Tips for Designing a Functional Yet Elevated Kitchen

Did you ever imagine spending as much time in your kitchen as you have recently? From early morning cups of coffee before you start your work-from-home day to more home-cooked meals than ever before, the kitchen has truly transformed from the heart of the house to the soul of the home this year.  

While the kitchen has always been one of my clients’ favorite rooms, love for the kitchen has grown exponentially. Lately, as time spent cooking, cleaning and gathering grows, functionality has become an even more pressing priority. 

It’s safe to say no one wants to sacrifice the beautiful aesthetic of their dream kitchen for practical touches, and today I am here to say: you don’t have to. With some strategic thought around your kitchen design, you can seamlessly bring together high design and functionality. 

As we head into months of entertaining at home, cooking up endless batches of cookies, and gathering with friends and family in the heart and soul of the house, I wanted to share a few key considerations to keep top of mind when designing a kitchen, so you can get the best of both worlds: elevated design and life-enabling functionality. 

Prioritize how YOU use your kitchen.

I could share an endless list of design tips for beautiful, stand-out kitchens, but the most important thing — the thing that will truly make an impact on your day-to-day life, is having a kitchen made for YOU. Every person and family uses their kitchen in a different way, and it’s important to consider how you interact with your space and what your personal routines look like. Is a beautiful coffee bar something you’d enjoy each and every morning? Do you love to entertain and want to prioritize a double oven? Maybe you have a large family, so a double sink is essential for the endless dishes that always seem to appear. 

When I work with clients, a critical part of my process is learning about how my clients live their daily lives, what’s important to them, and what are challenges they face, because design should always be tailored to your way of living and serve as a solution. 

Don’t sit back on your appliance selection. 

Appliances might not seem like the most glamorous, invigorating part of the design process when there are beautiful slabs of marble and gorgeous hardware pieces to consider, but appliances can make all of the difference. The technology that is integrated into new appliances is truly incredible — and once you start learning about all of the ways a single appliance can make your life easier, you might find it just as beautiful as that sexy slab of marble. 

When searching for the perfect appliance, I first consider ways the technology can improve a client’s way of living, and then also look for sleek, clean lines, bringing together functionality and high design. Clean, modern designs allow for appliances to seamlessly meld into the design of the kitchen.

Two of the most popular appliance features I’ve seen requested lately: induction ranges and steam ovens. Induction ranges can cut back on time spent cooking and are perfect for families who are tight on time. After a long workday, knowing you can whip dinner together quickly and easily is an enormous relief. Steam ovens are a wonderful solution for cooking up vegetables and maintaining color, flavor and nutrition. Personally, the steam oven is one of my most-used appliance features.

Create hideaways for the eyesore essentials. 

There are some things in your kitchen that are must-haves but not must-shows. I love to get creative with ways to tuck these cherished eyesores away and out of sight, and the wonderful thing about designing a kitchen is that the opportunities are endless. 

For example, in the above photo, we created a sliding door to tuck away coffee essentials after grabbing your morning cup of joe. The clean, minimalistic design of this kitchen lent itself perfectly to a sleek, sliding door, creating a practical design solution with an elevated appearance. 

Frosted cabinets are another great way to add dimension to the kitchen while still hiding away essentials you don’t want on display. It adds a bit more interest and depth than solid cabinetry while still offering a practical solution. 

Incorporate strategic and limited open shelving. 

While closed cabinetry is certainly essential for keeping a clean and organized kitchen, too much solid cabinetry can leave a kitchen feeling dark and enclosed. Incorporating touches of open shelving can be a great way to open up the kitchen and add brightness. It also creates an opportunity for beautiful displays that make your space feel personalized and inviting. 

Too much open shelving can be intimidating and not the best use of space, so I suggest limiting this design touch to one section of a wall for a beautiful statement and the perfect place to showcase sentimental or meaningful glassware, plates, cookbooks, vases, or pieces from your travels.

Design for an experiential, family-filled space. 

Last but certainly not least, always remember your kitchen is so much more than a space where you cook. The kitchen is where you gather, laugh, share stories from the day, welcome neighbors over for a glass of wine, and wind down from a busy workday. Your kitchen is a space filled with experiences, and it’s important to design for those. 

Now more than ever, I hear from clients who want their kitchens to feel warm and inviting, in the same way the living room does. A great way to do this is to create a seamless design flow from living spaces to the kitchen by carrying through elements that add comfort and warmth. 

For example, incorporate a breakfast nook or a large bar into your kitchen layout to provide additional seating and areas of gathering. When it comes to the seating itself, prioritize comfort, so your uncomfortable barstool isn’t the thing that keeps you from enjoying a late night conversation over a glass of wine. 

If you have extra space, consider adding a butler’s pantry between your dining room and kitchen to foster a smart, graceful transition between spaces. Not only does it offer extra storage, but it links rooms together and creates a great staging area for meals. 

The kitchen will always be one of my favorite spaces to design. There are so many opportunities to make it  the perfect space for you and your family to come together, make a wonderful meal, and enjoy each others’ company — and finding what works for YOU is such a beautiful part of the design process.  

If today’s post inspired you to think about how you can bring together high-design and functionality throughout your entire home, head here for a room-by-room guide on how to make functional beautiful.