New Year's Resolutions for Your Kitchen, Part II

Kitchens are typically the costliest and most challenging rooms in the house to remodel. They touch on each of your home’s mechanical systems, which involves hiring multiple accredited tradesmen or becoming a very knowledgeable do-it-yourselfer. They may also have an important impact on your home’s resale value. You want to maximize both your return on investment and pleasure of this space when you choose a new kitchen project.

More: New Years Resolutions For The Kitchen, Part I

In Detail Interiors

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 1: Provide good ventilation

You may not wish to see your kitchen’s port hood. You may not wish to listen to it. But, make sure you have the right power for your cooking equipment and vent outdoors if at all possible.

Poor ventilation issues your house, furniture, family and pets to excess grease, odors, steam and other unpleasant cooking byproducts.

Jamie Gold, CKD, CAPS

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 2: Do not sacrifice function for type

This kitchen did not just deliver the style the client wanted, it gave this particular homeowner, who likes to entertain, a strategically zoned, highly functional space to cook, serve and collect.

This kitchen has a cooking zone, a food storage zone along with a prep cleanup zone. Everything she wants for those tasks is within easy reach, saving steps when she is preparing to entertain guests in your home.

Jamie Gold, CKD, CAPS

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 3: Do not contract island Stress

Many kitchens, such as the one in this holiday home I designed, are simply too small for islands. If you do not have enough room to walk or function around one, then do not try to cram one in! A peninsula or rolling cart will function better for your space.

If you do have room for an island, do not outsized it to the stage it cuts off circulation between your work zones.

Also, remember to plan any island seats you desire for its non-working facet, with enough room behind for someone to walk by.

Witt Construction

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 4: Do not dismiss lighting needs

An under-lit kitchen does not work nicely. It needs natural, general and task lighting to operate and look its best. Do not relegate lighting into an afterthought. Plan it.

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 5: Enhance space

I will stop whining this year about the size of my kitchen and make the most of unused space, such as bare ceiling and walls, to increase its storage potential.

Bud Dietrich, AIA

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 6: Pay attention to electric needs

Small appliances as well as the sockets they require are details of modern life. If you want your kitchen to perform at peak ability, you need to plan on your electricity needs. Your island and backsplash need sockets, but you do not necessarily wish to see them breaking up a beautiful tile design or cabinetry panel. Plan ahead.

John Lewis

Pull-Out Recycler Bin – GBP 69.95

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 7: Start recycling

You know that recycling isn’t difficult to do nowadays, and you wish to hand your kids a better planet someday, but maybe you just have not gotten around to it yet.

Pull-out dual cans are a simple alternative, one I design into every kitchen. The recycling may tucks behind the garbage can, and that means you’re not taking up any more functional space, I guarantee! Both cans take standard-sized trash bags, but that I put a reusable grocery bag in my recycle bin, helping reduce waste even more.

Amazon

Kidde Multi Purpose Fire Extinguisher – $19.99

Kitchen Planning Resolution No. 8: Be prepared for emergencies

No one ever thinks it’ll happen to them. Unfortunately, house fires happen all of the time, and many start in the kitchen. A small purchase that may sit in the rear of a nearby cupboard and a couple minutes of undersanding how to use it could save your house.

More:
Kitchen Tech: Slip Sliding Away
The Well-Concealed Kitchen
Nice Item: A Wine Fridge Right Where You Want It

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