This is, by far, my favorite room in the home. I love a good home theater with a surround sound, a man cave with a TV that takes up the wall and plenty of games, a comfortable living room, an elegant dining room, a luxurious bedroom, and a bathroom that looks like a spa, but the kitchen is where I entertain and spend considerable time creating magic, so, yeah, I LOVE this room.
If you are already putting a lot of thought into your kitchen, I am guessing you have much the same attitude. For me, it is the epicenter of entertaining as well as spending time with family. Above all else, it is the showplace room of the home if you are a foodie, and it should be treated as such. So, today, we are going to talk about how you can create a spectacular room that satisfies your needs as a home chef (that is what I call myself) and can still entertain a crowd when it is your turn to host bourbon or wine night.
Step 1: Kitchen Elements
Take a good look at the kitchen you have… every aspect of it. Start thinking about what does work and what does not work. For instance, if you need a larger prep island. Do you need more counter space or more pantry space? Would you like your pots and pans on display or do they need to be stowed? Do you prefer to cook on gas or electric? Start going down and making notes of all these elements, then we can start to incorporate all of them into the design.
Step 2: The Layout
As I noted above, my kitchen is not only where the magic happens, but it also happens to be where I prefer to entertain. Point being, I needed a much larger kitchen with the ability to seat guests. Because we entertain in the kitchen, we also have ample wine refrigeration, glassware, and a liquor shelf. An open floor plan with no kitchen table works for this style, but we have plenty of countertop seating because we have a massive center island. There is also room to put up some high-top tables if need be.
With all of this factored in, the kitchen still respects the basic triangle working pattern that should be incorporated into your kitchen, which is an imaginary triangle that goes from the sink to the fridge to the stove. It needs to be efficient but not so constrictive that inhibits multiple people being in that area at the same time.
If you have never designed a kitchen, spend some serious time online looking at different layouts that have incorporated the features that you want in yours for ideas.
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