Ideas to Create a Family-Friendly Kitchen
Beautifully decorated yet highly functional family-friendly kitchens represent the heart of New York City homes and apartments. Kitchens should be areas of a home where family members can retreat to find a warm, cozy place to relax, where the air is rich with the tantalizing smell of food cooking and calming colors create a mellow, familiar ambiance. Having an organized, family-friendly kitchen also allows the whole family to participate in meal times as well as other gatherings involving special friends and good times.
Renovation ideas to turn your old, clumsy kitchen into a contemporary, family-friendly kitchen include:
Kitchen Islands
Centrally placed for optimal efficiency, kitchen islands represent unattached countertops predominantly utilized to prepare food for cooking. Islands can also double as kitchen tables furnished with barstools where family members on the go can eat quick meals or snacks. Kitchen island countertops are made from butcher's block, stainless steel, granite, tile or even finished wood to accent an antique-style kitchen decor. More functional kitchen islands may include sinks as well, with garbage disposal units, hidden cutting boards and track lighting for focused work. In addition to stationary kitchen islands, New York City residents can also choose to implement kitchen islands with wheels, cabinets, shelves and drop leafs.
Storage Areas
Probably the most important aspect of a family friendly kitchen, implementing effective storage areas will provide your kitchen with extra space you never thought existed in your kitchen. For example, installing a pullout bin meant for storing produce such as potatoes and onions inside a cabinet underneath a chopping block not only keeps no-refrigeration produce out of sight but also allows for easy and quick access when needed.
Have you ever thought of storing flat pans and plates in partitioned cupboards or drawers? Instead of cupboards piled high with cookware and dishes just waiting to crash to the floor when someone opens the door, install partitions that allow these items to be stored vertically rather than horizontally. Even the youngest family member will be able to access items easily without attempting to keep an uneven pile of plates from toppling.
Space-Saving Cabinet Designs
Many New York City residents are amazed at the space their kitchens secretly harbored following a professional renovation. For example, installing "trick cabinets" equipped with artificial double cabinet doors conceals drawers you can pull out for storage and access to cookware. These cabinets represent a more efficient method of keeping pots and pans than the old way of shoving them into cabinet recesses where they usually get damaged or forgotten.
Charmingly small apothecary drawers allow handy access spices, herbs and other small items often used while cooking. Have these installed above stoves, sinks or countertops and place items you often use in them to facilitate tasks performed in your kitchen.
Efficient, family-friendly kitchens reduce clutter by organizing utensils in drawers equipped with dividers that provide designated slots to place utensils frequently used. You would be surprised at how much space is saved in drawers and cupboards where items are thrown in with no thought to organization. In addition, safety is a huge issue to consider when remodeling your kitchen to make it family-friendly. Because children are such curious, busy creatures, renovations that emphasize upper kitchen areas will provide the ultimate safe and child-receptive kitchen you will enjoy for many years to come.