Renovations That Make Your Kitchen Easier to Use

Preparing food can take up a lot of your precious time, especially if you have a poor kitchen design. If you room in your budget for a renovation, there are several things you can do to make your kitchen experience a more positive one. Not only will these renovations make your kitchen more efficient and comfortable, but they will also improve the aesthetics.

Create a Triangle

A triangle? What does geometry have to do with a kitchen? The answer is, a lot! The kitchen triangle is an efficient way for you to place three of the most important workstations, the sink, the stove, and the refrigerator. The basic idea is that each of these workstations should form the corners of your triangle. Each side of the triangle should be 4-9 feet long with a total perimeter that is 13-26 feet long. There should be no obstructions in the triangle. If you design your kitchen this way, it will allow you to efficiently move between each workstation. You don’t want them to be too far apart that it becomes a chore to walk back and forth, but you also don’t want them so close together that you don’t have enough counter space to work with. So, make sure that clearly defining your kitchen triangle is the first step of your kitchen renovation.

Additional Lights

Cooking in a kitchen with poor lighting is a great way to strain your eyes, get a headache, or worse, have an accident leading to burns or cuts. You can literally lighten the mood in your kitchen by adding some additional lighting. There are several ways that you can do this. If you have a major renovation, modifying an exterior wall to allow for windows will bring in fresh natural light. But that will only work during the day, so you’ll need some extra lights for nighttime. Focus on adding lights that will illuminate the stove and the counters that you use for cutting and chopping vegetables. Many modern kitchens have been adding low hanging light fixtures that give a nice aesthetic look and are great for illuminating your counters. However, you need to be sure that these are placed high enough over the counter that you don’t accidentally bonk your head while working.

Magnetic Storage

Most meals require that you employ a host of different cooking implements like knives, spatulas, measuring cups, spoons, whisks, and so much more. It can be a bit of a hassle to constantly be opening drawers to grab each of these. Magnetic storage is a great way for you to keep all of your metal implements in a single easy-access location. Magnetic storage consists of a large metal magnet that is strong enough to safely hold knives and other metal kitchen tools, but at the same time weak enough that you can easily grab the items when you need them. If magnetic storage is something that you are interested in, make sure that you get one that has high safety ratings.

New Cabinets

Perhaps the holy grail of kitchen renovations is to get new cabinets. Not only do they change the aesthetic of your kitchen, but your cabinets make a huge difference in how you organize your kitchen. The way you run your kitchen is unique, so you likely have a unique way that you want your cabinets to be. That being said, there are a few things that make things easier for everyone. For example, roll out shelves help minimize frustration when you need to grab ingredients or dishware. Another example is to put a lazy susan in your corner cabinet so that you can easily access different pots and pans.

Marble or Granite Countertops

If you disagree that new cabinets are the holy grail of kitchen renovations, that is probably because you are dreaming of new countertops. Old countertops, especially wooden or laminate ones, often have lots of burns and scars and are overall difficult to keep clean. On the other hand, stone countertops offer a heap of benefits. Marble or granite countertops won’t burn when you place hot things on them. That means that you won’t have to look around for a hot pad every time you take something off of the stove. They are also very hard, so it is pretty difficult to scratch or dent them. Best of all, cleaning marble or granite is super easy.

Extra Large Sink

It’s amazing how much of a mess can be created by cooking even the simplest of meals. With all of the pots and pans involved, you can easily fill up a small sink with dirty dishes. This often leads to a tower of dishes that are easy to knock over and break. Replacing your sink with a larger one will give you a lot more room to work with. When it comes time to clean up, you’ll be glad to have the extra room to work with.

Double Oven

In a perfect world, all dishes would cook for the same amount of time and at the same temperature. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case. This can be a huge hassle if you are cooking a large meal with a lot of different dishes. In these situations, having a double is a huge blessing. While you have your main dish cooking in your top oven at 400 degrees, you can have your cake in the bottom oven cooking at 325 degrees. This can save you a ton of time. It will also help make sure that all your food finishes close together so that each dish is still warm when it comes time to serve the meal.

Open Design

A lot of older kitchens are closed off from the rest of the house. This can make the area more cramped, which makes it difficult for others to help out. It can also make carrying dishes back and forth from the dining table a bit of a pain. Opting for a more open design can help alleviate all these problems. It can also help make you feel less lonely when you are cooking as you can more easily see and talk to other people.

If you can incorporate all these ideas into your kitchen renovation, then you will be well on your way to having an easy-to-use efficient cooking space. If there isn’t room in your budget for everything, don’t worry about it. Take some time to consider which of these recommendations will help make the biggest impact on your cooking life, then put your money where it counts the most. You’ll be glad you did!

Read this next: How to Prevent Cooking Accidents during the Holidays

For Holiday recipes, get your copy of the Gourmand World Award Winning Book that has become a Holiday tradition in Households around the World

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays and Special Occasions- 2nd edition