MAKE YOUR DREAM KITCHEN A REALITY

Designing a Kitchen That You Will Love To Cook In

It’s important to carefully plan your kitchen, whether it’s a new kitchen that you are designing, or a remodel of your old kitchen, to make it a space that you will enjoy cooking in and be proud of when you have dinner guests over. This is the time for you to plan for both comfort, style, and most importantly to make it a highly functional kitchen for the cooking that you enjoy. We have 17 tips for you to consider when you start planning and designing your dream kitchen.

17 Great Tips for Designing a Kitchen That You Will Love

When you think about the center of your home, the first thing that most people think of is the living room. But, the central part of the home when it comes to function is actually the kitchen. Many hours of your day is spent in the kitchen, starting with breakfast for a quick in and out as family members start their day. It starts there, then transitions throughout the day for tea or coffee, lunch, snacks, dinner, and desert. With so much activity, it’s important to design a kitchen around functionality, speed, and usefulness.

1. An Organized Kitchen Lessens the Number of Steps

When you design your kitchen, think about those things that you do a lot, and things that you do together, and try to place those things close together. A good example of this is when you start your day off with making coffee. It’s a good idea to keep your coffee mugs, grounds or kcups, creamer, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, all close together within reach. Another thing to think about is when your meals are done, the next step is putting away the leftovers. If you keep the aluminum foil, plastic wrap, tupperware containers all close to where you will use them, it saves you precious time by keeping them organized and close to where you need them. k

2. Roomy Walkways In Your Kitchen

Make sure that when you desing the floor plan of you rnew kitchen that you give yourself plenty of room between your cabinets, island, appliances, and bakers rack. If you have been in a cramped kitchen before, you will know exactly why this is important. A kitchen that is too tight and not enough room to walk around in can lead to dropping hot plates, or just feeling cramped, so you won’t enjoy your new kitchen as much. Give yourself plenty of room! A good rule of thumb here is never go below 36 inches wide, and try to give yourself 42 to 48 inches for the ultimate dream kitchen.

3. A Smooth Flow For Traffic in Your Kitchen

Traffic flow is another important thing to think about when you design your dream kitchen. You don’t want to get bumped when you are cooking a hot dish by the kids that come running through to grab a yogurt out of the refrigerator. Design your kitchen so someone can come into the kitchen, grab something from the fridge, and get back out the way they came, without having to bump into the chef. Make sure your stove is not placed along a busy path of people running through the kitchen to get to another part of the house.

4. Adding An Island to Your Kitchen

Having an island in your kitchen is a great way to separate the areas that family members may congregate in for snacks as your cooking. It separates the socially active part of the kitchen, from where you make the magic happen in the kitchen, giving you your space to both be a part of the conversation but just separate enough to keep doing what you are doing. An island adds a great place for conversation, snacks, quick meals, and so much more. It can also add additional useability to your kitchen if you want to have your sink or a dishwasher housed in your kitchen island. You could add a cooktop to give you more cooking space as well. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of room to do it all in.

5. A Kitchen With No Corners

Well it may not be possible to not have corners in your new kitchen, but you can think about corners during the design process and make the best use for them. Think about how your cabinet doors will open, and how your appliance doors will open. Make sure you lay out your cabinets and appliances to that they won’t end up with limited mobility because they are in or too close to a corner. It’s a good idea to keep your appliances away from corners, and make sure doors won't be banging into each other if they both open at the same time, which happens a lot in a busy kitchen. You can also think about using lower profile handles and knobs that will help give them more mobility when opening up near corners, or other appliances and cabinets as well.

6. Where to Place the Microwave

Where you place your microwave can make it more or less useful for everyone in the house. For the older teens and adults in the home, having the microwave about 15 inches above the countertop is a good place. If you have smaller younger ones in the house, you may be better off having a microwave setup below the contertop so that everyone can reach. Otherwise you may end up with kids climbing up on chairs to use the microwave, which can lead to accidents.

7. Give Yourself Plenty of Landing Space Near Appliances

It’s important to give youself plenty of space to be able to quickly place hot items coming out of the oven or microwave. It’s also important to have some space to prep your ingredients. When you design your kitchen, give yousefl atleast 15 inches of countertop space on each side of your cooktop, as well as your refrigerator. It’s also nice to have some room around smaller appliances like coffee pots and your toaster to prepare your coffee, and toast.

8. Designing Your Countertops for Your Dream Kitchen

When you start thinking about the countertop space, you should consider the types of meals that you like to make. Home chefs that like to cook a lot for their large family, or group of friends, will need more counter space. It’s a good idea to plan for more space between the stove and the sink, as this is where a lot of the work is done.

9. Adding More Appliances to Help Get Things Done

If you like to cook for large groups, or if you have a large family, you may want to think about adding more appliances. Double ovens, or larger cooktops with more burners will give you more space to cook. A second microwave, or toaster oven, can help as well.

10. Organizing Your Cooking Space

Organize your kitchen to store your cooking essentials in the space directly by the stove. Add a cabinet, or a shelf, behind your stove to store your oils, spices, and cooking utensils to make them more accessible. Plan your kitchen cabines to give you some extra space to store your cookware close to the stove and cooktop. Some people even like to add S-hooks on the side of their range hood to hang their most often used post and pans for easy and quick access.

11. Extra Hose To Fill Your Kitchen Pots

Adding a swing out tap by your stovetop, or a longer hose in your kitchen faucet that can reach the stovetop, will enable you to fill up your pots and pans right on the stove. This is an extra convenient and time saving way to fill up your large pots and pans and not have to carry them over to the stove after your fill them up.

12. Add A Magnetic Knife Strip to Your Kitchen

A magnetic knife strip on your backsplash in your kitchen where knives are commonly used will save you time and make them more accessible as well. Place it where you do a lot of your meal preparation. This will make it easier to get to the knives you need, and also keeps those dangerous knives out of reach of your children as well.

13. Add A Kitchen Message Center

Setting up a message center in your kitchen will help the whole family stay on task and be reminded of things that need to get done. A bulleting board can keep everyone in the loop on day to day tasks. It’s also a good place to keep an ongoing grocery list, or list of wants and needs of the family. This is also a good place for reminders about chores, and appointments as well.

14. An Electrified Kitchen

Well, maybe not electrified, but plenty of outlets is a must. When you are designing your kitchen, make sure you have plenty of outlets for your appliances, for your kitchen gadgets. Think about where you will need to plug in a blender, a mixer, an electric carving knife. Also keep in mind any type of decorating you do throughout the year, are there any areas of the kitchen that may need some extra plugs? You may also want to throw in some usb type outlets, or some outlets for where you may want to plug in your laptop.

15. A Kitchen With Quick Clean Up

One thing that is near and dear to my heart is to have a kitchen that is easy to clean up. Put some thought into what will make it easier for you. A stove top with a flat surface area is easier to clean than a stove with the trays and coils. A referigerator that has glass shelves is easier to clean than one with wire shelves that let drips and crumbs fall all through the different levels. Flush set or undermount sinks don’t have the rim that traps crumbs that can be difficult to clean. Matte finishes look cleaner so they require less cleaning, as compared to glossy finnishes.

16. Plan Your Kitchen Colors

If you have a small kitchen, you will want to use light colors as dark colors make the room look smaller. Use soft shades on your cabinets to make the room look bigger as well. Incorporate simple window treatments to let in more natural lighting to brighten up the space.

17. Design A Focal Point for Your Kitchen

Design your kitchen so your guest will have a focal point to key in on. Make it draw their eyes in to make a bold statement. Planning for some flashy backsplash tile, fancy flooring, a gorgeous large range hood, bright kitchen cabinets, or patterned countertops can all serve as the element to grab your guests attention. Once you select the focal point, you can add to that area with some quieter types of details, but still beautiful and eye catching to give your kitchen an amazing style.

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ’s

How much does a typical kitchen remodel cost?

The size of the kitchen, and your tastes and style will dictate what the costs will be. A typical small scale remodel will cost about $10,000 to $20,000. A mid scale remodel, with some upgraded appliances and finishes will cost you about $20,000 to $50,000. A high end kitchen remodel can cost between $70,000 and $100,000.

How do you remodel a small kitchen?

Planning a remodel for a small kitchen is important to consider how you will use the space in more efficient space saving ways. If you are going to do your remodel yourself, it’s important to make sure you have the necessary tools and materials to be successful. If you can afford to higher a kitchen designer, they will be able to incorporate ways to make more useable space and get your more organized as well to make you really enjoy your new kitchen.

How do you budget for your kitchen remodel?

When you are planning your budget for your kitchen remodel it’s important to make sure you thing about all apsects of the remodel, and where you want to spend more money vs where you want to save money. Cabinets, countertops, and appliances are the most important place to spend a little more when you can. Then you can think about the rest of the remodel, which includes the flooring, backsplash, lighting, the sink, and the fixtures. Lastly, you should consider the decorative touches, such as paint, window treatments, and artwork. You can always add more to this last area over time. El Dorado County Home Builders highlights products and services that you might find interesting. We frequently receive free products from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. If you click a link on this page, then go on to make a purchase, we might receive a commission – at no extra cost to you, and this does not impact the purchase price of any products that you may purchase.