Ahhhhh…kitchens. The room we all have a love/hate relationship with. Maybe we hate to cook, but love to eat…or we love to cook, but hate to clean. Any which way you cut it, it’s always front and center in our lives and in our houses and deserves some special consideration.
Kitchens are such public places, and yet at the same time they’re very personal and tell a lot about their owners (or at least the person who designed it). Ask the average person what their dream kitchen would look like, and no doubt they can describe it in great detail, right down to the pot filler. Ask the same person what their dream bathroom or family room looks like, and you’ll see their eyes roll up, head tilt, and after a few moments of hesitation, shrug their shoulders and say ‘I dunno’.
I guess this is because the kitchen, more than any other room, is where we gather with friends and family. No matter how awesome our dining room, living room or family room may be, everyone always seems to congregate in the kitchen.
As the post title suggests, today we’re going to talk about kitchen size. It seems everyone wants a big kitchen. The bigger the better! Or is it?
It’s far better to have a well designed kitchen than a large one. If you are an avid cook and the refrigerator is 15 feet from the sink or stove, you’re going to be exhausted by the time you’re finished cooking.
I have my own theory about kitchens which I’m all too eagar to share. I think they should be medium size, maybe medium to large if you have a large family, are a great cook and entertain often. If you’re building from scratch or doing a major renovation, here’s what I suggest: why not think about how you truly use your kitchen and what items you use most often and purchase the cabinets for those items and those items only? Cabinets typically represent the single greatest investment in a kitchen and can easily cost $10,00-$30,000 or more. Save yourself some money, or put the money into that pot filler, and only buy what you truly need.
What to do with the rest of the items that you don’t use often but still need, you might ask? Design a large pantry that can be outfitted with inexpensive shelves. Simple, but effective. To be ideal, the pantry should be about the size of a small bedroom (remember, I said if you’re building from scratch), but a 5’x6′ space will suffice. This is where you would store your seldom used items…you know the ones I’m talking about. The bread maker you use once a decade, the juicer you bought with great intentions, the panini maker, the wok, etc.
If you’ve read this far and want to see my idea of the perfect size kitchen, here you go:
While this kitchen is what I would consider to be the ‘medium-to-large category’, take note of the efficient layout and ample cabinetry.
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What do you think? Do you have a large kitchen and if so, do you enjoy it or would you prefer less space?
Katie says
Sigh – I wish I could have such a gorgeous kitchen! Sadly my kitchen is just one small strip (it extends by one more cupboard to the left of this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katcha/6964933103/). One day!!
The Honeys says
Hi Katie, Just to be clear, that’s NOT my kitchen! I wish I had that one too :). It’s basically the size of the kitchen that I think is just about perfect for moi. We have a weekend home which has a kitchen that’s quite large, and our primary residence has a kitchen that’s quite small. (I will be posting pics in the future of those.) I think I’m sounding like Goldilocks…I think this one is jussstttt right! Thanks for stopping by!
Cecilia says
Yeah, I’d rather have a bigger pantry to store those not used frequently items in. I know my dream kitchen would be more open to the family room instead of closed off! Oh, and a long counter for setting out food for a buffet style meal. 🙂 I don’t have enough counter space in the city home…Fortunately with a few tweaks, the farmhouse kitchen will be great!
Andi says
Well, gosh. I’m commenting here because you told me to. My kitchen is about the size of the one pictured above, but laid out differently. I also HAD to have a walk-in pantry for all those items you talk about. And let me tell you…If Phil doesn’t get his stash of tools out of there and get some shelves up for me and let me move my stuff in there soon, it’s going to get ugly. 😉 I kept all my “big-rarely-used” items in the basement at the old house. I’m so glad I have a pantry right off the kitchen. It’s not huge, but it’ll do Pig…it’ll do. 😛
-andi
Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow says
I have a teeny tiny galley kitchen but it doesn’t stop me from cooking up a storm! 🙂