Take This Time at Home to Plan A Kitchen Remodel
I hope you and your family are safely sheltering-at-home. If you are like the rest of us, you are likely thinking about changes you’d love to make to your home. If so, then I suggest that you use this time as an opportunity to begin thinking about what changes will benefit you the most. The kitchen is typically the most used space in the home, so let’s start there.
Here are some of the questions we ask our clients before we start designing their kitchen:
A WORKABLE LAYOUT
Triangle efficiency
How do you work around your kitchen? The answer to this question is essential to planning the layout of your kitchen. Take a look at your current kitchen and ask yourself: if you are satisfied with the triangle between the sink, stove, and fridge? Do your ingredients drip on the floor at any point during your prep or cooking process?
Think about these questions and make a mental list of the features you would like to add to achieve better functionality. It will help you discover which layout you like best and which design suits your cooking style. Once we begin working on your kitchen, we’ll discuss how to integrate your ideas into your existing space. We’ll sketch out possibilities and show you design inspiration. This process will allow everything to unfold organically.
SIZE OF HOUSEHOLD
Open-kitchen
Do you live by yourself or with a partner? Or, do you have a full house with mom, dad, kids, and pets? The size of your family is an important criterion for kitchen design. It will determine sitting space, storage space, and how many appliances you might need. For example, for a large family where the kitchen is used by many, we could incorporate two sinks, two dishwashers, a 48” fridge/freezer combo, etc.
It might be a good idea to have an extra fridge and/or freezer in your garage to stock up on food in case future lockdowns happen. Even if there isn’t a lockdown, an extra fridge will be handy for when you entertain at home and need to stock up on food. If you are worried about losing all of that food in power outages, natural gas generators provide a great deal of security.
WINE AND DINE
Dining options
How often do you entertain at home? Do you prefer to hold your soirées in a formal dining space or just make your open kitchen double-up as an entertaining and dining area?
How you choose to entertain will impact the design decisions for your kitchen. In the images of the home featured above, the homeowners went with the breakfast bar and formal dining options. Below, the homeowners went with the breakfast bar and casual kitchen table option. So much depends on the size of your space, how many people are in your family, and your entertaining style.
Multiple dining options
STYLE QUOTIENT
Eclectic kitchen
In designing a kitchen, style is as important as functionality. I ensure that the design I create reflects my client’s tastes, personality, and lifestyle.
Think about what style you’d prefer to cook in. If you like clean lines and keeping clutter to a minimum, go for a modern design with sleek appliances. Or, maybe you’d prefer a traditional kitchen with paneled or glass doors, white tiles, artisanal lights, and a vintage finish?
If you’re up for a design adventure, try an eclectic kitchen. It could feature an unlikely mix of colors, textures, and patterns with your art collectibles and knick-knacks thrown in the mix. This is a hard style to pull off, but I find a lot of clients are willing to try it as the final look is unique and customized to reflect the homeowner’s style. In the eclectic kitchen featured above, I mixed a navy blue island, a white-and-silver patterned backsplash, and large pendants with a brass finish.
It always makes it easy for the designer if you save your favorite kitchen design images to a Pinboard or Houzz Ideabook. That way we can understand your tastes without you needing to put it into words.
Once you’ve got some answers to these questions, it is time for us to talk. I’ll walk you through these and other questions. You’ll find the process to not just be comfortable, but fun. It takes a while to plan a project, so it is never too early for the first call.
Start by calling me at 720.735.7533.
We can then arrange to use FaceTime or Zoom for face-to-face video calls.
That way I can see your space and better understand your needs.
Margarita Bravo
Denver’s Best Interior Designer
Margarita is a luxury interior designer and decorator, remodeler, furniture curator, and creator of experiences. Margarita’s unique skill set has evolved from her strong educational background and European and Latin American sources of inspiration. Now with design studios in Denver, Miami, and Montecito.
Margarita
