We’ve been talking a lot recently about the elements that come together to create your dream home. When you buy real estate, the advice is to put your money into kitchens and master suites. There are a couple of good reasons for this. First, these are areas in which you will get the best return for your investment in case of resale. But when you are talking about buying or building your dream home, the kitchen and master suites are parts of the home where you will probably spend most of your time so it’s a good idea to invest your time, planning, and resources into making them exactly what you want. Email us your ideas and we’ll include them in a future post, or post to Facebook at RealViningsBuckhead.
Whatever your personal style, creating a dream kitchen is all about planning and details!
photo credit: designhunterla.com
A kitchen is all about the details. Hiring a kitchen designer can help ensure that you don’t miss any must-haves. Having a professional plan your lighting and outlet placement can make all the difference in having the right task lighting and spaces for the way you cook. They can also help you plan which fixtures and surfaces need to be chosen first so that plumbing and electrical installation are sure to fit with your choices. (Remember how I mentioned certain faucets needing the plumbing to be built to specific heights in my dream home post? It’s especially important to plan for this in the kitchen!)
- If you love great coffee, consider getting a built-in and plumbed coffee station installed like this beautiful Miele coffee system.
This beautiful built-in coffee systems keeps everything in one place.
photo credit: Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles - Building in a spacious appliance garage to store coffee maker, electric kettle, toaster, and mixer is a great way to keep your counter tops uncluttered and all of your breakfast appliances convenient in one place. There are shelving systems that can be installed under the counter too that will “pop” your heavier appliances up to counter level with a sturdy spring-loaded system.
This spacious appliance garage helps keep your counters uncluttered
photo credit: www.bhg.com
Under the counter appliance garages with pop-up shelves do the heavy lifting for you
photo credit: www.bgh.com - Pop-up outlets, especially on an island, can keep your counters seamless but still make plugging in appliances convenient.
Pop-up outlets for the island
photo credit: hometalk.com - If you like to entertain or host big holiday meals, two dishwashers make clean-up quick and easy
- A warming drawer is another great idea for big holiday meals
- Start researching your counter surfaces early- there are a lot of options out there. From show-stopping marble to durable and modern quartz and eco-friendly cement, ask about the pros and cons so that you end up with counters that are both functional and beautiful for your lifestyle.
Beautiful counter surface options!
photo credit: remodelista.com - A built-in banquette in the breakfast nook can provide a cozy seating area and hide a ton of storage for items you use less often.
Built-in breakfast nook for seating and storage
photo credit: elledecor.com - Having two sinks in the kitchen gives you a smaller sink for washing delicate china and crystal and a big one for pots and pans to soak in. A small sink can also be filled with ice for parties.
- A lot of people are installing nothing but drawers under the counter. They make finding things so much easier! And the hardware makes drawers sturdy enough for even the heaviest enameled cast iron cookware.
Deep drawers under the counters are beautiful and convenient
photo credit: Cheryl M. Photography - Speaking of drawers, soft-close drawers and cabinets are the only way to go. Hardware has come such a long way, it really makes keeping all of your things accessible while stored away effortless.
- Ceiling height cabinets make use of all of your space for storage and keep you from having to deal with all of the dust that gathers on top of kitchen cabinets. If you have beautiful serving pieces that you like to display, glass fronted cabinets with built-in puck lights can make them a great feature.
Glass front cabinets display beautiful china and serving pieces
photo credit: centsationalgirl.com - Mini-fridges under the counter are convenient, whether you use the energy-efficient drawer refrigerators for extra food storage or you install glass fronted wine coolers. Combined with the coffee station, you have all your drinks in one area of the kitchen!
Drawer refrigerators are convenient and energy efficient
photo credit: homeedit.com - Make use of even oddly shaped areas for storage- like a tall thin cupboard for brooms and sweepers or a little cubby for paper towels. There are options to get the most storage out of every inch of your kitchen.
Built in paper towel rack makes every inch count
photo credit: southernliving.com - Kick-plate vacuum systems mean you can just sweep dust and dirt over to the opening and it disappears forever!
photo credit: aerusvacuums.com
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