Designing a New Kitchen

Would you like to maximize space in your existing kitchen, add an updated modern touch or sleek contemporary island, or rip out your old kitchen entirely and put in a new one? Whatever your goals are, a good remodeling and design company should be able to help you every step of the way, from providing a complementary design and budget analysis to helping you choose the best appliances.

New thinking about kitchens today are a far departure from simply incorporating the old “work triangle”, which meant having the fridge, sink and stove within about 15 steps of each other, says Paul DeFeis, senior managing partner of Trade Mark Design & Build in Hawthorne, New Jersey, who has 15 years of extensive experience in Residential Design.

Instead, it’s more about having”work groups,” where a particular activity takes place in one area. Now you have a prep area, clean-up area and storage area all in one place within arm’s reach, which simplifies the kitchen and also makes it more stream-lined and user-friendly.

To achieve that streamlined look and help make your kitchen exactly suited to your needs, it’s important to discuss the following when meeting with a kitchen designer:

• Identify your cooking habits, whether you cook or reheat. If you cook a lot, does this mean you need room for all the latest gadgets, or do you make so with just a few basic utensils?
• Your own cooking style explored. Do you need a large space to spread things out, or do you confine everything to a small space?
• How many users will be in the kitchen, not just people who will be preparing the food but also those who will be consuming it? It’s also important to take into consideration the height of those users.
• What a holiday scene looks like when the kitchen is being used at maximum capacity. If only four people are in the family, do you still need to occasionally accommodate 35 comfortably?
• Assess your shopping habits. If you buy a lot of fresh produce, it’s vital to accommodate proper refrigeration. If you buy a lot of meat and freeze it, it might be necessary to have a place that can accommodate more frozen food.
• Number of pots and pans, and preferences for storing them. Do you want a ceiling pot hanger, or are they minimalist and prefer everything to be hidden away using clever storage solutions?
• Where will dry goods be stored, and how many? Do you buy in bulk, or do you wait until everything is used up before shopping again?

Designing and planning should take into consideration the elevations of every surface and where you plan to place the merchandise, whether it be shelves, roll-out shelves, garbage, or cutlery in a detailed format. DeFeis also recommends taking notes of how you prepare and eat food for three weeks before hammering out the details of your kitchen.

This will provide a finished, detailed plan which both the designer and the homeowner have had a role in creating. You can then push it out to manufacturing and have no surprises when it’s delivered.