In most homes, a good majority of hours are spent in the kitchen or kitchen area. It’s where we prepare food and oftentimes where we eat and gather. The kitchen is universally known as the heart of the home, and most realtors will tell you that if you’d like to sell yours, a good kitchen is guaranteed to do the trick.
If you find yourself reading this, chances are, you’re in the early stages of a kitchen renovation or building and pondering the best kitchen for your home. For most, the process of designing a kitchen is filled with equal parts excitement and anxiety. The sheer amount of decisions to be made can be overwhelming, the pressure to execute a successful design daunting. I hope to take some of that overwhelm and stress off of you with my kitchen planning series that begins next week.
My aim for this kitchen planning series is to lay out how to plan and execute a thoughtful kitchen design that will be as functional as it is beautiful. In this series we’ll cover how to determine your needs from a kitchen and how to define and choose your style. You’ll learn how to set a budget, plan an efficient layout for your lifestyle, make thoughtful design decisions, and more. Careful preparation may not be the most fun part of design, but the saying “failure to plan is a plan to fail” definitely applies here.
This series will serve as a compass for navigating every decision in each phase of the process, from start to finish, and will force your planning to be well-thought out well before construction starts. If you’re DIY-ing your kitchen project, you’ll find the concise direction with detailed explanation in this guide invaluable. If you’re working with architects and/or an interior designer, this guide will help you to maximize your money spent. If you follow along closely, you’ll come away from this series having achieved a deep understanding of the design process. Being well prepared for the process and confident in your choices, you’ll land on a design that fits your needs both functionally and aesthetically.
Your kitchen design is a multi-step process. In the interest of clarity, I’ve broken it down into three, comprehensive parts. In each part, you’ll be provided with information, and tools that will both assist you with making decisions and help to keep you organized along the way.
For most, the first part of the process is the least exciting, but also very critical – don’t skip it! Here, you’ll be introduced to the concept of evaluating your needs. You’ll spend a considerable amount of time studying who uses your kitchen and how. You’ll also determine your wants (and don’t-wants), making a bucket list that can be shaped and honed in a later phase. Finally, you’ll be given instructions for determining a budget and considerations related to costs.
In part two, you’ll evaluate kitchen layout options and how you work within your space. Functional concepts for working in the kitchen, as well as multiple layout options will be addressed. Next, lighting and electrical placement considerations for your kitchen will be covered in-depth . You’ll learn how to create an efficient space that will make your time spent in the kitchen more enjoyable.
Finally, in part three, you’ll receive an overview of how to make selections for each element of your space. You might arrive at this stage of design fatigued and overwhelmed from decisions made in part one and two, but this is the fun part now! The materials selections list for a kitchen is long – from cabinetry, to appliances, to countertops, and everything in between – in this part we will cover every selection you need to make in order to create your dream kitchen. You’ll be provided with links to real choices and learn pros and cons of various materials or finishes.
My hope is that this guide will not only give you a thorough understanding of what goes into a kitchen design, but that it will help you to feel confident in your choices and find enjoyment in the planning process. I know your end result will be a design that is beautiful, functional and a reflection of your authentic style.
If you have any questions along the way, be sure to drop me a note in the comments or connect with me at cristy@traitdesignco.com
Best,
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