10 Ways to Open a Kitchen to the Outdoors

Article by: Laura Gaskill

The kitchen is often the heart of the home, but in summer it can feel like a bit of a bummer to be cooped up by a hot stove. If you’re considering some updates to your kitchen and live in a climate that’s friendly to outdoor living, consider opening up your kitchen to light, air and outdoor entertaining with glass doors or pass-through windows. See if one of these 10 ideas for opening up the kitchen gets your imagination flowing. 

1. Create a focal point with glass-paned barn doors. Go glamorous with the barn door trend by installing glass-paned barn-style sliding doors across one kitchen wall. The ample expanses of glass will let in light and views, and the doors themselves will provide a beautiful focal point, even after the sun goes down. 

2. Go for sliders. Sliding glass doors and screens that slide into pockets take up no extra space, but have the potential to vastly expand the square footage of a kitchen during nice weather. 

3. Add classic charm with French doors to the garden. The allure of a set of French doors simply cannot be beat. It’s a great choice for traditional homes where sliding glass doors would look out of character. To make the most of your French doors, design a special garden feature (trimmed hedges, a fountain) to line up with the view from inside. 

4. Try folding windows. NanaWall windows fold up, allowing you to completely open up the kitchen windows to let in the breeze and sun. With their minimal frames, they are a good choice for modern and contemporary homes. 

5. Add an outdoor bar. From the outside, folding windows provide an ideal spot to create an outdoor bar with pass-through access to the kitchen. 

Positioning your outdoor bar beneath a wide eave, as shown here, will help provide some cover from the sun. 

6. Add major light to an otherwise dark space. In a kitchen or an open-plan space without windows (such as in a row house), adding light at the end of the room is essential. Here accordion-style glass doors completely fold away at the end of the long kitchen to reveal a garden patio. 

When you see the space from the outside, you can imagine how dark the interior would have been if the end of the kitchen had a solid door. With glass doors, both the kitchen and patio feel more spacious and welcoming. 

7. Open up a galley kitchen. Glass doors at the end of a narrow galley kitchen offer an enticing view of the backyard, and can be flung open to allow easy access to an outdoor dining area. Even when the doors are closed, the additional light and view make the narrow space feel larger. 

8. Try a small swap with a big payoff. Even a small change, like swapping a solid kitchen door for a glass version, can completely change the feel of the room, letting in extra light and giving you an eye on the outdoors. Bonus points for painting the frame a bright hue.

9. Open an entire side of your house. This may not be in your budget or even architecturally possible for your house, but if you can swing it, why not go for it? Glass doors that fold away, opening as much (or as little) of your home to the outdoors as you wish could completely change the way you live at home.

10. Install airplane-hangar-style doors. These are garage-style doors taken to the next level. The pro who worked on this project customized a set of doors by adding a hinge in the middle, giving them a striking look. The doors also save interior space when open (they fold up instead of sliding into the space).

Get More From Your Kitchen Island

Article by: Kathryn Peltier

Many kitchen islands open directly into another room. If you don’t require seating on that other side of your island, it’s a great opportunity to make the island serve purposes other than cooking and eating. When planning for an island, consider how it can be used to your advantage, whether it’s incorporating additional display space, extra storage or even strategically separating — or connecting — other spaces. Here’s how you can make your island work harder for you.

Get More Display and Storage

These open shelves wrap around the island to create display space on two sides. This makes for a much more eye-catching addition in an open floor plan. Can you imagine staring at solid planes of material here? Meanwhile, a small countertop at the opposite end still accommodates some island seating. 

Although this island also has shelves below, the real eye catcher is the ceiling-hung shelves, which create a bright, casual cookware display. What a visual feast for diners! 

Where seating is not required, think about incorporating bookshelves along the length of your island — perfect for all those cookbooks. 

Full-height cabinets block kitchen messes, provide storage and hold a TV here. 

Get a Divider or Transition

A simple, narrow dividing wall, which seemingly arises from the island, partially hides the cooking area and creates a stunning art wall. Notice how the sculpture niche is finished to match the cabinetry, creating the transition from kitchen to the living-dining area. 

This island does double duty with a working kitchen side and a buffet dining side, but it doesn’t stop there: The beautifully detailed end wall hides any mess and creates a lovely focal point. 

In this very open space, the island ends in a fabulous display area that looks like furniture. This concept blurs the line between cooking and living areas. 

Want to hide your dirty dishes but still converse with the guests? Use meticulously detailed cabinetry as a horizontal backdrop to your dining area — much more interesting than drywall. A narrow continuation of the countertop even serves as a buffet space. 

In the same space seen from the kitchen side, small cabinets actually form the top of the dining “wall” and provide storage — bonus! 

Get Table Seating

In this kitchen a working island is paired with a built-in banquette, making an attractive, handy spot for dining. This would work equally well with a rectangular island. 

Ease a Level Change

Many homes have a step or two from the kitchen to a living area, typically with a railing of some sort. Why not create a casual dining area as a buffer between the two instead, utilizing some great cabinetry?

Key Measurements to Help You Design Your Kitchen

Article by: Steven Randel

Whether you are moving into an existing kitchen, remodeling the one you have or building a new one, understanding a few key measurements and organizational guidelines can help your culinary life run more smoothly. 

Kitchens provide storage for your food and cookware, give you room for prep and cleanup, and of course also provide a place where you can cook and bake. When it’s thoughtfully arranged, these functions operate logically, making work in your kitchen a better experience. Here’s how to get the ideal setup.

Ideally, refrigeration and dry-goods storage should be located nearest to the kitchen’s entry point. The cooking area should be located toward the dining spaces, and the sink is best positioned between those two functions. This creates what’s called a work triangle. The best work triangle is less than 21 linear feet (6.4 meters). Work triangles that exceed 26 feet (7.9 meters) make moving from one function to another inefficient in most cases.

This cutaway plan illustrates arrangements and dimensions for a modest-size kitchen. Note that the preparation area is split between the island with the sink and the corner of the kitchen. The work triangle is compact. There will always be a few tradeoffs in any space. 

Let’s take a look at the three main functions of a kitchen:

1. Storage
2. Preparation
3. Cooking

Everyone has personal preferences for what works best, so consider this a guide and not a rulebook.

Storage. As noted, designers recommend putting refrigeration and dry-goods storage at the kitchen entry point. Putting your pantry on one side and a countertop that’s 15 to 24 inches (38 to 61 centimeters) on the other is a good idea. This will allow you to easily set down items that have been taken out of the freezer and refrigerator.

The pantry can hold dry goods plus brooms and supplies like paper towels. Use drawers in this area to hold plastic bags, foil and anything that can contain food to be stored. For the cabinets in this area, you will want to have mixing bowls, cake pans, measuring utensils and any other items that aid in assembling meals.

Preparation. Ideally, prep and cleaning space is best located around the sink. Within these areas will be everyday glasses and dishes, along with trash receptacles and the dishwasher. Allow 18 to 36 inches (45 to 92 centimeters) of countertop space on one or both sides of your sink.

Preparation areas are best kept clear of other items, since you will always be taking out bowls, plates and utensils there. Allow at least 36 inches (92 centimeters) of uncluttered countertop space for preparation in a small kitchen. Larger kitchens will have much more. This is one reason that islands are so popular. They provide broad and well-lit surfaces on which to perform the majority of kitchen tasks.

Cooking. The cooking centers should be arranged around the range, cooktop and wall ovens. Place pots, frying pans and baking sheets in the vicinity around your burners and ovens. It is a good idea to place small appliances such as toasters and coffeemakers in this area also, as it will leave your preparation areas unobstructed.

Allow 21 to 36 inches (53 to 92 centimeters) of countertop on either side of your cooktop. If possible, place wall ovens with a free countertop immediately next to them so that you can set down hot food immediately. Place seasonings, breadboards and potholders in nearby drawers and cupboards. Keep serveware toward the dining area.

Recommended Dimensions of Kitchen Elements

The dimensions of all the pieces in your kitchen are important to get right to make the best use of your space. A common refrigerator width is slightly less than 36 inches (92 centimeters). The problem is often the depth. In recent years some manufacturers have designed them to be much deeper than a 24-inch (61-centimeter) base cabinet. You can still buy shallower freestanding refrigerators, but you have to pay close attention to the dimensions listed in its specifications to be certain. The other option is built-in configurations, but they are significantly more expensive. 

Look for a depth of 30 inches (76 centimeters) or less, excluding handles, unless you can design your kitchen space to accept a deeper unit. Another thing to consider is the swing of the refrigerator door. Always examine the swing direction to see if it will meet an obstruction.

Here you can see how the height of the cabinets plays an important part in the configuration. Upper cabinets are normally positioned at 18 inches (46 centimeters) above the countertop and are 30 to 42 inches (76 to 107 centimeters) in height. Consider that your average maximum reach over and into an upper cabinet is 70 to 80 inches (178 to 203 centimeters) above the floor. Cabinets set at above 7 feet will likely need to be accessed with a step ladder. Cabinets above 8 feet are not practical for the majority of people; however, they may serve as storage for seasonal or decorative items, to be reached with step stools and ladders. 

The standard dimensions for base cabinets are 24 inches (61 centimeters) deep and 36 inches (92 centimeters) high. In general people are getting taller, so some homeowners are bumping up the counter height to 38 inches (97 centimeters).

Another important dimension to consider is the distance between cabinets. Entry points can be as little as 36 inches (92 centimeters) when there is a cabinet on only one side. Stay at least 42 inches (107 centimeters) from the face of a cabinet to the one on the other side; 48 inches (122 centimeters) is even better, but going beyond 60 inches (152 centimeters) is too wide in most cases. However, if it is a U-shaped kitchen, you could get away with up to 96 inches (244 centimeters).

What to Know About Budgeting for Your Home Remodel

Article by: Jeffrey Veffer, B. Arch, MBA

The budget conversation — it’s sometimes awkward, often slightly uncomfortable and usually comes with a bit of anxiety. Because of the nature of construction, things often cost more than what homeowners think. There are endless debates on why that is, but the result is that we designers often have conversations with clients that end with an awkward silence. The silence usually means that certain aspects of their project might be out of their reach. And truth be told, we really don’t like being the messenger in these conversations. We want our clients to be satisfied with the process and get what they really want. 

But the flip side of that conversation is that budget constraints can make a project better. Just hear me out. What we find is that financial considerations make our team and clients focus on what’s really important. That pressure helps edit down the myriad choices and allows a more coherent story to emerge. And it all comes back to sticking to that budget. Here’s how.

Establish Your Budget Early

We have been in situations where clients have not told us their budget until we have completed some of the initial phases of work. This, no surprise, can slow down the process. It’s like going to a personal trainer but not telling them how much weight you can lift, and so you spend time trying a few exercises to figure out what the proper weights are. 

There are situations where homeowners generally don’t know what a new custom home or addition will cost, but a key part of the process is considering how much you would be comfortable spending on the project. Obviously spending $50,000 will produce a dramatically different result than if you spent $500,000. And what you spend will be influenced by a wide variety of factors, including neighborhood, type of project and level of finishes.

Without knowing a budget range, we could get through the first few meetings with clients and then give them a rough ballpark figure, which is sometimes double or triple what they thought it would be.

Don’t try to second-guess your design team by holding your cards close to your chest. Help us work with you to get the most value for your hard-earned dollars. Most designers don’t look for opportunities to waste money just for the sake of it. Sure we all want a great project at the end of the process, but we also want to make sure our clients are happy. So establishing your budget early in the process will be helpful to your team, as it will give them one of the key ingredients that will go into making a design you can live with.

Ensure Your Budget Is Realistic

It’s easy to look at TV shows and get the wrong idea about what things cost. In most cases those budgets are not realistic for a bunch of reasons, most of which revolve around how suppliers and trades price their services to be included on the show. There is an old project management saying that goes, “Price, speed, quality — pick any two.” 

It’s not totally untrue, and it underscores that there are no easy trade-offs in a construction project. It would be problematic for me to suggest pricing in this article, as it varies substantially based on a number of factors, including location, number of trades in the area, level of finish, complexity of construction etc. 

The budget number that most clients care about is the “all-in” number. That includes everything they will write a check for including moving expenses, fees and construction. (More about that later.) 

Your design team can help you get a sense of what a realistic budget might be for your project; you can also ask friends who have done projects in the recent past, or check the Houzz Real Cost Finder. 

Pricing tip: Pricing can change substantially in certain areas over as little as a few years, so be sure that the projects were completed recently for the best idea of pricing.

After you create your budget, subtract 20 percent. Construction being what it is, there are always situations that arise that will increase the cost, and those are hard to foresee at the beginning of construction. It’s a very complicated process involving many people and a lot of communication, so there usually are things that happen that will eat into that 20 percent contingency. The contingency should not be used for upgrades to counters or splashy fixtures. 

On a recent project, our clients had to spend thousands of dollars to get their utilities hooked up again, as the electrical feed from the street was torn up by mistake. On top of that, since the utility’s own drawings said that the feed still existed, there was a three-month delay on top of the reconnection order so that the utility could update its drawings. Even though this these will never be seen, they were absolutely critical and had to be completed before construction could be completed. 

Keeping a 20 percent contingency allows our clients to end up spending what they thought they would spend initially, and they can sleep at night.

Understand What You’re Paying For

Hard costs, fees, furniture — what is in the contract? Your design team will also help you understand what is in those budget numbers. Hard costs include the costs of the construction materials and fixtures required to actually build the structure. Soft costs generally include fees for permits, consultants and designers.

It’s important to establish what your team is referring to in conversation to make sure everyone is on the same page about budget numbers. For example, construction is often expressed in dollars per square foot to give a rough guide during planning. Generally this does not include appliances or soft costs. So it’s important to know that if your contractor says your new house can be built for $750,000, there are soft costs likely not covered in that estimate. Work with your design team to understand the costs and how they relate to a schedule, and how there are items you might not have thought about, to get an overall sense of what is required.

What if You Run Out of Money?

We have had this conversation with clients on more than one occasion, and truly it’s not easy for either the clients or us. It’s frustrating to hear how something that you’ve been planning for is out of your reach. 

There may be opportunities to reduce costs by changing the scope of the project. For example, instead of fully constructing a basement bathroom in a new house, you might just rough in the plumbing so it could be finished at a later date. Or it could be possible to reduce the cost of fixtures and finishes such as flooring or faucets.

During a recent conversation with clients, we recommended that they wait before starting the project so they could gather more resources before proceeding. In the discussion we realized that it wouldn’t be possible to “de-scope” or redesign the project to fit their needs, so the best course of action was to delay. Was this difficult for all involved? Absolutely, but we felt strongly that starting a project that didn’t address their needs wouldn’t serve their overall best interests.

Whenever you are dealing with money, there is the potential for some uncomfortable conversations. But if you understand what you are dealing with early in the process, those conversations will be less stressful than if you’re standing in the middle of a half-completed project in the middle of winter wondering where all your hard-earned money has gone.

Top 10 Reasons to Remodel Your Kitchen

Article by: Ann Johnson

For many households the kitchen is the center of the home and the hub of activity. Remodeling the kitchen can be a major undertaking. It is not just the expense, but also the inconvenience to the household that gives many homeowners pause when considering such an undertaking. In spite of this, homeowners continue to find good reasons to proceed with a kitchen remodel. Reasons for remodeling vary, and your neighbor may not share your top reason for the project.

1. Deterioration

The kitchen might simply be falling apart. Cracked tiles, peeling countertops, broken or missing cabinet doors and outdated appliances don’t inspire gourmet cooking or family gatherings. The deteriorated kitchen has simply outlived its usefulness and needs a remodel.

2. Value

Homeowners often remodel their kitchens to increase the value or marketability of a property. A remodeled and attractive kitchen will appeal to prospective home buyers more than a boring and outdated one. The homeowner may or may not recoup the investment of the remodel; this will depend on a variety of factors, such as the degree of the remodel and current market prices.

3. Energy Savings

Energy savings might be the prime motivation for a kitchen remodel. Adding skylights brings in more sunshine, reducing the need for artificial light. Energy-efficient appliances and solar water heaters cut the utility bill and place less stress on the environment.

4. Modernity

The kitchen can be pristine yet outdated. If the kitchen says 1950s, but you want to live in the here and now, it is time to transform your retro kitchen environment into a room for the 21st century.

5. Lifestyle

The kitchen layout may have worked great for the previous homeowner, but not for you. Perhaps it lacks a breakfast bar, and your family wants to gather informally in the kitchen to enjoy coffee or grab a quick meal without going to the dining room table. Whatever the reason, one motivation for a kitchen remodel is to arrange the room to best suit the family’s needs.

6. Special Needs

It is sometimes necessary to remodel the kitchen to better accommodate the needs of disabled family members. For example, if one of the family is in a wheelchair or no longer able to reach high cupboards, a remodel can make the room more usable.

7. Financial Incentives

The prime motivation behind a remodel might simply be financial incentives, such as energy-saving rebates offered by government entities or vendors. Financial incentives include sales at home improvement centers, cash rebates for trading in outdated appliances, remodeling grants and low- or no-interest loans.

8. Change

Some homeowners simply want change. The current kitchen might be functional, updated and attractive, yet no longer appeal to the homeowner.

9. Home Improvement TV

Watching home improvement shows on cable television inspires many homeowners to remodel their kitchens. They may never have considered such a project until a home improvement program showed them the possibilities for their kitchen.

10. Gourmet Kitchen

For a homeowner who enjoys preparing fancy meals and considers himself a gourmet cook, the prime reason for a remodel is the desire to create a dream kitchen. A gourmet kitchen with fancier amenities than most accommodates the cook’s needs.