Kitchen Spaces

by Clay Cox Owner/President

When shopping and designing your new kitchen, whether it be for a remodel or new construction, one of the most important items to keep in mind are “your spaces”. In new construction very often, the blueprints are created by an architect who will create openings for generic appliances and set the kitchen walk spaces according to their experience. They do this with the idea that the homeowner will refine the prints to their wishes. After all, ultimately the home needs to fit its owners, wants, wishes, and desires.

The spaces I am referring to are predominately the walk around spaces, the appliance spaces and very often the spaces around windows and doorways. Starting with appliances I encourage you to pre-shop all your wish list appliances so you can share them with whomever is pricing your project. You don’t have to purchase them just yet, but you should know what you want and that will determine the sizes of the openings needed to house the appliances. This will help multiple cabinet companies be much more accurate in the pricing they show you. In addition, your appliances are one of the largest expenditures of your project and will be a helpful and necessary number.

Walk-around spaces create the essence of the kitchen as far as everyday life and entertainment is concerned. The (old) industry standard for walk spaces is 36” between countertops. In my world and if I’m able I shoot for 48” which gives us an extra foot of walking space. The idea is for two people to walk by each other and not be uncomfortable. This simple adjustment from the old kitchen rules to our new kitchen rules makes an amazing difference.

Lastly, I’d like to address windows and doors. The idea here is not to crowd either. Leave some space by the doorways and doors by not pushing the cabinetry right up to them. Let them breathe and be what they are. And with windows, once again, do not push the cabinetry to the window. That will only cause the light coming in from that window to “shoot” into the room instead of “spread” into the room which adds more natural light in your kitchen.

Enjoy your remodel!

Clay Cox

clay@kitchensbyclay.com

7935 Airport Road, Suites 5 and 6, Naples, FL 34109

Phone: 239.431.5474 Fax: 239.431.5472

Enjoy your remodel!