The kitchen is the heart of the home.
This versatile room brings family members together. A kitchen should fit your family and your family’s needs perfectly. There should be enough seating for everyone to eat meals together. The kitchen should be organized to reduce clutter, and in doing so a more inviting atmosphere will be created where family members naturally gravitate to. A neutral color palette, such as greys and whites, is a great choice for a custom kitchen. It’s crisp and when kept neat and tidy, the family will always be drawn to the clean lines of the kitchen, the aromatic smell of food cooking, and the laughter of siblings and parents. The kitchen should be the place where your kids tell you about their day and where you can enjoy spending time with your family after a hard day of work.
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
A kitchen fit for the hostess with the most-est.
Many upper-class homes in 18th century England contained a parlor – a room specifically for the lady of the house to entertain friends. One would be hard pressed to find an 18th century parlor in a modern day home today. In fact, nowadays, couples generally share the cooking responsibilities. However, even though men today should be doing 50% of the cooking, for some reason women are typically still doing the majority of the meal preparation. Taking all of this into consideration, custom kitchens are now often designed to be a place where close friends can have a cup of tea and catch up. Modern kitchens are ideally an inviting area where the home owners can comfortably entertain while being close enough to the oven to keep an eye on dinner. One fantastic benefit of having a kitchen where you can entertain a friend is that you don’t have to leave the room to make the tea, pour the lemonade or gather the cookies on a plate. Instead, everything is at your fingertips and you won’t miss out on any of the conversation. Perhaps you have a built-in wine cooler you’d like to show off—er—show your friends. That’s easy to do if they’re in the kitchen with you.
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
Homework central.
Parents are more pressed for time today than ever before. Having to choose between spending time with your kids or preparing a meal is a very common problem nowadays. A custom kitchen can be designed to allow you to spend time with your kids while you prepare dinner, wash dishes and put away groceries. The lighting in the kitchen is often the brightest lighting in the home, so it is an ideal area for completing homework. With laptops in the majority of homes, schoolwork is more mobile than ever. A parent does not have to trek upstairs to their son or daughter’s bedroom and lean over a desk to aid with schoolwork. Instead, the custom kitchens of today are increasingly being designed with versatility in mind. The kitchen below, for example, incorporates a study nook with dimmable pot lights over top. The peninsula hosts two bar stools and is equally useful as a breakfast bar and an arts and crafts counter.
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
Planning happens here.
Everyone has to eat, right? Which is why so many couples and families discuss all manner of future plans in the kitchen. Over dinner is usually a good time to discuss how school is going with your kids. It is also a good time to talk about weekend getaways, summer plans and that big family trip to Europe you’re hoping to take in a few years. Even if you cannot all come together for supper, offer your family a hot cup of cocoa and snag them for a 10 minute chat. Since a great deal of planning happens in the kitchen, it’s a very good idea to keep the area clean and tidy with an accessible notepad and pen for jotting things down. With the kitchen being “everyone’s” room, as opposed to a bedroom or an office, all family members are on neutral ground. This comes in handy when the family is divided on where to take their next trip. The kids may want to go to Disney World, but mom and dad have peaceful images of Caribbean beaches dancing in their heads. We recommend having high quality hot chocolate and LOTS of mini marshmallows on hand to sway the vote in your favour!
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
Family game nights.
Since most kitchens have enough seating for every member of the family, it stands to reason that the kitchen is often a perfect spot to hold your weekly, family games of Pictionary. Most board games require a flat surface to lay the game board and pieces on. An island or dining table provides just that. When planning your kitchen it is always important to consider what the room will be used for outside of cooking and dining. Another reason the kitchen is the perfect room to host your family game night is due to the lighting. The kitchen usually has the best lighting in the house. Chefs appreciate good lighting so they don’t accidentally chop off a fingertip or confuse garlic powder with garlic salt. This good lighting is especially helpful to those with less than perfect eyesight who struggle to read the questions on Trivial Pursuit game cards. Glasses will only take you so far. Optimal lighting is essential in the kitchen, and incredibly helpful for family game nights.
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
Entertaining guests.
You really want to have that lovely couple you met at the golf course over for dinner but there’s just one problem…your kitchen is cut off from the rest of the house. Your options are not looking great. You either have to have the entire meal prepared before your guests arrive, or you must leave your guests alone in the dining room or family room while you prepare the meal and fetch drinks. You know that you’ll worry that these guests may feel obligated to chip in and help cook if they are sequestered from you and you don’t enjoy feeling pressured to cook faster than you normally do so you can get back to your guests.
There are not many things that are more satisfying than being able to entertain guests in your own home and not having to worry about having enough room for them or being able to chat with them while preparing the meal. Imagine having three of your friends over and watching ‘how to make sushi’ videos while preparing sushi right there with your besties.
The current design trend is to have the kitchen open to the family room. Some floorplans have the kitchen and dining area, or family room separated via a peninsula so the host and hostess can prepare food but not be left out of the conversation. Today, couples want to entertain together, so quite often the husband and wife will work on the meal together while chatting easily with the other couple across the island. If an awkward silence pops up during the conversation, just take out your coffee bean grinder and French Press. Treat your guests to the best cup of coffee north of Columbia. Awkward silence filled!
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
Functional spaces.
The age of kitchens full of doors and cabinets is over. New kitchens are designed to give you more drawers and less doors so all the space can be utilized. The kitchen layout is custom designed for every appliance you have and/or plan to acquire. Today’s kitchens are super functional. There are dividers in the cupboard for baking sheets. There are lazy susans and magic corners to ensure every nook of possible storage space is taken advantage of. Every appliance has a home in your kitchen, or at least a parking spot. These parking spots can be planned to blend in with the kitchen or to be hidden from view. The level of function your kitchen can possess is only limited by the amount of money you want to invest in it. A vast array of options is available to make your kitchen the epitome of form and function.
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
Gourmet kitchen options.
What comes to mind when you think of a gourmet kitchen? The list of options is probably longer than you think.
A very commonly requested gourmet kitchen feature is a second sink. Many homes prefer to have one sink to handle dirty dishes and one sink that is primarily used to prepare vegetables. Some cultures prefer to have one sink to wash meat in and one to wash vegetables in; the vegetables sink may be referred to as a kosher sink. Furthermore, spouses often like having their own sink to work with. His and hers closets are a must. His and hers sinks are a very nice option to have. They are especially nice to have when entertaining large groups of people. One of you can stay on top of dishes by using the main sink, while the other of you can use the secondary sink for preparing hors d’oeuvres.
Other gourmet kitchen features are gas range tops, built-in wine coolers and a Butler’s Pantry. Some homes feature a tap over the range so pots can be filled with water right on the stovetop. Many new, high-end homes feature kitchens with refrigerator panels that match the cabinets. Perhaps the microwave is in a special drawer. And very often, there is a dual wall oven so you can bake cookies while the Thanksgiving turkey roasts in the OTHER oven.
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
Cook and entertain at the same time!
The kitchens of today are designed to be open to the family room. The cook does not want to be, nor should he or she be, separated from the rest of the group while food is being prepared. Not only should you be able to prepare gourmet nachos while chatting with the rest of the group, but you should not have to miss any sports goals on the flatscreen while slaving over a meal.
Dining room tables with several leaves are popular in homes where entertaining is important to the owners. This means there is no kiddie table for Uncle Danny to share with the kids. We do realize that may be a double-edged sword, but you can always put Uncle Danny at the opposite end of the table with all the kids.
Having a kitchen with a peninsula or island means that the rectangular, square or oval piece of countertop can serve double time as a buffet table when serving a crowd.
Built in sound systems are very popular in modern kitchen design. A built-in sound system or a google nest media and home hub to play whatever kind of music that suits the occasion is a very sleek kitchen feature to have.
Regardless of the features you choose, your design and build company should be happy to go through all the options with you. This way, you get exactly what you want, and it looks great, too.
Kitchen by
Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations Inc.
