The kitchen is the heartbeat of the home and as such the design is incredibly important.  Your custom dream home should come with a dream kitchen 8where you can gather with your friends and family to converse and make food together.  If you’re trying to decide what a dream kitchen should have then keep reading some of our favorite tips to spark your imagination.

 

Islands

If your kitchen is large enough for an island, this is an essential part of a smoothly functioning kitchen, not just as a station for preparing food but also as a storage space.  In a small kitchen, the island can be mobile with wheels that can be locked and unlocked and wheeled out of the way when necessary while a larger kitchen can have a more traditional fixed island with much more storage space.  Perhaps you might even consider a raised bar on one side where your kids can grab a quick breakfast or after school snack.

Counters

Think about the counter placement, often when you bring groceries home, you’ll want to place the items that need to be refrigerated near the fridge.  This counter can be either across from or next to the refrigerator.

Choose a countertop that is durable and easy to clean, this will make your life much easier.  If you’re curious about which counter materials to choose, you might want to check out our article on granite vs corian countertops.

Cabinets

Where do you plan to keep your appliances, utensils, dishes, pots and pans?  Think this through while designing your cabinet space and be prepared to think creatively.  Are you an avid coffee drinker?  A drawer located just under where your coffee maker will sit with all your mugs neatly stored inside could save you time and energy when brewing your morning cup.  Maybe you want to keep your counters free of clutter and plan to store your appliances, are the cabinets tall enough?  Have you decided whether you will be installing custom or prefab cabinets?

Trash & Recycling

This is not something that most people think about when designing their kitchen, but where you keep your trash and recycling bins is very important, will it be a drawer that slides out from beside your fridge?  Under the sink?  In the pantry?

Talk over your ideas with your custom home designer or architect, they will be able to point out problem areas as well as give you great ideas.  Have you considered using Pinterest to help you design your kitchen?