Making Your Kitchen Work for You

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 by: Barbara Schmidt (ARA Content)

(ARA) - The kitchen often becomes a family hub, the heart
of the home for daily activity and entertaining. For this reason, the
design of a kitchen space should address how the room is used on a
daily basis. Identifying how you like to cook, eat and entertain are
important steps in creating an efficient kitchen space.

Whether you are building from the floor plan up or
simply reorganizing, kitchen tools and space planning have the most
powerful impact on a kitchen's effectiveness.

The Kitchen Pro

Ask any chef and they'll tell you that cooking with the
right equipment makes all the difference in the world. While a full
kitchen overhaul can be costly, here are a few innovative ideas that
blend functionality and fashion.

• Mix and match. It is perfectly acceptable to equip
  your kitchen with appliances you like, one by one. Most culinary
  experts do not choose an entire matching set of appliances from one
  manufacturer. Instead look at individual appliance features and stick
  to easy-to-match finishes like black, white and stainless.
  

• Stainless steel fixtures and appliances are in
  vogue for good reason -- they work with any color palette and many are
  built for standard sizes so they are easily retrofitted to your space.

• Streamline food preparation and cleanup with
  specialized fixtures. American Standard's new Culinaire Collection
  offers coordinating kitchen sinks, faucets and accessories that work
  extra hard. For example, the remote access drain feature allows you to
  drain the basin without sticking your hand into dirty dishwater. The
  line also features nonslip cutting boards and metal dish racks sized to
  fit snugly over the sink surface.
  

• If frozen dinners come flying out of the
  freezer door every time you open it, consider adding refrigeration or
  freezer drawers in your kitchen work island. These products are
  specifically designed to keep certain items, such as produce, at the
  exact temperature and humidity to stay their freshest. These compact
  units can add as much as 30 to 40 percent more refrigeration and
  freezer space to a kitchen.
  

Conquering Space

Gadgets and small appliances can be very handy but tend
to gobble up space. Consider these tips to manage clutter so that
nothing interferes with your culinary projects.

• What's good for your wardrobe is good for your
  kitchen -- donate items that you have duplicates of or that you no
  longer use and replace them with sleek versions of must-have kitchen
  elements. Sinks with integrated accessories, like the Culinaire sink
  and its integrated drainboard and colander, are more efficient, stylish
  and eliminate kitchen clutter.
  

• Create more counter space by adding a small
  center island or rolling cart. Look for a cart that is decorative but
  also offers storage space below the work surface.
  

• Trade in your kitchen table for a bar-style
  counter and stools. Not only will this free up floor space to add more
  cabinets or extend counters, it will also prompt you to use your formal
  dining room more often for family meals.
  

• Annex space from another room to create a
  walk-in pantry. This is one of the most popular features for
  homebuyers. It allows for storage of bulk food items and large
  appliances like chafing dishes that are used infrequently.
  

• Get creative to better utilize deep cupboards
  and organize drawers. Lazy Susan rotating trays and stackable spice
  racks are just the tip of the iceberg -- install shelves that pull out
  for easy access items in the back. Also, fit a horizontal knife block
  next to your flatware caddy to protect your fingers and the life of the
  blades.

About the Author

Courtesy of ARA Content, www.ARAcontent.com; e-mail: info@ARAcontent.com

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