Ways To Upgrade Your Kitchen To Increase Its Functionality

Rethink the Design of Your Kitchen

Rethinking the design of your kitchen is a great place to start when you are looking to upgrade functionality. The general appeal of a kitchen is that it has food, drinks, and seating where everyone can talk and refresh themselves. While it is easy to get distracted by everyday life, having a new design in your kitchen to create an easy and functional way to clean and cook, will reduce chore-time and give you more time with your family. 

The consensus is that appliances should be in a triangle (or a square now that homes come with a dishwasher). Each appliance should be no more than two steps away from the other. They should all be in the same vicinity. If your stove is not close to your sink and your refrigerator, try rethinking the layout. Doing so will give you a smooth motion to food, cooking, and cleaning services NYC. 

Doing this will help give you and your family a smooth transition when having to work in the kitchen. 

Add More! 

While you are in the middle of rethinking your kitchen layout, make sure to add some new components as well. More outlets, a hidden charging station, and a hooded vent for your oven are only a few items that can be added to improve the quality of kitchen living. 

Adding safety-approved outlets will give you more places to blend, air-fry, toast, and charge your smaller appliances. 

Putting a hidden charging station is an update your family can afford. If everyone has their phones with them most of the time, and everyone hangs out in the kitchen, eventually their phones will need to be charged. Having the phones charging while people are hanging out in their favorite room will eliminate the need for hiding in bedrooms or going their separate ways. 

Putting in a hooded vent over your oven will help improve the air quality of your kitchen. The great thing is that you can use it even in the colder months so there will be no need to open windows. 

Other items to add to your kitchen for a more functional area would be seating. There are times when there never seems to be enough chairs (even when you have a boat-load). Having enough places for people to sit will help your guests enjoy themselves even more. 

People do love a good island or butcher block. Having a place in the center of the room, even if you have a table, is a nice area for people to gather, snack, and chat. Sometimes, people don’t want to sit, and an area where food can be placed on is an area where your family will want to gather. 

Change your Lighting Layout

With so many new updates to lighting, it is important to keep a new lighting layout on your list for functionality as well. There are many ways to create an excellent layout with sustainable ideas. Giving yourself some LED lighting strips for under the covers or some sustainable light fixtures is a great start to a more functional and eco-friendly kitchen. 

More Storage Space

Adding pull-out shelves and organizers is a great way to save on storage space and add an easier function to your kitchen cabinets and drawers. If you have a closet in your kitchen, incorporate a few hanging baskets on the door. Doing so will help you save space and add more room for your pots, pans, baggies, aluminum foil, and more.

Having pull-out shelving helps eliminate unused space by layering the items you have on different rolling shelves. It can be a great time-saver as well because you’ll be able to see more items in a more organized way. 

Use the Walls Near the Appliances

Once your shelves and drawers are organized for find-ability and cleaner storage, you can always use the walls to add your most commonly used utensils, cutlery, and cooking gear. 

Using the walls is a helpful, and functional, trick, and it stops the need to search high and low for items when they are out in front of you. Hanging your pots, pans, herbs, and spices, and other items on the walls will also double as decor so you’ll be able to cut down on your expenses too.

Smaller or Larger Appliances 

Depending on how many people live in your home may change the requirement of how large your appliances are. If you are looking to upgrade your kitchen and don’t use as much food, and need as much cleaning as you used to (because now fewer people are living in your home), think about getting smaller appliances. 

Using smaller appliances will free up some much-needed space for cupboards, counters, and closets. 

On the flip side if your family goes through a lot of food, has parties, and needs extra space for cleaning up, larger appliances could be your go-to. 

It all depends on what your needs are. Planning before you buy anything is always a helpful practice to get into. 

Conclusion

There is no need to go into debt when you are updating your kitchen, with a little planning and a lot of research, finding the right way to create a functional kitchen can be easier than it seems. 

Make sure to keep your counters clean, your appliances close, and know you can never have enough storage space. Doing these items will help you create a space that will be hard for your family or guests to leave.

Resources — Improve Canada, Kitchens by Emma Reed, The Kitchn, Renewal Design Build