Remodeling Your Kitchen? Make Sure Your New Kitchen is Beautiful and Functional

Remodeling a kitchen can be a huge undertaking. Lighting, cabinets, pulls, countertops, backsplashes, islands…. the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, people sometimes get so caught up in making their kitchen beautiful that they forget about making it functional. Here are a few tips to make sure you’ll love your newly remodeled kitchen.

Think about the flow of your kitchen

If you’re doing a full kitchen renovation, you may want to consider the overall flow of the kitchen and how that works with your family’s lifestyle. What exactly does that mean?  Well, a few things. First, what kind of kitchen do you want?  An eat-in kitchen?  One built for entertaining? The ability to accommodate your mad baking skills?  Consider how you currently use your kitchen and what would make your life easier and more functional. Maybe it’s adding or expanding an island. Perhaps it’s additional storage or the absolute must-have double oven. Where should these items be and what’s the overall flow of the kitchen area to best suit that? If you can possibly change the footprint of your kitchen or rearrange where appliances, sinks, etc. go, this is one area that definitely requires a kitchen remodel specialist to help you with. Space planning when you’re doing this kind of remodel is critical to get just right.

Storage:  a place for everything, and everything in its place

It used to be that your kitchen had two storage options:  cabinets or drawers. But now?  Wow!  The sky is the limit! You can now renovate your kitchen to accommodate any storage need, and don’t necessarily need to change the footprint of the kitchen to do it. Tired of digging around the spice shelf to find that one ingredient? Add a pullout spice rack right next to the stove. Handy! Swimming in a sea of constantly mismatched Tupperware? Add a food storage container organizer. Maybe you’re one of those cooks that uses every pot in your collection and you need them close at hand. Add a peg board system for pots and pans. Here are a few other options to consider upgrading your kitchen’s storage:

1. Silverware inserts

2. Sliding shelves

3. Wine racks

4. Cabinet door corkboards

5. Baking sheet/tray storage cabinet

6. Appliance cabinets

7. Trash bin pullout

To decide which options are best, think about your day-to-day cooking habits and needs so you know which kinds of storage will work best for you.

Pulls and lighting:  details make all the difference

Pulls and lighting tend to almost be an afterthought in many kitchen redesigns, but that’s such a mistake! These details can make the difference between cooking being a chore or a pleasure. Let’s start with the underappreciated cabinet and door pulls. Sure, they can lend a sense of style but before you pick handles and pulls based on their looks, really think about how you use your kitchen. Highly detailed, ornate handles and pulls, while beautiful, will catch every bit of flour, butter or whatever you have on your hands when you cook. And skinny, underwhelming hardware just screams “I didn’t even try to choose nice hardware”. Before you decide on hardware, go try out some hardware at an interior design showroom. Open those drawers, pull open those cabinets. See how it feels and if the style will work for you.  And don’t forget about the other hardware; hinges and slides. Consider investing in soft closing cabinet hinges and drawer slides and avoid the possibility of slamming a drawer or cabinet door shut and causing damage. Want to up the cool factor?  Try self-closing hinges and slides, which has a spring built into it so when you start to close a cabinet door or drawer, the spring, at some point, takes over and pulls it closed with a tap.

Lighting is the next must-consider item. Sure, you want lighting that’s beautiful and functional, whether you’re looking at under cabinet lighting or pendant lighting, to add elegance while being able to see what you’re doing while you cook, but don’t stop there!  Why not get lighting IN your drawers?  Yes, it’s possible! You can get drawers and cabinets that light up when you open them and shut off when you close them. How’s that for a cool factor?

A few more ways to up the functionality factor in your kitchen with style

Still looking for more ways to make your kitchen remodel beautiful and functional?  Consider these:

1. Dishwasher drawers – great for prep areas and butler pantries

2. Pot filler – why lug your pot to the sink for water when you can bring the faucet to your pot?

3. Warming drawer – not the one below your stove where you stick your cookie sheets, but a true, functional, easy to access warming drawer with adjustable temperatures

4. Bar sink – A secondary sink for a large kitchen, prep station or a butler’s pantry

When you’re ready to remodel your kitchen, work with your interior design professional to create the kitchen of your dreams! Bon appetit!

#beauty #function