The Open Kitchen Floorplan – Is It For You?

Courtesy of Desire to Inspire.

By Susan Serra, Decorati Contributing Guest Blogger and author of The Kitchen Designer blog.

The timing could not be better. We’re entering our annual season of entertaining and visiting one another’s homes. We’re preoccupied with our work life, home life, the season’s responsibilities, and perhaps at the same time, you’re contemplating a winter or spring kitchen renovation. I’m exhausted just writing this! But, let’s pause a moment and revisit your kitchen renovation. You’re considering a kitchen/great room as part of the master plan. While thinking about the kitchen design is sometimes tabled for a little while, I’d like to urge you to keep on top of a few design issues as you go through this festive season. You will surely be enlightened!

Courtesy of Desire to Inspire.

Are you hosting an event? You Will Want To Consider:

Traffic Flow – Observe the traffic flow of your kitchen when family members are present and when guests are visiting. Of course, few of our homes can adequately handle large crowds, but the question becomes: how many people do you wish to comfortably accommodate in your kitchen/great room? Think this through carefully. Many of my clients can often attach a number of guests to the typical “group” they entertain. This is useful information to remember and, perhaps, plan for your renovation. Look carefully at the traffic flow from one task/activity center to another and you will soon see where the bottle necks are and where the process flows more freely.

Activities – What types of activities do you envision that will take place in, near, or surrounding the kitchen? Will you need a seating area in the kitchen to double as a comfortable lounging area perhaps for children or young adults? Do you need space for homework or other projects? Visualize these lifestyle scenarios. Walk through sequences of events and note the impact these activities have on your current walkways and doorways. Take careful note of the space surrounding your dining table. Is it adequate or is it confining? The dining space is often an after thought…adequate space encourages conversation and lingering. A confining space does the opposite!

Kitchen Workflow – We must pay critical attention to the kitchen workflow. Are you a family of foodies, perhaps with visiting grown children? Does a spouse wish for a grilling spot, a featured wine environment, a coffee preparation nook? Are you social cooks – will you cook with visiting family members and friends? Or, would you love to have a baking center to bake with your younger children? Visualize, in your dream kitchen, what is the best distribution of countertop space that will meet your needs. Consider your guests – would it be best to “direct” your guests away from the main work center, by design?

Courtesy of House & Garden.

These types of questions will help determine the size, the boundaries of the kitchen work area which are important pieces to your great room design.

Of course, many of these questions will be asked by your Professional Kitchen Designer, and they are but a start to the process, but it is important, and interesting, during this season of entertaining to observe your current habits and, most importantly, to make notes of those observations. Awareness is a fantastic first step in the process!

Courtesy of Desire to Inspire.

How “Open” Is “Open”?

Often a difficult answer to determine, it can be somewhat confusing to predict how you will feel once you are on the “other side” of the renovation…if you are truly satisfied with an open design, especially if you have not experienced it before. This fear can also prevent one from moving toward opening up the space even more, for example, to consider a “loft” type of feeling, where, perhaps, several rooms are combined. A great advantage to this design concept, especially in a smaller home, is the ability of the eye to travel longer distances, often allowing more light into the room as well. A more open concept is fantastic for entertaining, for casual living, for being together with family and friends, and to allow for multiple activities to happen at once for some, while others congregate nearby in an adjacent space. Visualize various lifestyle scenarios and the answers will reveal themselves to you in time.

One disadvantage to an open space floorplan is the ever classic dilemma – the guests see the unkempt kitchen. Frankly, I’m not so sure there remain other disadvantages to an open kitchen floorplan. Mid height cabinetry can serve as a room divider, a very wide, deep, sink can hide dishes, two dishwashers accommodate ample dish and serveware, portable room dividers can be highly decorative and functional, pocket doors are an elegant solution to privacy…these are just a few ways to conceal the newly emptied pots, pans, and more, as food moves from kitchen to serving areas. Again, visualize these barriers. Take care that snap assumptions are not made that an open kitchen cannot be flexible to your needs.

Practice visualizing, have an open mind, think about lifestyle. Enjoy (and work by observing) this festive season!