most basic of all green tactics is to build smaller and simpler, and to eat at home in your earth-friendly kitchen.

After you determine what you are after, take your research on the road. Look in person at the products you are considering. Touch that engineered stone you've seen in magazines. Find an appliance showroom that lets you test cooktops. Ask people, and read through some online kitchen forums, but understand that for every person with love in their heart for a certain countertop material, there is someone else out there who would love to take a sledgehammer to theirs. So trust your gut. If you have a hankering for a material that has the look you love, but perhaps it isn't as tough as nails, do your research so you know what you are getting into, and then just be sure to add the word "patina" to your vocabulary.

If you've made all the kitchen decisions based on how you live, what you love, and what you can afford, it is time to head into construction. If you did the legwork with your eyes wide open and your kitchen fantasies sprinkled with reality, I'll bet you designed the kitchen that is the best fit for you. And, as with the thousands of college freshman moving into their new dorms next fall, when you move into your new kitchen, you'll know you made the right choice and will wonder how you ever lived without it.