You’ve scoured home decor magazines. You’ve spent hours on Pinterest. You have looked at a million pictures of other kitchens. You are ready to plan your dream kitchen.
Where do you start? Here are my top tips to planning your dream kitchen:
1. What’s your style?
Face it – you likely, hopefully, are only going to renovate your kitchen once. Make it something you can live with for a long time. Think about your style. Is it traditional?
Or more modern?
Find your style and go with it.
2. Think about what works and what doesn’t in your current kitchen.
When designing your dream kitchen, think about what you like and don’t like about your current kitchen. Keep what you like; fix what you don’t.
For example, our former kitchen had this high shelf on which the microwave sat.
Given that I’m 5’2”, that shelf wasn’t working for me, because I couldn’t see into the microwave and I was holding hot food over my head to get it out of the microwave. When we designed our dream kitchen, we made sure that the microwave was lower and not on a shelf like this.
3. A place for everything and everything in its place.
Storage in a kitchen is key. Make sure you not only have enough storage, but that it’s functional for your family.
For example, as a short person, I prefer having the dishes in drawers under the countertop, rather than in a high cabinet.
Keep everything handy, close to where you’ll use it. For example, my knives are in a drawer right under where I usually prepare food.
If you have the space, a pantry provides a lot of storage.
4. Islands in the stream.
If you have room for it, an island is really helpful for food preparation and for storage.
Even if you can’t afford an original, custom-built island, you can make one! Use an old dresser or desk and make your own.
5. Being color-safe.
I love color, but when I designed our new, dream kitchen, I used neutral cabinets, with color in the accents.
That way, changing the color doesn’t mean ripping out the kitchen! I just have to change the accessories in the room.
What would you include in your dream kitchen? Leave a comment and tell us!
