Modern kitchens improve harmony with lifestyle at home. It also blends the line between the purpose and real world utility of cooking in the modern kitchen itself!
Ask any New Yorker the last time they cooked in their tiny apartment kitchen, and their answer is sure to not be anytime recent. However, overlooking modern kitchen design is not at all reflective of a healthy lifestyle–the type of lifestyle most of us strive for.
As we have discussed in previous articles, our lifestyles have evolved but our homes generally, and including our kitchens, have not. So, is it now time to stop fitting life to our homes and start fitting our homes to our lives? Especially when it comes to the kitchen–where we should be cooking, eating, and entertaining, but often are not doing so, due to poor design?
There is hope for your food preparation station at home to blossom into a space you love to occupy with the ones you love.
Table of Contents
- Modern kitchens prioritize utility over flair
- Make your modern kitchen your health inspiration
- Enjoy your kitchen!
Modern kitchens prioritize utility over flair
Good design in the modern kitchen does not equate to flashy appliances and over-the-top finishes.
First and foremost, your kitchen should allow you to simply and easily accomplish the tasks that you perform most—a coffee or tea station, thoughtfully designed with space for ingredients, appliances, and mugs, allows you to enjoy a morning or evening ritual in one location without having to run across the kitchen for the sugar.
Similarly, intentional kitchen designs should cater to your everyday activities. Easily accessible storage means you don’t have to pull out a step ladder to reach your tableware or twist your neck reaching for something on the shelf of a lower cabinet.
Utilizing a variety of purposeful kitchen storage spaces that are visible and purpose pull-out functions can simplify daily tasks like making a meal or caring for your pet with a storage station for their needs.
Beautiful countertops and gorgeous backsplashes are stylistic elements that can be added to any kitchen, but add those to a poorly designed kitchen, and you’ll find that your style choices easily give way to superficiality.
Function–not flair–is the most important element in any modern home design, and this is especially true to the kitchen or kitchenette.
Make your modern kitchen your health inspiration
A modernized kitchen can either be an enabler or it can be a disabler when it comes to achieving your health and lifestyle goals.
Studies show that people are embracing healthy habit at an ever increasing rate (reference link: Michael), including eating fresher foods and living an overall healthier lifestyle. However, a poorly-designed kitchen can stand in the way of your goals and stifle healthy motivations.
Unhealthy eating habits promoted by poor kitchen design can also discourage other healthy habits such as exercise and mindfulness. If it all stems from the kitchen, and we cannot continue to make it an afterthought.
A modern kitchen should both inspire healthy habits and match your personal preferences, simplifying the steps to a healthier lifestyle. If you appreciate the energy from homemade smoothies, a designated location for your blender, fruits, and protein powder would allow for more healthy opportunities. Likewise, designs with easy access to spices or your pantry can encourage faster and easier cooking, making eating out less likely.
Good design choices should simplify the steps to live your ideal lifestyle. If you are planning on renovating your kitchen, these seemingly small choices will come together to create healthy habits.
Enjoy your kitchen!
Many people treat their kitchen as a place to pop in and out of as quickly as possible, grabbing something from the fridge on their way out the door or throwing something in the microwave because they just didn’t have the time to prepare a meal, despite their aspirations.
Kitchens treated this way become disjointed from our home life in that using it becomes more of a burden than a place you can enjoy living in.
We believe your kitchen should be a space where you feel comfortable and capable. It should also be a place you can eat, drink, and entertain. Food is not only something that can make us healthier; it is also something that brings people together. Embracing time at home spent in the kitchen to build family values and memories is an imperative for healthy alignment with the soul and family.
Of course, to embrace your modern kitchen means it needs to be properly designed!
A place to sit and eat, whether that is a dine-in counter or kitchen table, should not be undervalued. Additionally, being comfortable while you cook will make cooking more enjoyable and cooking with others more possible; attention to the layout of your appliances, counter space, and natural lighting can greatly impact the quality of time spent in the kitchen.
An optimal kitchen design prioritizes room for people to grab a snack, a drink, or just sit and talk while a meal is being prepared.
In short, a kitchen should be designed to enable three things: cooking, healthy living, and connection. Any stylistic elements you choose after that will only enhance the luxury and harmony you have already created in the space.
For expert assistance in designing a beautiful and inspiring modern kitchen, contact our team of expert residential architects.
We specialize in seamlessly blending function and lifestyle to create a one-of-a-kind kitchen that will nurture the memories of your families and friends for innumerable years to come.