The WoW Style

If you enjoy cooking (and eating), the kitchen in your home is incredibly important. Not only is it considered the heart of the home, but it’s also a place for the entertainers and inner-chefs among us to express some creativity.

Unfortunately, a poor setup can significantly limit your kitchen’s potential. When people are looking at buying a new home, one of their top priorities is an ideal kitchen.

However, if you find yourself in the position of remodeling your home or building a new one, you may be able to design your kitchen from scratch. What better way is there to make sure it’s perfect?

Just be sure to keep a few things in mind.

Things to Keep in Mind While Designing Your Ideal Kitchen

If you’ve ever designed home or planned a remodel, you know things are much different on paper than they are in reality. Something may look good and seem perfect in a blueprint, but turn out to be an inconvenient nightmare in practice. Avoid these honest mistakes by taking a moment to go over the necessities of an ideal kitchen before you start.

1. Open to the Rest of the House

A kitchen that’s built with few or no walls boxing it in is open to the rest of the house, which can make preparing dinner much less isolating. For example, if the family is in the living room watching TV together, a kitchen that’s open to the rest of the house allows you to continue being part of what they’re doing while cooking. This could also mean your continuing involvement in conversations, helping with homework, etc.

While most newer homes are built with an open floor plan, some older homes may not be privy to this concept. However, if you’re already in the process of remodeling, it may not be a bad idea to knock down some walls. Just be sure to hire a licensed contractor and be sure to take all the necessary precautions, especially if the walls are load-bearing.

2. Plenty of Counter Space

One of the biggest complaints people have about living in a house with a small kitchen is that there never seems to be enough counter space. Imagine trying to prepare an elegant and complex dinner for your friends and family and not being able to multi-task due to lack of counter space.

When designing your ideal kitchen, think about the room you’d need and plan for extra. This also means keeping all of the countertop appliances in mind. For example:

• Microwaves
• Toaster oven
• Toaster
• Espresso machine, coffee grinder, coffee pot
• Ice maker
• Juicer, blender
• Crockpot, pressure cooker

3. Convenient Layout

Next, think about how you want to layout your ideal kitchen. If you’re one for making extravagant meals full of different ingredients, where do you want the prep area in regards to the fridge? In regards to the stove and oven?

How your kitchen can be laid out most conveniently based on your lifestyle? This may also mean orienting the prep counter in a position where you can easily see the TV so you don’t miss any of the big game. This may even mean putting a small TV in your kitchen.

4. Island or No Island?

A big decision you need to make when designing your ideal kitchen is whether or not you want an island countertop. There are many pros to putting an island in the middle of your kitchen, but there can also be cons.

First, you need to consider the size of your kitchen. Putting an island in a smaller kitchen could increase counter and storage space but could also look cramped and cluttered. An island can also serve as a separate space to place major appliances such as the kitchen sink, dishwasher, stove and/or oven.

5. The Right Appliances

Next, when you design your kitchen, you need to start budgeting for appliances. How much do you want to spend on them? Do you want top-of-the-line appliances, the most energy-efficient, or both?

In terms of interior design, the aesthetics of your appliances can make or break your entire design.

Stainless steel appliances have been quite popular for a while now. However, people are also enjoying vintage looks with vibrant, attention-grabbing colors. Alternatively, people are also quite fond of the ultra-modern look, which can call for all white appliances.

6. Room for Entertaining

One of your top considerations for designing your ideal kitchen is providing the right environment for your lifestyle. For many people, this means creating the perfect space for entertaining guests.

As suggested before, you’ll want to make sure you have an open layout that will allow you to converse with people in the other common areas of the house. However, the ideal entertaining space also requires plenty of room for people. This could be in the kitchen itself, the connected dining room, additional seating at the island, etc.

7. Plenty of Storage

Concerning practicality, one of the most important factors for creating an ideal kitchen is building in enough storage space for food, dishes, cookware, and anything else you need.

This can be especially important if you have a family, which typically requires keeping more food on hand. However, extra storage can also be great for people who like to coupon shop, shop in bulk, or entertain.

To ensure you have sufficient storage, you should consider installing high-quality kitchen cabinets. Cabinets are not only important for storage, but proper cabinetry can also improve the entire design of the whole kitchen. High-quality cabinets will also increase the value of your kitchen, and in turn, your home.

8. Aesthetics

Finally, your ideal kitchen has to meet your standards in terms of aesthetics. What do you want it to look like? Is there a theme?

We spoke briefly of different styles of appliances, but your design extends far past your fridge and stove. For example, what type of flooring do you want? Should you opt for laminate flooring, linoleum, or hardwood?

Additionally, what type of countertops do you want – granite, marble, concrete, butcher block? Will you have any backsplash tiles?

Finally, think about the colors for cabinets, walls, the ceiling, etc.

Looking for More Decor or Home Improvement Advice?

If you’re looking to remodel your home or create your ideal kitchen, we can help. Be sure to check out more of our home improvement and decor articles in our blog before you go. Good luck with your kitchen!