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Beyond Aesthetics: Practical Upgrades To Consider In Your Kitchen
It’s nice to have a good looking kitchen. But it’s also important that your kitchen is designed in a practical way that makes it easy to use. If you’ve been thinking of remodeling this room, think beyond backsplash colors and faucet shapes. Below are just a few different practical updates to consider in your kitchen.
Add more outlets
From air fryers to slow cookers, modern kitchens contain all kinds of appliances. Often there aren't enough outlets for them all - especially if your kitchen is quite old. This means having to unplug some appliances in order to use others. By installing additional outlets, you can use all your countertop appliances at the same time. Think carefully about where to locate these to control cord clutter.
Redesign your cabinets
Next, think about your cabinets. Beyond the color and door style, think about practical elements like the size and shelf spacing. If you’re running out storage space to place things, consider whether it’s possible to install taller or deeper cabinets. You could also consider functional improvements like adding deep drawers for pots and pans, pull-out corner cabinets or adding built-in recycling and trash pull-outs. There are sites that sell affordable cabinetry that can be customized to the size and shape you need.
Improve the lighting
While lighting can have a big impact on how your kitchen looks, there are also practical considerations to consider when choosing lighting. A single overhead light is often not enough to illuminate the entire room - consider also adding additional lighting like under-cabinet lights or even lights inside cabinets. In awkwardly shaped kitchens with lots of shadowy areas, consider using track lighting or multiple recessed lights on the ceiling to brighten up all the corners.
Consider the kitchen work triangle
The kitchen work triangle is the relationship between your sink, stove and refrigerator - the three most used zones in the kitchen. The idea is that you should be able to walk in a triangle between these zones. If these zones are cramped together along the same wall or blocked by islands, it can disrupt your workflow while preparing meals. Consider whether it’s possible to redesign your kitchen with the triangle shape in place to make it more efficient.
Create more prep space
Many kitchens lack enough countertop space for tasks like cutting vegetables, plating food and measuring ingredients. Adding more prep space could help to make preparing meals easier. It could be particularly worth considering if you like to cook with other people or want to get into baking. How can you add more prep space to your kitchen? Extending your kitchen may be necessary - you can build outwards or consider knocking down an interior wall in order to expand your kitchen into another room. For example, if you have a kitchen with an adjoining dining room, it might be possible to remove the wall between and extend your countertop into the dining room to function as a breakfast bar. In some kitchens, it may also be possible to add islands to create more prep space.Photo Gallery
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