I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting something trendy in your kitchen. Trends can be fun, and they're often how we discover new colors, materials and ideas we wouldn't have considered before.

The question is where you use them.

When I'm helping a homeowner make selections for a kitchen remodel, I think differently about something like a light fixture or cabinet hardware than I do about countertops, cabinetry or flooring. One group is relatively easy to change when your taste changes. The other becomes part of the foundation of the kitchen.

That's where I tend to be more careful.

Think About How Hard Something Will Be to Change

One of the stones we've used for countertops is Taj Mahal quartzite. It's been around for a long time, and there's a reason people continue to use it: it's beautiful and it works with so many different things.

That's the kind of quality I look for when we're choosing something that's going to be a major part of the kitchen.

Stone, cabinetry, flooring and built-ins aren't things most homeowners want to replace every time their style evolves. They're bigger decisions, so choosing materials that feel classic, warm and versatile gives you more room to change what's around them later.

That doesn't mean everything permanent has to be plain or that your kitchen can't have personality. It just means I'm thinking about how that choice is going to live with everything else in the room—not only what looks exciting right now.

Give Yourself More Freedom With the Things You Can Change

Lighting, hardware and furniture are different.

Those are places where you can have a little more fun with what's current because changing them later doesn't necessarily mean reworking the foundation of the kitchen.

Maybe you love a particular hardware finish right now. Maybe there's a pendant shape you're drawn to, or you want to bring in a piece of furniture that feels different from what you would have chosen five years ago.

Those layers can change as your taste changes.

And when the larger pieces of the kitchen work with a range of styles, you have more freedom to make those smaller changes without feeling like you need to start over.

That's why I don't really think about timeless versus trendy as choosing one side or the other. A kitchen can have both. The important part is deciding where you want to take the design risk.

Think of Your Kitchen in Layers

If you're trying to decide whether a selection is something you'll still like years from now, it can help to think about your kitchen in layers.

Start with the things that would be the biggest undertaking to change: the cabinetry, countertops, flooring and built-ins. Those form the foundation. Then look at the pieces that can evolve more easily over time, like lighting, hardware and furniture.

You don't have to predict exactly what you'll like ten or fifteen years from now. None of us can do that.

What you can do is make the harder-to-change decisions with longevity in mind and leave yourself room to evolve everywhere else.

That's especially helpful if you're improving your home over time. The kitchen you remodel today doesn't have to lock you into every design decision you'll make in the rest of the house later. A versatile foundation gives you something to build from.

Timeless Doesn't Have to Mean Boring

Sometimes homeowners hear “timeless” and think it means choosing the safest possible option.

That's not what I mean.

You can still choose beautiful stone. You can use color. You can bring in interesting materials and details that make the kitchen feel like your home. The goal isn't to remove personality so you won't regret anything.

It's to think about the lifespan of the decision you're making.

If it's something that's difficult or expensive to change, I want it to have enough versatility to keep working as the rest of your home evolves. If it's something you can change more easily, that's where you have more freedom to follow what you're excited about right now.

So when you're stuck between timeless and trendy, don't ask which one your kitchen should be.

Ask which parts of your kitchen need to last, and which parts can change with you.

That usually makes the decision a lot easier.

Danielle Perkins is the founder and principal designer of Danielle Interiors, a San Diego interior design firm helping homeowners create thoughtful, functional homes through kitchen and bathroom renovations, phased home improvements and new construction.