This post is sponsored by GE Appliances
Let’s be blunt here, a good redesign for a kitchen starts with you and the beginning of the project. Before anything else is done, before picking out materials and styles and furniture – the very first step is the design plan. If you don’t have that, you might as well forget everything else! In this guide below, we will be talking about redesigning your kitchen and how to do it properly so that you end up with a kitchen you really love and can use efficiently.
Traffic Or Lack Thereof
In most homes across the country when it comes to kitchen and foot traffic, this is the #1 redesigning question you need to think about. A kitchen is going to be a centralized part of the house. Even if you aren’t in the kitchen using it, chances are you have to pass through the kitchen to get to other rooms in the house. Because of this, it’s important to take note where the front door is in conjunction with the back door as well as where the driveway ends or the garage begins. If you have a driveway with a garage in the back of the house, you will probably be using that back door quite a bit. Instead of traipsing in mud, dirt and germs, you need to think about adding a room like a mudroom before the entrance of the kitchen. This is a place where you can wipe your shoes; take your shoes off, place umbrellas, book bags, briefcases and more. Mudrooms also act as a place for storage items, a buffer from cold air and they allow you to remove all of this from the kitchen space and use a kitchen for what a kitchen was meant for – eating, cooking, dining events, etc,
The Work Triangle – Adding Efficiency and Comfort
When a kitchen is designed or in this case redesigned you would want to use a sort of rule of thumb, called the work triangle. Here is a real world example as well as a blueprint example.
A work triangle is defined by the space between a sink, range, and a fridge. The design you create is going to allow for comfortable space between all three objects and will also allow for two people to move throughout these objects without bumping into each other. A work triangle does not have to be perfect but the rule of thumb in terms of space is that all 3 legs of the triangle should be adding up to between 12 and 26 feet altogether.
Necessities For The Kitchen
When you redesign your kitchen you also need to look at other spaces and designs for the kitchen. For example, opening your fridge, the door should not push up into anything or not allow you to open the door fully. Just when you think you won’t need to open it ALL the way is the day you need to and can’t! Other things to consider; cabinet doors and allowing them to open freely, laundry doors or pantry doors that are adjacent to the kitchen (or IN the kitchen). Make sure any doors can open freely without being jabbed into another object or item. Also, make sure that doors open properly ie; the hinges are on the left or the right; this can cause aesthetic appeal or look downright out of position! Other things to think about are oven or stove tops; these should be on an external wall rather than in the middle of the room so you can install an exhaust and ventilation system easier. Placing the dishwasher right by the sink is also important – you don’t want to be doing the dishes and have to walk more than one step to the dishwasher. This creates a watery mess and will become frustrating over time. Lastly, if you are creating a sort of gourmet Chef Kitchen, make sure that you are designing for efficiency AND function. This means that you allow everything to be within walkable range in an organized manner, but it also means you should use sturdy and reliable materials like wood or porcelain tile flooring and natural stone counters so they won’t bubble and bleed because of extreme heat.
Enough Storage
If you’ve ever had a kitchen before with very little storage, this was probably on your list of wants for your new kitchen. Make sure that you have ample cabinets for glassware/drinkware, plates, bowls and more. Make sure you have enough drawers for forks and knives, kitchen tools and utensils. Make sure you also have cabinets, counter space or drawers for other bigger items too like a kitchen-aid mixer, a blender, your toaster and more. It’s better to reduce style and add space for storage than to increase style and minimize storage space.