People tend to say that the heart of any home is the kitchen. More time is spent there than in any other room in your house. It only makes sense, then, that your kitchen needs to reflect both your personality and your lifestyle. Unfortunately, a lot of us live in homes that weren’t designed by us and that have kitchens that don’t suit us at all. Even when you can’t fit a massive remodel into the budget, there are a few things that you can do in order to create the ideal atmosphere. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.
Conceptualize
You don’t need to have a bachelor of interior design to be able to find a concept you like. Most designers begin with one idea, typically in the form of a picture, phrase, or word that sums up the feeling they want for the room. Think about your kitchen’s primary function – is it just for cooking or do you eat there too? Take a minute to consider how you want the room to feel. Do you want it to be comfortable and warm, or streamlined and minimal? Should it be spacious and open or have more of a cozy cottage theme? Choose a phrase or word that idealizes what you prefer and keep it in the forefront of your mind as you move forward.
Take Stock
Look around at what you have and decide what you would like to keep with the new design you’ve chosen. Don’t forget all of your favorite spaghetti pots and hot cereal bowls. Unless you’ve decided to go with a country kitsch sort of look, the chances are good that you won’t be needing a few of the things that are currently cluttering your counters. It’s ok to keep some of the things that aren’t used very often, but for someone who never makes their own ice cream, is there really a reason to keep an ice cream maker? If your meals aren’t eaten in your kitchen, maybe you should free up a bit of that cabinet space by moving the bowls and plates into the dining room.
Make a Plan
It doesn’t matter if you do this part in your mind or on paper, but it needs to be done. Once you’ve decided that you want to make your kitchen both look and feel bigger, you should visualize the optimal way of organizing it. If you’re tired of always bending over to get those skillets you’re always using, move them higher up.
If you constantly find yourself making trips back and forth across the kitchen to get the necessary ingredients, why not put your dishes on one wall and food on another? People tend to mimic the kitchen layout that was in their childhood home, even when it might not be the best layout for the kitchen they currently have. Just because your mother’s silverware lived in a drawer next to the sink that doesn’t mean that yours has to live there, too.
Finally, when you’re planning a kitchen, remember that small things can have a large effect. If you’re not able to repaint the kitchen, why not take the cabinet doors down for more of a café-style look? Another small thing to do is to replace your door and drawer pulls with a different style. If you decide you don’t like the new look, you can always put the old ones back.
Keep in mind that money and time are fantastic assets for a kitchen redesign if you happen to have them, but all that’s really necessary is a simple plan and a bit of creativity.