Five future-proof kitchen features to keep your home organised
With each passing decade, our home designs change and transform to be relevant to the way we live our lives.
Each change over time reflects our new way of living and works in sympathy with the idea of needing more efficiency and better organisation. So, if you’re thinking about building or renovating your home, here are a few things to keep in mind today.
For example, houses from the 1950s were designed with the idea that no one wanted to see into a messy, dirty, hot kitchen so they were kept separate to living areas.
Today, most new homes are designed exactly opposite to that. An open-plan kitchen and dining/living areas make it easier for people to communicate throughout the home, makes a home feel open and spacious.
They take advantage of how beautiful kitchens can be today and most importantly places an emphasis on shared spaces.
1. Keep the kitchen at the heart of the design
The kitchen (or pantry) should be close to where you bring your groceries into your home. If you do most of your grocery shopping with a car (which ends up in your garage) then it’s most efficient, of course, to have the pantry just inside the door to your garage.
Consider storing bulk items that don’t need refrigeration directly in, or immediately adjacent to, the garage. Put up shelving there for paper products, tins, and other long shelf-life items.
This will save both the extra effort of carrying heavy items into the house and also save precious shelving and cupboard space inside the house.
2. Be innovative with your pantry placement
Additionally, consider a design innovation with a pantry that abuts the garage and has doors on both sides: in the garage and in the kitchen.
Unloading items directly from your car into such a pantry would then make items easily and efficiently available in the kitchen!
3. Create a launching zone
A further note about unloading groceries, consider a landing zone in your kitchen near your pantry. An island or benchtop which will always be kept clear and is in a central position makes the unloading of groceries a much easier process.
Another area that has become very useful is a butler’s pantry which is a smaller area of the kitchen which has ample countertop space as well as storage which is close to the kitchen but slightly separated.
You can even consider installing an additional small refrigerator, freezer, icemaker, or wine storage below the benchtops along with storage for bulk food items up high.
4. Be overzealous with your powerpoint placement
Another feature of our lives which is here to stay is the need for charging stations for all of our devices. Many devices can now be charged directly on flat pads – this relieves the need for the myriad of cables coming out of wall powerpoints.
Design charging pads directly into benchtops throughout your home: in the kitchen, in the family room, in the bedrooms, or anywhere you normally charge your devices.
Frankly, another reason I’m a fan of charging pads is that they force us to put our devices down – and that forces you to get back in life a little bit with the people around us.
5. Multi-function furniture is a real winner
As you’re redesigning your home, consider built-in pieces of furniture (like dining benches) which feature storage inside them. Otherwise, a bedroom set that makes the best use of the space underneath the bed with storage drawers.
If you’re considering working from home becoming a permanent part of your life then make sure there’s space to make that easier.
You can consider creating a study if space allows, or simply add some storage next to the kitchen table to allow for work things to be quickly and easily stowed away once you’re done for the day.
And, definitely design and install organising systems throughout your home to maximise that space. I don’t believe I’ve ever worked with a client who’s told me that they have plenty of space for storage!
Instead, what we all need to do is consider how best to use the space that we have for maximum storage.
SOURCE: www.realestate.com.au
