Forget about looks and presentation, that's the easy stuff. Real kitchen designing digs well beneath the surface and examines the inner-workings of how you, your household and even guests will use the kitchen on a day-to-day, meal-to-meal and event-to-event basis.
In this article, we want to focus on personalizing your kitchen workflow. Once you've identified the ideal layout and placement of things, the rest is easy-breezy.
Kitchen Workflow Makes for Effortless Meal Prep & Entertaining
Okay, we admit that effortless might be a bit of an understatement. Stuffing all those small mushroom caps requires meticulous work no matter how awesome your kitchen layout is. What we mean, though, is that the more personalized you make your kitchen, the more intuitively you'll be able to move and navigate it when you're hard at work.
Here are a handful of questions to get you started.
Do You Cook or Do You Microwave?
If you're someone who cooks, you'll be much more interested in the arrangement of your appliances and their proximity to the range top and oven. If you microwave, you'll be more interested in shortening the distance from the fridge and freezer to the microwave, since the bulk of your meals move efficiently from one to the other.
Are You a Food Prepper or a Food Assembler?
Some people still prefer to make the bulk of their meals from scratch. This requires a lot of washing, chopping and mixing - which means it's nice to have the refrigerator in the midst of abundant counter space. On the flip side, you may be a salad-in-a-bagger or a frozen-stir-fry preparer, in which case you'll be more concerned with assembling space next to the stovetop/oven and the refrigerator.
Do You Buy Pre-Washed Veggies or Do You Support CSAs & Farmer's Markets?
If the bulk of your produce is pre-washed and purchased in grocery store aisles, the refrigerator location is less relevant than if you wind up with produce from a local farm that still retains a bit of farm-fresh grit. In the latter case, it's nice to have a sink just a step away from the refrigerator so fruits and veggies can be quickly moved from the crisper drawers to the sink basin for a good soak or scrub.
Es Su Casa Mí Casa?
Did you recently replace your front door with a revolving door now that your kids are in their teenage years? Are you one of those hosts who actually means it when you say, "Make yourself at home?" In that case, we recommend placing your refrigerator and pantry areas at the outer perimeter of the kitchen so house guests can access them regularly without getting in the way of your kitchen business.
What Do You Use the Most & What Do You Use the Least?
One of the smartest things you can do before you have your kitchen designer over is to do an inventory of everything (and we mean ev-er-y-thing!) in your kitchen. You may find a few boxes of unused stuff can be donated pronto! Now, figure out what you use most, along with what you use least. Then, you and your kitchen designer will be able to truly customize kitchen storage in a way that improves flow.
Have You Installed an Incognito Charging Station?
If there's one thing all contemporary kitchens need - and will continue to need - it's an incognito charging station.
One well-designed message center or drawers dedicated to charging electronic gadgets is not only smart, it will reduce all that countertop clutter, the tangle of cords, and will also protect your expensive electronics from water and splatter.
These aren't the only questions you should ask; they are just the beginning. At Kitchen Magic, we make personal kitchen flow a priority. Stop by to see how a few simple tweaks can make all the difference in your own kitchen design.
