How to Make Your Kitchen Design Family Friendly
Design a kitchen to encourage people to gather for cooking, eating or socializing. Do this by setting up spaces that lend themselves to continual traffic flow and conversation. Keep the kitchen areas inviting with seating spaces in more than one spot. Envision how family or friends will interact with the cook and help with food preparation. Picture how several people can move about easily and enjoy the space. Always design the kitchen to seem friendly in terms of color and how it is furnished, too. Create a place that everyone will want to return to throughout the day. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Plan a bar space for cooking and eating. Measure floor space for an island bar as one option. Create room to prepare food at the island, but include a cooktop surface, too. Add surrounding space for eating with several bar stools. Make sure the main cook has plenty of elbow room, but create a conversational space by adding hanging pots, plants or a small TV. Use home design books to sketch ideas you find appealing for yourself and your family.
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Design stove space for more than one cook. Allow floor space for two or more people to work near the stove. Do this by making counter space generous on either side of the stove. Invite family or friends to help prepare meals, so the kitchen becomes a favorite spot. Make sure baking pans, pots and major ingredients are within reach of the stove.
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Open a wall to living space. Tear out a wall between the kitchen and a hallway or family room. Build a bar with several stools facing into the kitchen. Design the family room so that people in the kitchen can look directly into the other space, so the two rooms will feel like one. Use similar colors in both spaces, such as touches of hunter green or slate gray to create unity. Make the kitchen seem less secluded, so people will want to gather there.
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Create a booth or add a small sofa and chairs at one end of the kitchen. Do this to encourage family or friends to read, relax or play cards in this space. Invite children to do their homework there as well. Build this area for after-dinner relaxing or casual space for an informal breakfast or lunch. Use this area for overseeing preschool children, too, when adults gather in the kitchen.
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Build sliding doors with a deck or patio. Construct the outdoor space with a nice exterior view, if possible. Incorporate the kitchen with this exterior space, so family members gravitate back and forth when weather is mild. Install an outdoor table with umbrella, so everyone can take food onto the patio or deck during hot or sunny days. Create storage space outside to facilitate grilling at a moment's notice. Store special items for grilling, such as large serving platters, within easy reach of the sliding door area in kitchen cabinets.
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Tips & Warnings
Avoid creating a cluttered kitchen space. Use one or two walls for floor-to-ceiling cabinets to maximize storage space. Don't overload a kitchen with countertops and cabinets, because this will make the space seem cramped and not user-friendly.
References
Resources
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