If you love to cook, then you know just how important a well-designed kitchen is to creating your favorite dishes with ease. Whether you cook daily for a busy family or love to re-create your favorite celebrity chef’s dishes every weekend for friends, an efficient kitchen layout, ample storage, and durable work surfaces are essential. If baking, hosting taco night, or sushi-making is your specialty, then a custom kitchen design lets you establish work zones and storage targeted to your needs. Pair this with appliances that support your cooking style and you will be ready to enjoy your time in the kitchen creating your favorite dishes.
Does your current kitchen lack any of these key elements? If so, you know first-hand just how frustrating it can be to feel limited by your kitchen’s functionality. An efficient and functional kitchen design is more than a luxury, it is a necessity when you cook regularly. Thankfully a kitchen remodel can solve these issues, and give you a kitchen that is as stylish as it is efficient.
Let’s explore the top things you need to consider when embarking on the ultimate home chef’s kitchen remodel.
Assess Your Requirements
When planning any new kitchen design, the first thing you need to do is to assess your requirements. Consider first what you like and don’t like about your existing kitchen. Do you like the layout but need to improve your kitchen cabinet functionality, storage, and countertop surfaces? Or perhaps your existing kitchen no longer fits your family’s needs and you want to expand it by removing an internal wall?
Make sure when planning your kitchen design that you look at your family’s needs today and for the lifespan of this remodel. Your young family’s needs today may be different in five years’ time when your kids are teenagers. Similarly, if your kids are older you may want to plan for aging in place to make sure your kitchen meets your own needs over time.
Look at who uses the kitchen, how often you cook, and how many people cook at one time. Consider what type of cooking you like to do and which appliances, gadgets, and tools you most frequently use. Do you cook daily, preparing family meals, lunches, and snacks? Or do you host friends for weekend gourmet feasts, where you test your culinary creativity over dinner parties? Perhaps you are the resident baker for your circle of family and friends, making cakes for special occasions and crafting holiday treats. Cater your kitchen design to fit your cooking style and you will enjoy creating your favorite dishes!
Create the Ideal Layout
The layout is the foundation of any kitchen design and serves as the starting point for your cabinet design, space planning, storage, and work areas. Find a layout that fits your needs and decide if you will work within your existing kitchen footprint or if you plan to expand your kitchen. Once you establish the ideal layout, the rest of your kitchen design will fall into place.
Start with an efficient work triangle, which establishes a work zone for cooking. The work triangle refers to the relationship between the cooktop, sink, and refrigerator, which allows you to move easily to retrieve ingredients, prepare and cook food, and clean up. It establishes an efficient workflow, where the cook can move around safely and easily. Next, create work zones for any activities that are important to you and the way you operate in your kitchen. This could include a baking zone with storage for your baking tools, a mixer lift cabinet, and a section of marble countertop for rolling out pastry and cookie dough. You can also create zones for other functions like dining, entertainment, work or study, and relaxation.
A zoned kitchen layout is even more important in a multi-functional kitchen design, especially one that is open plan. Key features like a kitchen island or peninsula can help to establish an efficient workflow in your kitchen and to separate work zones. Factor in adjacent spaces like a dining area, and add extras like a beverage bar to create a dedicated space for drink preparation.
Customize Your Storage
While storage factors into many spaces throughout the home, kitchen storage is essential. Plan carefully to make sure every inch of your kitchen is used efficiently and that all your storage needs are met. Create customized storage conveniently located exactly where you need it. For example, there is no point in having the perfect storage for your key cooking tools located on the opposite end of the kitchen from your range. These items must be stored within arms’ reach so you can access them when you need them.
Start by decluttering your kitchen to recycle or dispose of any broken, underutilized, or duplicate items. Work with your kitchen design team to assess and cater your storage plan to your needs. Your storage should incorporate a combination of cabinets and drawers with customized accessories. Some of the top storage options for today’s kitchen designs include:
- Cabinets outfitted with roll-out shelves, adjustable shelves, blind corner swing-out shelves, a Lazy Susan, or a mixer lift.
- Drawers of different sizes with dividers for cutlery, cooking utensils, or spices.
- Deep drawers with a peg system for plates and bowls, dividers for pots and lids, and space for everything from gadgets to snacks.
- Narrow pullouts in key areas, such as surrounding the range, to keep oils, spices, and cooking tools easily accessible.
- Pantry storage in either in a section of cabinetry or in a separate walk-in pantry, depending on your space and preferences.
- An appliance garage to hold small countertop appliances and gadgets that you use regularly.
Find the Ideal Products
With an efficient layout and storage in place, you can now select the key products for a kitchen design that caters to your inner chef.
Cabinetry
Cabinets are often the starting point for a kitchen design as they establish your layout, set the tone for your style, and define your kitchen’s functionality and storage. Choose a door style, material, color, and finish that fits your design aesthetic. Create a kitchen cabinet plan that includes storage solutions to meet your needs, with inserts and accessories that customize your storage. For a busy kitchen where you cook regularly, consider sticking to a simple slab or Shaker door style that is easy to clean and maintain.
Countertops
Countertops are where the action happens in a busy kitchen design, so it’s important to choose surfaces that stand up to your daily needs. Countertop workspaces are used for food preparation, plating up dishes, serving food, and dining. Depending on the size and layout of your kitchen design, you may decide to go with a single countertop material or choose more than one material. For example, select one for the perimeter and another for your kitchen island. Granite and quartz countertops offer the perfect balance of style and functionality, with a moisture- and heat-resistant material. Wood can be included in butcherblock as a food prep area, or as a tabletop end to add warmth to your design.
Appliances
If you love to cook or bake, then appliances are the tools of your trade in the kitchen. A kitchen remodel offers a great opportunity to get the right appliances to fit your needs and enhance the way you operate in your kitchen. The latest innovations in kitchen appliances can improve your food storage, preparation, cooking, and cleanup. Here are some of the key appliances to consider:
- Refrigerators and freezers should provide ample space to safely store fresh and frozen ingredients, cold drinks, and snacks. You could meet these needs in one combined appliance or add a separate beverage refrigerator, freezer, or ice maker. Another option is to add refrigerator or freezer drawers in key locations where you need to access these ingredients. Drawers are also ideal for an accessible kitchen design as they easily bring ingredients out to you.
- Cooking appliances may include a separate stove and wall oven or a range and should be high-quality models that match your cooking needs. Determine the amount of cooking space you need based on your family, cooking style, and whether you host large gatherings. Choose appliances with precise temperature controls and a combination of burners and ovens. Induction cooktops have become a popular choice as they offer efficient cooking and very easy cleanup.
- Range hoods must cover your cooking surface and effectively remove odors and steam. This is a must have in any kitchen design, and in an open plan space is essential to keep your delicious cooking odors from permeating throughout the house. Many of the latest range hoods also serve as a stylish accent with unique materials or to match cabinets.
- Smart appliances feature throughout the modern kitchen and make life more efficient by integrating with your smart devices. Refrigerators let you monitor contents without opening the refrigerator, and even reorder key ingredients for you. Smart ovens let you plan, start, and monitor cooking remotely.
What Else?
A well-designed kitchen with durable, easy-to-maintain surfaces lets you cook, create, and dine without having to worry about hot pans, grease splashes, or a spilled drink. Here are other products to consider when planning your home chef’s kitchen:
- Backsplash: Choose a backsplash material that fits your home’s style while also protecting your walls from the inevitable splashes and splatters that happen while cooking. Tile is a top choice, especially in durable materials like porcelain that are easy to clean. For a truly beautiful and low-maintenance approach go for a slab backsplash in quartz to match your countertops. This gives any kitchen a sleek appearance and can be simply wiped clean after cooking.
- Flooring: Floors bear the brunt of all traffic through your home. They also cover a large surface area that impacts your room’s style. In a busy kitchen where you cook regularly, it is also inevitable that you will spill or drop something on your floor. Wood flooring looks amazing but make sure you understand the maintenance requirements before committing to this natural surface. Tile is a top choice for its durability and easy cleaning routine. Luxury vinyl comes in wood-look planks and tile options that closely imitate the look and feel of natural materials. It is also one of the most durable and easy-to-maintain surfaces.
- Plumbing Fixtures: Faucets and sinks are essential to a kitchen’s functionality and style. A large farmhouse sink is ideal for handling big pots when cleaning up. Workstation sinks are multi-functional tools with accessories that slide in and out to let you perform multiple tasks with ease. Faucets with a pull-down spray function make food prep and clean-up a breeze, while motion sensor faucets are ideal for messy cooking or baking.
Plan Lighting for Cooking, Dining, and More
Lighting is essential throughout your home, but especially important in a multi-purpose kitchen design. Start by considering where you need task lighting to see clearly when reading recipes, chopping vegetables, and cooking food. Recessed lights, undercabinet lights, and pendants or spotlights can all serve as task lighting sources. Create a multi-layered lighting design that fits your cooking needs and other uses for your kitchen, such as hosting dinner parties, work Zoom calls, or everyday family dinners. Include multiple light sources and let your lighting fixtures do double duty with a dimmer switch or smart lighting controls. Factor natural lighting into this plan by considering your window placement vis-à-vis cooking and dining spaces.
Create Your Ideal Home Chef’s Kitchen
If you love to cook, bake, and host family and friends for meals, why not create the perfect kitchen for your needs? An efficient layout and storage paired with durable and stylish materials, multi-functional appliances, and a layered lighting plan make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. When you have the right tools at your disposal, you can let your culinary creativity run wild. Get started by contacting our team today!