area rugs with pads, lined curtains or valances at least, acoustic paint and caulk, upholstery where applicable. Jejvtr spoke to the "rough in" stage.Hard to go back, so....Walls and floors are some of the biggest areas you can address-think shelves with books...rugs..look at the "bare surfaces".

Thanks jejvtr,

All good points. Thankfully, I'm not dealing with plumbing noise, footsteps, or noise from other floors or rooms. It's just a sense of echoing when having conversations in the kitchen. There's lots of insulation, etc., but just more hard surfaces that noise is ricocheting off of. I'm hoping that rugs, etc. can help, although I may be wrong....now I need leads for interesting floor cloths, rugs, etc. And maybe something I haven't even thought of.

Our entry has a 2-story ceiling and we used to have quite a bit of echoing. Rugs and a large art quilt on the wall have really helped. Try some soft art on the walls in addition to the rugs and window treatments. HTH!

Have you posted your finished kitchen yet? It's pretty hard to make suggestions for window treatments, rugs, chair cushions, pillows or whatever without seeing the space.

Any fabric you can add will help to absorb sound. Especially if it's lined. If you have chairs or bar stools you should consider upholstering them. Also you may want to consider sound absorbing foam mounted the the underside of tables and chairs.

Thanks to all. I'd post pictures if I could figure out how....and even though I'm sure it's me, I can't find instruction. But in general, I have a 14x14 kitchen with only an island for furniture and really no empty walls! I think the answer is padded stools, and then I need some very cool runners, rugs, mats, whatever, that will absorb some sound. Anyone have any leads on those? There's one wall of windows, and I think solar shades on them will help. I'm happy to post if someone can head me in the right directions. Thanks.

cooper -- if you go to the "new to kitchen forum" thread by buehl, it explains how to post photos. Would love to see your kitchen. Fabric accents, rugs are the best bet.

I'm in the same position--didn't realize how much voices would echo until we had a couple parties. 8 foot ceilings, wood floors, painted walls and glass windows, lots of hard surfaces. Also, we have some adjacent halls, which seem to funnel sound. Once I get my romans and honeycomb shades installed, this should be better, but I may always have to say "guys, take that into the other room" because DH and I are rather deaf and overloud sound is a true irritant for us--we can't listen comfortably.

Our old kitchen had vinyl flooring and wallpaper, which I think might be better at sound dampening. We have ragrugs and Gel Mats already, but there is a lot of exposed hardwood on floor.

I had the same situation when we moved back into our rebuilt house. It has high ceilings and lots of wood/ceasarstone/stainless steel. Once we put in our leather furniture, an area rug and some art on the walls it was much better. Now I hardly notice it.

If you hang fabric (curtains, valance, wall art, etc.), two things will make it most effective. Choose dense, heavy woven material and hang it spaced away from the wall. This will create attenuation (reduction in sound level) twice - first as the sound passes through the material while traveling away from the source, and then again after it reflects off of the hard wall and returns toward the center of the room. This also works very well with ceilings, if you can find a way to make 'clouds' hanging up there that fit your decor. Of course, make sure to keep these flammable materials well away from any sources of heat to avoid the risk of fire!

Another thing that does help significantly is diffusion, which means creating variation on the large solid surfaces that causes the sound reflections to be scattered in various directions rather than bouncing straight back. Someone mentioned book shelves earlier, and that would be a great way to accomplish it. The different angles along with the irregularity of the sizes and shapes that are exposed will help you. Furniture, etc. does help with this as long as it does not expose its own large, hard, flat surfaces. This can even be helped to some degree by attaching regularly spaced small sections of acoustic tile (drop ceiling panels) flat against your existing ceiling. This will create variation without adding clutter to the room. Unfortunately, it's a trial & error process to find the right amount and spacing.

Both of these techniques are bounded by acoustic principles that are somewhat complex, but the main point is that they work better with high frequency sounds than with low frequencies. In other words, you will have better luck canceling an echo that sounds high, sharp, tinny, ringing, bright, hard, etc. than you will with one that sounds deep, rumbling, booming, thick, low, etc. They generally are effective with voices - but every room is different and so the results do vary. Most spaces do benefit from a combination of both techniques (absorption and diffusion).

One good way to isolate the echo and do before/after comparisons is to stand in marked locations around the room and do a single clap with your hands. Try to ignore the direct sound you hear from your hands, and listen to the echo. This should help you get a sense of low/high and possibly even the best places to put treatment if you can identify the direction you hear it coming from the strongest. Don't over think it though, without measurement equipment it can be difficult to gather specific proof.

The photo I've linked below shows some of these ideas implemented in a recording studio with a specific company's products (Auralex) with which I have no affiliation. Probably not the right look for a kitchen, but it illustrates the concepts.

Good luck with the kitchen! I'm sure you'll find a way to beat it!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

easy to understand information

There are some tricky places you can hide sound absorbers in a kitchen. For example, if your cabinets don't go all the way to the ceiling, you can get some polyester pillow stuffing and blanket the tops of your cabinets with it behind the crown. It will get dusty and need to be pulled down and washed occasionally but it will kill that high "ping" echo that happens as a sound repeatedly bounces off your ceiling and your cabinet tops as they are close together.

You can also get acoustic ceiling tiles, paint them to match your cabinets, and put them on the underside of your cabinets up in the recess.

Rugs on the floor will help of course, and cloth curtains with highly textured surfaces.

Also if you put up large artwork like a painting, consider open faced with the textured canvas exposed instead of glass fronted.

Gel mats are helpful for feet as well as ears. Also, try reposition of furniture pieces--sometimes this affects bounce of sounds. Put tablecloth on a table, pads on chair seats, rug under the table. Even a few aprons, towels, etc. on hooks or rods can be helpful. Consider a small coat rack by an outside door? Consider art pieces that absorb sound--quilts and other fabric arts? Other wall hangings? As was earlier mentioned, no-glass raw paintings. Roman shades and draperies with interior padding? curtain rods that go to ceiling? Placing soft items on soffits, such as folk dolls or fabric-art bowls? Padded valences over windows? (This helped us cut sound in a different room--I stapled slices of cheap quilt batting down a board about a foot wide, then covered batting with attractive fabric. Really made a difference and created a custom, distinctive look.)

Remember that true window coverings can also help you prevent heat loss in cold climates and cold loss in air conditioning season. This means that the have two payoffs. In that room I'm describing, I made floor-length draperies, with a flannel interlining. Experiments with a thermometer that sticks to outside of window proves to me that we've cut down our heat loss.

Florantha